Author: Ying

Posted on

Code of Music A3: AV instruments (Ying Chen)

Link: https://editor.p5js.org/yc3359/full/zvFNepi1

For this assignment, I picked the sound of the water droplet, drum, swoosh, and spark. I got these sound effects from freesound.org. For the animations, I wanted to keep it simple and consistent throughout. I decided to use ellipses for all of the animations. I made a water droplet animation for the water droplet sound. For the drum animation, I wanted to make a hand that hits the screen but I couldn’t make it. Instead, I made a circle. For the swoosh sound, I made a line of ellipses across the Y-axis and move it across the screen. The spark sound, I was having a difficulty to implement what I wanted. Originally, I wanted a sparkling flame animation but it ended up having random ellipses. 

Posted on

Code of Music A2: Catalog of Attributes (Ying Chen)

This is a music composed by Blue Satellite hosted at Aviencloud on Youtube. It is an electronic/future bass genre remixed with Pikachu’s voice.  

Catalog of Attributes

Genre: Electronic & Future Bass

Tempo: ~95 BPM

Sound element: Piano, maracas, synthesizer generated/electronic keyboard sound, Pikachu, drum. 

Time Signature: 4/4 might be 2/4?

Future bass takes the ecstatic drops of dubstep or trap but provides a warm bounce rather than a lumbering bruteness.

Interactive Music Concept

For the concept, I wanted to create an interactive sound/music game. First, I need to decide which type of game this would be, is it an RPG? platformer game? I was thinking about which type can best fit the interaction with the musical elements. I thought the 2d platformer would be the best fit because it is simple and can execute all the musical elements that I need. The art style of the game will be using vibrant color pixel art.  

Melodisle – A Free Indie Music Puzzle Platformer

Each type of movement will correspond to different sounds. For example, move left and right will simply play the high pitch piano sound in the background. As levels/elevations get higher the electronic sound will kick in. The background sound will be the base beat. When the user attack, the Pikachu sound will play.   

Elements of sound can also be played based on the game’s mechanics. In the game Melodisle, the player has to collect notes in order to complete the level and each element of music will be added and form a piece of music. The player can also interact with in-game items, NPC, and environment to activate certain element of sounds.  

Posted on

Code of Music A6: “This Is Your Brain On Music” Chapter 2 (Ying Chen)

Chapter 2 of “This Is Your Brain On Music” focuses on the rhythm and the recognition of harmonies and melodies by the human brain. It explains the difference between the rhythm and tempo, where the tempo is how fast or slow a piece of music is performed, while the rhythm is the placement of sounds in time. I was fascinated by the author when he says that our brain will still recognize a piece of music even though when it is performed differently than the original.

He talks about the difference between consonance and dissonance, and the brain’s reaction to each consonance is associated with sweetness, pleasantness, and acceptability, while dissonance is associated with harshness, unpleasantness, or unacceptability. Also, music is about expectation and our preference for music depends on how the music surprises us and make us comfortable.

Good music is known to be unexpected but not too much to the point we can’t expect what is coming. Music is a reflection of our society it affects our preferences and expectations. Different cultures will have a different style of music that is representative of them. This expectation is what makes us associate certain styles of music to culture. 

Posted on

Code of Music A5: Listen (Ying Chen)

I heard this in a meme compilation and then spent the next hour trying to find this song. It turned out to be a remix of a SpongeBob Song. I picked this music because it has a hippy vibe to it and it immediately reminds me of SpongeBob due to its unique style. 

Posted on

Project 3 Documentation: The Trailing Snake – Ying

The Trailing Snake 🐍 

Project Description

The Trailing Snake is a kinetic light sculpture that mimics the movement of a snake. This project is inspired by a Greek artist named Vassilis Hatzopoulos. One of his element that I will take away is his automata mechanism which moves along stationary strip object back and forth. The mechanism involved several circle plates that are connected by a metal rod through a hole on the plate close to the edge. These plates will then rotate at a different degree based on where the plates are tilted towards. There will be shorter metal rods stick up vertically which will be the supporting ground for the light. The vertical rod will then move based on the plates with different positions which will then rotate the vertical rod on different angles

The goal of this project is to move around a long strip of light as I called it the snake. Since I want to move the light quite frequently, I need to find a type of light that is flexible enough so I settled on the flexible neon light. Another goal of this project is to create a complex automata mechanism that creates multiple different movements from one single movement type. In this case, I will be using the stepper motor to create different swinging movements of different angles. 

