Macintosh Plus DJ Helmet With An IPad

Elaborate helmets are not a new concept, with many famous artists such as Daft Punk and Deadmau5 using them for stage shows. For a sculpture class, [Terrence] fashioned his own out of the body of a Macintosh Plus and an iPad conveniently sourced from eBay. After gutting the insides, the Mac Plus was fitted with parts from a helmet both for comfort as well as for keeping the whole setup head mounted. For additional eye candy, an LED visualizer was affixed below the iPad display. The rig is remotely controlled by a bluetooth keyboard, just for good measure. We think this setup easily stands up to other Daft Punk-esque style head mounts.

Be sure not to miss the video of the helmet featuring DJ Chameleon (a friend of [Terrence]) in action, as well as a number of other photos.

[Edit: Thanks to everyone who caught the Mac Plus/Pro error!]

39 thoughts on “Macintosh Plus DJ Helmet With An IPad

  1. Hey guys, I don’t know if you know, but thats totally a Mac Plus, not a Mac Pro! I know everything about computers! I definitely did not read the previous 5 comments that said the exact same thing this comment does!

  2. 1) It’s called an “LED” visualizer by the author, but it’s probably an electroluminescent display. They also put them in T-shirts.

    2) Does anyone actually read the comments before posting one, fercryinoutloud?! WE KNOW IT’S A MAC PLUS, KTHXBYE!

  3. I hope he didnt kill a functional machine, not that I am greif stricken over it but I do like me retro computers

    and if anyone has any bright idea’s I have a performa 200 (classic II) bucket sitting in my trunk and its well beyond repair

  4. @ those wondering about vision:

    my guess (from looking at the height of the helmet bucket) is that he can sorta see out of the floppy slot. Probably not real well, and with only one eye, but it doesn’t take much vision to run a sampler and mixer once you’ve been using them for a while. Think of the hair band guitarists who played the guitar behind their head. It’s all about muscle memory.

  5. Neat helmet but it really irks me to see wannabe DJs pretending to be doing important things on their laptop while they’re really just playing someone else’s music from a playlist or just triggering in ableton.

    It would have been cooler if he had just walked around the party in character or had some kind of act.

  6. Hey guys! That’s my helmet up there! For those who were wondering, you can slightly see out of the floppy drive, but the majority of the time I was looking out of the vents that aren’t visible because they are on the bottom of the body of the Mac Plus. I had little trouble seeing after I figured out how to get my glasses in the helmet… however, hearing my mix was difficult. We are planning on installing speakers within the helmet soon, as well as fans and some more flashing lights and stuff.

  7. Oh, and Ferm, the second song after Genesis in the video on our website is an original track. Watch the video, I am not simply playing music off of a playlist… I am djing on the fly and I put as much effort into my mix as I did into the visuals and the helmet. People need to stop being so cynical..

  8. “I am not simply playing music off of a playlist… I am djing on the fly”

    what’s the difference? if you made the song earlier and simply queued it up it at the club, along with other people’s music, isn’t that still playing music off the playlist?

  9. @walt – with the advent of software like Abelton and Reason, there’s no need to make full pre-recorded tracks to play live. instead, DJs/producers establish a repertoire of drum loops/breaks, clips, samples, and full songs that can be mixed and mashed live. Look into ‘controllerism’, and check out Moldover’s videos on youtube. He’s a bit of am extreme case, but its the direction a lot of DJs are going because technology isn’t just two turn tables any more. You will see DJs playing more and more one-of-a-kind sets in the future, and its blurring the line between being a DJ and a live composer.

  10. mixed and mashed up live?

    triggering bpm sync’d samples/breaks/tracks in ableton or similar is a far cry from actually mixing.

    when the software is automatically matching the beats for you, you’re basically glorified playlist at best.

    anyone with a guitar in their hands can be told which string to pluck and which fret to hold but the skill comes from playing those sounds in time..

    so i ask, what are you actually doing?

    the helmet is a nice school project although im not sure that emptying out a case, putting an ipad in it and then sticking it on your head constitutes a hackaday post.

  11. @Niru
    I’m glad I’m not the only one here old enough to have the Residents come to mind before Daft Punk. Unfortunately, the only time I saw them live, they didn’t have their eyeballs on.

  12. @xeracy if drum machines and synthesizers aren’t present, it’s not live! young college kids are the only ones who don’t understand that yet. controllerism is lame. at best, it’s a new way of being a hardcore DJ. Moldover is the only guy doing controllerism in a respectable way and that way should be the standard, if you absolutely must take the controllerism rout. in the end, if you’re playing mix and mash, you’ll have a hell of a time getting signed as a musician… because you’re just a D.J.

  13. as 99% of your favorite musicians (that happen to still be alive) midi every single thing so they dont dare screw up that 1 song in their elderly years… please be real (I know, its what I do for a living)

  14. @Erik Johnson – saw him play at MakerFaire last year. didnt know who he was till a month later when i ran across his site and controllerism. I now wish i had gotten to talk to him for a few minutes.

    @walt – I agree that the quantization ability of reason and abelton does dilute the authenticity of music production, however I guess the syntactically correct term for what moldover does (and others to some extent) would be live composing. He isn’t playing the instruments, he is choosing when they play their parts, and making those decisions in real time. While that may not take the skill of a concert violinist, it still takes more talent and musical understanding than then half-wit with a SYNC button.

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