Final project proposal
For my final project in The Code of Music, I would like to expand upon a gesture-controlled instrument that I am building by creating a new sound palette for it. For our class I would like to come up with some musical/synthesized motifs that could be manipulated with gesture. Ideally I would like to have the instrument be something that others could play with as an interactive installation, or at least a tool I could use for performance.
early caricature of a color organ in use
The instrument itself is made of a set of acrylic tubes meant to emulate pipes. The inspiration or idea was to create a deconstructed “color organ” (see image on right) meets theremin. Lights inside the pipes are triggered based on hand gestures in the air around it along with triggering sounds mapped in a similar way, making the composition a bit unpredictable, but with time you can get the hang of it and repeat gestures, or enjoy the randomness.
I would be using a combination of Max MSP and MadMapper, controlled by a LeapMotion.
sketch of instrument/interaction
instrument being built in second messy prototype phase… (it does light up, but I’ll save that part for when it’s done for class!)
This is the first time I have made music with gesture (at least with hands waving in the air.) I think it could be an interesting segue from the midterm where I started to explore introducing different sounds/patterns and showing them with associated colors. In essence, this is a way to visualize the music as well, as well as to trigger/spatialize the sound in a stereo field, and allow room for more expressivity.