Perspective and Context

Guy Brett writes in the Kinesthesia that “It is not a movement in itself which is important but the intensity with which a work can reveal space, time and energy”. This quote matches the purpose of this project in creating something that is not only physically moving but also reveals the sense of space and energy. Such space can be revealed by the use of material around the light. For the project, I planned on using a reflective material underneath the light which will reflect off the light. This will then reveals the surrounding and as the light moves in different positions, the surrounding space will then react differently.

Despite being a stationary object, meaning that it doesn’t actually move. The sculpture will still reveal energy as it mimics the movement of a snake and the light enhances that trait further. Lastly, the project is based on the adaptation of nature and specifically the movement of a snake. This project will give the audience the impression of a moving snake.    

Development & Technical Implementation

I started off making the project will a design drawing and figuring out what components I need to purchase on my own.

The following components are what I need to buy: two metal rods 48 cm length (0.5mm diameter), two shaft bearings (0.5mm inner), six rods 16 cm length (0.3mm diameter), neon flexible led. 

When I got most of my components, I made the platform of my installation with the laser cut. The platform will be a long box that is 48cm in length 6 cm in width and 5 cm in height. I created the design with casemaker and modified it on the illustrator to add the holes for my bearing. For convenient, I glued the top and the bottom with one panel from each side. This way, I can reach inside and make changes easily. After I glued them together, I added the bearings on the far side of the panels.

 

With the laser cutter, I also made the plates that will move my vertical rods that is supporting my light. These are glued together with 3 in order to form one single plate. These will fit perfectly into the long horizontal metal rod. 

 

The installed the stepper motor on the side of the panels near the bearing. On the motor, there are 4 holes for the screw so I measure the length against the panels relative to the bearing and the metal rod. I made the holes with the electrical screwer. Then 3d printed the gear. Since the stepper motor is D-shaped, I need to modify the hole so it can fit perfectly.

I made another gear that is slightly smaller in size and in circle hole that fits perfectly into the metal rod. I then tested the motor by connecting it to the Arduino and using the code from the example (speed control). 

 

As you can see, I made an outer layer that is made out of wood with the laser cutter which I thought gives the contrast from the reflective material that I will be using later for the surface. I cut a square-shaped hole so I can put through all the connections. 

In order to fit in all my connections, I made the wires about the same size to save space and to make debugging easier.

After I tested out the motor, I will install the vertical rod with a supporter that made with 3d printer through Sketchup.  

In order to put them in place, I will lay some hot glue next to the side so it doesn’t move around. After putting them in the correct spot, I will align the plates in the same location accordingly. 

These vertical rods will be put in place against the place with a rubber band that I got from leftover clothing.

I tested out the motor against to see if the whole mechanism work well and like as I expected it did. 

The last thing I needed for the project is the light and the reflective surface. For the surface, I got the material from a senior that she left over from her capstone. I will be laser cutting it out with cutouts so that the vertical rods can go through.

As you can see, I used the el wire at the end which I will explain later in the presentation part. But one of the difficult that I had is with the light. Even though the whole mechanism went smoothly, the light that I bought just wasn’t flexible enough. The el-wire could almost be moved, but still, it wasn’t enough. I just wish that I could give my self more time on the installation of the light.

Presentation

I remembered when Eric said to me that it looked like a struggling snake and it did. The light is struggling to move and I don’t think it was the motor having a lack of power. The audience knew what it was: a snake, but the light wasn’t quite like a snake yet. There wasn’t much criticism except for the fact that the snake isn’t moving as it should. Nick didn’t know what went wrong exactly as I worked with him on the project several times. I thought that there is more rubber needed in the opposite direction and the light should be more flexible. Also, the measure of everything like the cut out for the surface should be more precise. The final effect of the light should look like this.   

Conclusion

Although the light was a disappointment and a failure, the creation of the mechanism was still a success. What I learn from the project is to give equal distribute the time equally so I can give enough attention to each part. When creating a plan for a project, time management is a very important part because it determines whether a project is achievable in a certain amount of time. Also, I should think about an alternate plan that works well if the original plan doesn’t work. What I realized after the project is that I could make better use of the mechanism such as having long el wire dropping down and controlling the height and the speed with the mechanism I created. Something like that would be a much better substitute instead of something that partially works. 

Nick told me that I should keep everything clean so that it is good to present. Since I have the reflective panels as one of the focal points of the project, I should keep better care of it and not have any specks of dirt on it. Overall, I was a bit too confident in that the light will definitely work out at the end which it didn’t.