Wiij

WiiJ is term for a DJ who hacks into the software of up to two Wii Remote video game controllers, and uses them to mix music. Nintendo introduced the Wii Remote into the market of video game consoles in 2006. The Wii Remote uses acceleration detection, force feedback and Bluetooth technologies. The first live show of , the pioneer of "WiiJ-ing", was held at Bootie, a club in San Francisco, California May 12 2007. The first documented WiiJ gig was held at 23 February 2007 in Utrecht, the Netherlands, at a venue called "Winkel van Sinkel" with DJs Timski & Sage from the Utreg Massive crew.

Wireless DJing
WiiJ-ing, apart from being an innovative and entertaining new form of DJ, is being heralded for its wholly wireless usage, thus enabling the WiiJ to move freely around the room while still retaining complete control over the music, as well as infinite customization of the controls. Currently in its early stages, WiiJ-ing started out using the face buttons of each Wii Remote (i.e. the A button stops and starts the song, the + button loops it, etc.) but quickly developed simple motion controls, as the software develops and the techniques improve, more advanced motion control is rapidly becoming a possibility (like gesture recognition).

Wiijs and DJs

The ability to make use of the Wii Remote's built-in Bluetooth technology was the result of several large online communities. From that point, making use of the Wii Remote as a musical controller was a relatively logical step made again by several people following the zeitgeist. Max/MSP/Jitter user and sound artist Daito Manabe made some what simple use of the Wii Remote at a gig in Japan in December of 2006 .

American DJ, DJ !, developed the idea of Wiijing as a full fledged mixing method (independently without knowledge of Daito's idea) in December 2006, using two Wii Remotes and Traktor 3 Software. In February 2007 he launched the website as an online hub for the WiiJ-ing community.

Dutch DJs Sage & Timski have recently developed the ability to use motion control, and completely control Ableton Live using a single Wii Remote. A demonstration video is available online.

Functionality
In order to WiiJ one must use a computer with Bluetooth capability, a free program available on the internet called GlovePie, at least one Wii Remote, and any PC DJ software, although Traktor 3 is recommended. The DJ must connect the Wii Remote units to the computer and use his DJ software to map various controls to the or motion of each Wii Remote. Another system is the Wii Loop Machine, software for Mac OS X that turns the Wiimote into a gestural interface for creating music.

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