Text-n-FX: A Reading Machine

Text ‘n FX is a DJ mixer for text. It is a prototype machine developed in the 80’s for the emerging practice of Hip-Hop. Instead of a DJ mixing two records together, the designers of the device proposed the idea of a Text-Jockey (TJ). The TJ acted as a machine-assisted poet mashing up lyrics read from two floppy disks in real-time using statistics, Natural Language Processing (NLP) and cut-up techniques from experimental literature. The product never made it to market but it exists today as a media-archaeological curiosity.

(Source: ChercherLeTexte website)