Computation08

SynthMonster

SynthMonster is a digital synthesizer / interface exploration. The goal of SynthMonster is to create a musical interface that explores the relationship between musical creation and the physical world in an engaging way. The SynthMonster should be an exciting object of discovery, causing the user to rethink the link between an object's physical movement and sound.

Most of all it is a fun way to make noise.

In-Depth Explanation

The SynthMonster is a digital synthesizer housed in a ball of fur. It uses a gyroscope to detect its x and y tilt. This information is fed into a PIC chip that creates the music. The x-tilt control the speed of the arpeggiated sound being created, and the y-tilt affect the pitch. The SynthMonster plays random notes in the key of C in all 8 octaves.

Future Directions

• Install more sensors. (Photosensors, flex sensors, heat sensors, proximity sensors, motion sensors, and touch sensors could all be used quite effectively in enriching the experience)
• Create more complex and pleasing music. Randomly generated noise is fun for some, but I a more mature and subtle orchestration will truly engage most users.The PIC chip on its own might be a little limited for this
• Allow for user modification, such as uploading their own folder of sounds to the SynthMonster. This could be pre-recorded mp3s perhaps or maybe the midi data used to outline more sophisticated instrumentation.
• Introduce a more compelling characterization? Cross between UglyDolls and Theremin?

       
Motivations |Prior Art | Early Protoypes | Final Paper | 

The SynthMonster Gets Loose

SynthMonster User Testing from Mouse & the Billionaire on Vimeo.

Wikipedia Visualization

Wikipedia Vision is an interesting site that shows the location of people editing Wikipedia world wide in very-close-to-real time. Thought you might like to see it y'all.

Mini Thesis Stage 5 - Refinement

Questions to Consider

• Should the sound be self-contained? ie. does the sound comes from the object itself? OR does it trigger sound from the computer?
• Should it be open-source and/or programmable?
• If it is programmable, what is it programming?

Possible Solution

Mini Thesis Stage 4 - Further Prototyping

Hidden versus non-hidden components. The non-hidden components can be used to create a characterization of the instrument. Perhaps an alien-looking creature. The personality added to the item could be a bonus to the concept. See thingamagoop as an example of prior art.

Mini Thesis Stage 3 - Prototypes

Role

Look and Feel

Day 2: Research and Precedents

Music Collaboration:

• Kompoz.com // Kompoz is a website that helps musical artists collaborate on projects together. From the Kompoz web site, "Kompoz is a social workspace for musicians and songwriters. Got an idea for a song? Record a track. Upload it. Then invite others to add drums, bass, vocals or anything else!" Kompoz is exactly what I wanted to create when applying to Parsons. It is elegant and useful. Some other examples of this same idea are V-Bans.de, Band-colab.net, and Netjam. Some of these are more successful than others, but the important thing to consider is that this idea has already been done, so I should focus on another area of focus.
• Ninjam // Ninjam or (Novel Intervallic Network Jamming Architecture for Music) is a software set to foster realtime "jamming" with fellow musicians. Where Kompz focuses on recorded collaboration, Ninjam helps artists perform simultaneously. From the Ninjam website, "NINJAM is a program to allow people to make real music together via the Internet. Every participant can hear every other participant. Each user can also tweak their personal mix to his or her liking. NINJAM is cross-platform, with clients available for Mac OS X and Windows." Ninjam seems like is will be a very successful tool, and I wish I had came out with it first.

Music-Making Device Innovations

• Serato Scratch // Serato is an amazing product that incoorperates digital music with the analog hip-hop esthetic of scratching. It re-introduces the turntable as a viable tool for computer music
• The Yellow Drum Machine Robot // This little robot maneuvers through the physical world and makes music with what he finds. I really enjoy this new application for tapping on things, and would be interested in exploring these ideas further.

Inspiration

Michel Gondry's video for Chemical Brothers' Star Guitar

Christo and Jen-Claude

The work of Christo and Jean-Claude highlights the natural order of things, but makes people consider them in a new and different light. I admire their planning, focus, and creativity. I would also like to create something that causes the viewer to experience something in a new way, hopefully, however, in the realm of music/sound.

Diagrams

Day 1: Exploring Domains

Primary Questions and Motivations

Questions

• Are there any new ways to make music?
• What are some different ways to experience sound/music than those that exist now?
• Can we experience the internet in different ways as well?
• What are some new ways to collaborate via the web?
• What are the boundaries that we can push for the web?
• Is interconnectivity important?

Motivations

• To examine the way sound is used/thought about
• To examine the way the internet (or technology in general) is used in relation to art
• To increase community on the internet
• To assist struggling musicians
• To rethink the way we relate to sound
• To help pay for school
• To make the world more interesting and a better place for the next generation

Domains

music, sound, art, interconnectivity, collaboration, the web, robotics, creation, physicality, definition, exploration, transformation of style,

Illustrations

Lobby Pet: design document

download pdf:
Download lobbyPetsDoc.pdf

LobbyPet

The LobbyPet is an interactive playmate devised to entertain in the monotonous periods of your day. Just like a pet brings comfort when you get home, the LobbyPet comforts and entertains you while you wait for an elevator, stand in line for food, or various other dull times of the day. Your LobbyPet responds to your voice, so he'll come when you call him. However, he doesn't like it to be too loud, so make sure not to yell at him. He may hide at first when you bring over a large group of people, but if they're nice to him, he may eventually come out to say hi.

By M Bethancourt, Shipra Gupta, & Joe Mauriello

Andi Talks to the LobbyPet

Andi Talking to the lobbyPet from Mouse & the Billionaire on Vimeo.

The LobbyPet Promo Video

lobbyPet from Mouse & the Billionaire on Vimeo.