Tangible User Interfaces - Fall 2011

Midterm Project 1: Group Project Proposal

Due Monday 10-03-2011

Ankita Goyal   <ankitagoyal85@gmail.com>

Kari McGlynn <karimcglynn@gmail.com>

John Parayno             <johnparayno@gmail.com>

Project

We would like to build a instrument that incorporates the mapping of different sounds played in an alternative way to a traditional wind instrument.  Normally wind instruments work by a human creating air flow either through blowing with their mouth (ex. flute) or through creating air pressure with their body (ex. bag pipes)--in these cases the instrument defines the sound by resisting the air flow in different ways to create unique tones. 

We are interested in creating a wind instrument using a machine such as a fan to create the air flow and allowing the human to manipulate the tone by directly resisting/manipulating the air flow to create different tones/rhythms. Hence creating a tangible, air-based control/feedback instrument--we are using air flow and physical resistance as a way to control the sound

We will focus on different mapping strategies and various forms of visual and audio feedback. This led us to the following problem statement:

How can we create an intuitive air-based device for playing music, allowing the performer to apply the musical dynamics in a physical manner, using sensors and air flow to generate sounds?

State of the Art Research

To investigate if similar products / projects already exists, we have started looking at existing projects and papers published and have found the following to be inspiring.

●     Tangible Sound: Musical Instrument Using Fluid Water: “With this instrument performers interact with water flowing from a faucet into a drain.”

●     The DJammer: “Air-Scratching” and Freeing the DJ to Join the Party: “a device that enables its users to manipulate digital music using a portable handheld sensor”

●     Theremin: It is a non-contact electronic musical instrument played by free movement of the performer’s hands in the space surrounding it.

We will continue with our research, looking at various projects implementing contactless tangible music interfaces.

Initial Sketch

We have made an initial conceptual sketch. This sketch demonstrates the idea behind our concept. We want to use an air flow device such as a fan at the base, and using a combination of distance and pressure sensors, we should be able to detect where the user intercepts this air flow. Depending on the position that the user makes contact with the air flow, we will electronically generate notes corresponding to the position. We would also like to create sounds of different instruments, using sensors ( either photo sensors or FSR) as switches to be able to play a variety of musical sounds.