Assignment: Midterm Project 1: Group project proposal

Collaborators:

Assignment: Midterm Project 1: Group project proposal
Collaborators:

*Tangible Songtrack & Lightmixer*

Group Project Proposal

Collaborators: David, Tilman

*Concept*
Our idea is to create a tangible trackmixer where musicians can collaboratively add sound tracks to a song. Tracks are represented by tokens on a table that can be moved and individually assigned to specific instrument tracks. By moving the tokens around, volume, pitch and position of the track can be modified. Thus, musicians can create new songs on the fly by editing pre-recorded or MIDI-tracks during runtime.

To enhance the auditory sensation with visual effects, each track can be associated with a specific light setting. Hence, the ambient light associated for example with a saxophone, changes according to the melody during a solo part of the saxophone. Combining sound and light we want to create a device that enables musicians collaborating on a audio-visual show.

*Composition*
The device would be based on a table that recognizes tokens and their position as well as their proximity to each other. On the table there are areas where new sound or light tracks can be associated with the tokens on the table by using a drag-and-drop approach. The music can be mixed on the fly while being monitored on the loudspeakers. A set of lights resembles different light groupings that can be assigned to specific sound tracks.

Technology
There could be different approaches in terms of technology. For one we could use a camera that recognizes the tokens (e.g. from shape) that are put on the table and records position and proximity. Another approach would be using the infrared sensors of a Wii-controller to receive light signals from the LEDs attached to a token. One could also think about working with NFC (Near Field Communication) tags. About the specific implementation or maybe a mix of the mentioned approaches we would have to think about in more detail during the project.

*Further Ideas*
We were also thinking about connecting real instruments to the table. Thus, a saxophone, for example, could be plugged in, associated with a track and a light grouping and then played on the fly along with the tracks on the table.

*Activity Model*
Our subjects would be the musicians who collaboratively work on a song composition. The object would be the song that is produced, but also the tracks and light patterns that are edited on the fly can be considered as objects. The table with its tokens and build-in sensing technology would be the tool that is used to mediate between the actions of the subjects (musicians) and the output on the object (the audio-visual product).