Try out the meme™ jr. software—The Digital Stuff-Making Machine™!

You'll need the following:

Windows: Windows XP or later, Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Safari browsers. Stereo sound, High-speed connection. Mini-DV camcorder with USB or FireWire connection (optional).

Mac: MacOS 10.4 or later (Tiger, Leopard, or Snow Leopard), Firefox, or Safari browsers. Stereo sound, High-speed connection. Mini-DV camcorder with USB or FireWire connection (optional).

Linux: Firefox 3.0 browser or later.

The current beta version of The Digital Stuff Making Machine™ requires the Adobe Flash Player 9.0 plug-in.

Instructions:

1. Click here to open a new browser window with The Digital Stuff Making Machine™.

2. Plug in a video camera for more fun! See instructions in the Help button (?) of the new browser window.

3. Get familiar with the buttons to press on your keyboard (click chart to enlarge):

Some hints 'n' suggestions:

1. Try first by pressing a key to load something, then hold down the shift, and press the key you just pressed to unload it. The puppets load and unload with the 1/! and the =/+ keys, the rest of the number keys will play a different puppet animation when you press the shift keys.

2. Not everything needs to be loaded at once! Take time to explore something before exploring something else!.

3. For best results, have one laptop or desktop computer for the visual part of the show, and up to three other computers playing the audio part. Each of the audio performers will focus on just one row of keys (ambient background, rhythmic middle ground, solo foreground).

4. If the main visual computer has two extra USB connections, add two more keyboards, one for each person operating one of the interactive puppets!