Walking around the exhibition area at Popkomm, I came across a small record label, Eartouch. They specialize in Hip Hop and electronic music, and I had a talk with one of the execs. Not about music labels or making records, but about the equipment in the back of the booth, and the future of electronic musical instruments.

The main problem with electronic music is the concerts. A traditional rock band has a lineup of different instruments and by magically waving them around the musicians creates sounds and melodies. Most electronic musicians only have their laptop, and this makes some electro-shows a bit static. Even though most DJ’s move and dance around, their movements doesn’t really do anything.

The rig in the booth consisted of a pair of digital CD turntables, a mixer, a synthesizer, and a laptop. It seemed like pretty standard equipment. It wasn’t though. All the original firmware on the turntables and the synthesizer had been replaced with the DJ’s own custom software. DJ and hacker? Well, there’s a first for everything.

The equipment was, of course, hooked up to the laptop and it seemed pretty impressive how he was able to tweak the sounds using the customized hardware. Still it could use a bit of spice for a live performance. That’s when he whipped out the Wii-mote.

Using a standard Wii-mote he was able to engage with the music in a whole new way. Whipping it in different directions and with various button combinations, the Wii-mote suddenly became a key instrument. This added a lot to the performance,.

Engaging the audience is crucial to any good concert, and there’s no doubt, that we will see a lot more of these new ways of physically interacting with electronic music. The Kinect seems like an obvious choice in this regard. Not only will the DJ be able to actually dance the music, the camera could capture the audience, and use their reactions to tweak the sounds. And even further on, you’d expect the system to augment the audience’s emotions.

If there was a future of the music industry at Popkomm 2011, this was it.