Final Project Proposal By Ryan

Everything I have come up with is inspired by several following youtube videos

I see the potential and the charm that processing can achieve, I can make changing patterns based on algorithms which is very amazing. Geometry itself is already attracting for me, when it is combined and synchronized with music, it becomes even more amazing. And all of my idea are related to the sound and patterns. Also I have found library in processing used for sound visualization called Beads and Minim which are very useful for me.

Synthesizer

As what the title has revealed, this project is going to make a synthesizer based on processing and arduino. As what I have showed in the previous post

From 3:30 in this video is about a MIDI controller assembled by three keyboards which looks very interesting and inspiring. So this project is more based on touch, the processing part is just for supplement. I am thinking about using cupborads and cans to be the frame of a keyboard and the keys, also using plastic bags as pedals. The challenge is obvious, to arrange a huge amount of cans as keys to be different keys and make these sensitive, also the way of interaction is also a problem, am I going to tap them or hit them also needs to be decided. Also I have seen videos about musical instruments built on cans and the players just pat on these cans to make tunes. I need think of new ways of interaction and the way these keys are arranged to make interaction more interesting. The projet is for those who enjoys new ways of playing music, also the impact is going to be maybe adding a new way of playing music.

I have also find the conference called NIME, AKA New Interfaces for Musical Expression, very inspiring, there are many musicians in it discovering many new ways of interfaces. Following is their official website.

Compound sound visualizer

—— Fireworm Symphony  

This idea is very interesting and I really want to realize it, I was amazed by the music video called CYMATICS made by Nigel Stanford several years ago, you can find the video in the following link.

And also his personal website.

All of his works are very amazing, and this one which is related to the science of sound is one of most inspiring for me, and I really want to redo want he have done in the video to play with the resonance and sound waves. And I have done many researches on how to play with sound waves, and I find out three ways to do, Chaldni plate, lazer beam and water.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlSip26f0vA

Chaldni Patterns

For all of these visualizers need amplifier to make sound waves and effect on the meduim, sand, water and light.

For the Chaldni Plate, I need a plain board that is connected to an amplifier to let it vibrate the plate, and I spread the sand on it at a minimum amount to make the pattern clear. The pattern will change based on the sound frequency and the changes are very obvious, the most important part for this visualizer is to make sure the balance of everything. 

For the lazer visualizer, I am going to use reflection to visualize the sound, so there is a glass attached to the amplifier to be vibrated, then the lazer will be shone on it to be reflected to a screen or wall or the water visualizer that I will mention later, the reflection of the lazer will show how the sound changes based on the frequencies. 

For the water visualizer, I need a plate that can hold an enough amount of water while the water will not spill out when it vibrates with the amplifier. This visualizer will only work at a low frequency as if the frequency is too high, the water will be easily vibrated out of the plate to make a mess, so this visualizer will only be representing the bass.

I will simulate the motion of fireworm using processing and is controlled by gyroscope to trigger the strings on the screens to make certain frequency to trigger the amplifiers. The sand reminds people of the river bank with sand, while the water reminds ponds and rivers, the razer reminds the nightglow, combining everything to form a night view with fireworms.

All these three visualizers will be seperate to make sure they will not influence each other. The interaction part will be by lifting the hand or other gestures to control the sound frequencies and also will control which visualizer is on or off to make a combination of different visualizers. Also the processing will also become a visualizer of sound. So this is why the project is called a compound sound visualizer.  This will be an amazing experience to play with sound, to see sound in different forms at the same time will be interesting for everyone.

Stardust

This project is about motion capture by using processing, I find the tutorial about video capture very interesting and want to extend interaction based on it.

So I can recognize myself and the objects, what I am going to do is to make two controllers on hand to represent that theses are my hands and they will be two centers in the processing. These two controllers will also have buttons to have more functions, what I am willing to do now is to make a particle system and we can play with the particles by using the joystick. We can wipe on the scream, also we can use our hands as centers to absorb the particles around. And the particles will be colorful just like stardusts, and I will try to make these stardusts interact with sound, so we can import music as background and the color of the dust will change according to the music. I consider this project as an experience, kind of like virtual reality that feels like being in another world. I will try to make this as an immersive experience.

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