452 Project 1-Brainstorming/Research

Jan 11: Brainstorming/Research

  For project 1, I brainstormed and came up with some brief ideas on interactions, materials usage, sound design and such.

    First, I thought of some other nonconventional forms of interactions that human can involve with playing an instruments, such as pulling, squeezing, swinging objects,etc. However, of course, at this early stage, I have also thought about how "virtuosic' people could be if they are playing in those interactions with the instruments. I hope to make an instruments where people could get better and better with it, so it requires an actual "skill" to be "successful" on the instrument.

  Secondly, I thought about what tangible/ intangible materials (objects as materials too) that I have and materials that I want to work with/explore. For example, some tangible materials would be wood, foams, light bulbs, stretchable bends, etc. As for the design sound, taking the advantage of technology, I came up with some aspects/ parameters that I want to include in the instruments by mapping it to a certain gesture (interaction with a sensor) so that users can edit it on the fly, such as tremolos/timbres/reversed envelope,etc.

 Furthermore, I thought it would be an engaging action to see people pulling, and sounds will change according to the tension and force or speed that the player has given. Besides, I have recalled the Pendulum Music that we have studied in the past, and thought that would be a way to control certain parameters as well.

All of my points are a bit scattered now and very diverse, because I try not to confined myself to only one direction. However, hopefully, I can consolidate some of my ideas into one fine one and so I could proceed to some of the "thinking through making" process soon.

Here are some of my sketches to show my ideas.

Jaime