[EyeballGrowth]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=eBU4BPf-D...ional%20anthem

it looks like a radio

[DoubleNickels]

it's a theremin-like device he controls with that thing around his finger. I know there's a different name for it, I just forgot it.

[rocky]

it is a radio reciever of some kind!
it's used to trap sounds from the radio,
where they can be controlled by some of the other boxes on the floor
as real-time sound chaos

the second box mentioned in this thread is the ondes-martenot synthesizer.

[EyeballGrowth]

Yeah I was gonna say, the synth with the thing around his finger isn't what I'm talking about. I mean the radio looking thing

[acousticrock87]

I honestly can't really tell what it's even doing. Was it making those Arrowhead-water-dispenser-like noises at the beginning?

Perhaps it's sending electrical impulses into Thom's spine.

[noisemachine]

I didnt watch the video but Ive seen him use it and I believe the device youre referring to is the KORG Kaoss Pad
http://http://www.korg.com/gear/info.asp?a_prod_no=KP2

EDIT: ok i just watched the video and I realize now it is not what I was thinking. But he does use the Kaoss Pad as well which is also very cool...

[EyeballGrowth]

no It's not the kaoss pad, I've heard someone playing with that thing, it's quite uninteresting to me

[doctor dan]

its just a radio. he puts it through the pa and twiddles with the dials at the beginning of 'the national anthem'. the resulting sounds are entirely dependent on whats on at the time. at glasto 2003 he tuned into some bbc type broadcast about the 1966 world cup final. on the 'i might be wrong' live album i think its some italian stuff, as the concert was recorded in rome. sorry if you were hoping it was some form of insane effects unit. incidentally, the theremin like device he controls with a ring on his finger is called an 'ondes martenot'. its ancient, like from the 20s, and is STUPIDLY expensive. like tens of thousands of pounds. What i really want is his massive wall of modular synth gubbins that he uses as a drum machine in ideoteque...

[alyasa]

It actually looks like a shortwave receiver... Maybe he's trying to tune into a number station, ala Yankee Hotel Foxtrot?

[CHOUT]

The Idioteque snl performance was awesome.

[sonikold]

at bonnaroo it was awesome. a bunch of gabber, then someone saying 'what we've all been waiting for' before busting into the bassline. i;m pretty sure that show was the closest i've got to a religious experience...