learning the ropes

I built a rough foot pedal assembly for the rope & pulley system. I’m not quite sure what to make of it just yet, but it didn’t feel right. Previously, pulling the rope towards my body would trigger a note on the synthesizer. As I pulled with increasing speed, the pulley system would increase the volume of the note along with a sound modulating parameter. As I pulled with decreasing speed, the system would decrease the volume and modulation parameter. Once the pulley stopped rotating, the system would turn off the note on the synthesizer. Today, I changed my code so that the rope only controls volume and modulation. I used the two foot switches I built to trigger two different notes on the synthesizer. It felt a bit more like playing a piano with my feet. I felt like I couldn’t move as freely because my feet needed to be on the switches for the notes to stay on.

Ideas:
- Maybe there is an “initial state” of the instrument — akin to an open string on a guitar or violin. (This can be tuned to the user’s preference). This way, stepping off the footswitches still allows sound to occur when the rope is pulled.
- Does it make sense to allow more than one switch to be pressed at a time? I like the idea of being able to play intervals or simple chords with the system, but it doesn’t make sense with the string metaphor.
- This is the synthesizer setup — what about the sample playback setup? What experiments can I do there to push forward a bit?
- How do I capture a “gesture” with the rope like a rapid direction change?

During the course of this thesis project, I will develop a new electronic musical instrument that combines the expressive possibilities of large-scale human body motions with the sonic flexibility of computer-based synthesis into an intuitive live performance tool. Through frequent user-testing, a review of research in the field of New Instruments for Musical Expression, and specific attention to a disciplined creative process, this thesis will also investigate and comment on the relationships between tools and the work they are used to produce as well as the process a toolmaker goes through to develop an instrument.

I started working on this project as a sketch for Performing Technology last semester. It turned into my final project. You can look at the background information here.

Drawing #1

Straight-up blind contour drawing of a plant in my apartment. I tried to imagine moving my finger along the edge of physical model.

Drawing #2

Tracings… I started off trying to trace the lines on the surface of a jigsaw puzzle — what I was after was the physical experience of touching the object while drawing it. I found that tracing was the most gratifying way I could find to put my finger on the object I was drawing.

Drawing #3

A line-drawing which also explores contour. This drawing is composed of only three lines and plays with the idea that things have to be drawn first in order to be made. This drawing/object was drawn and made simultaneously.

Non-Drawing #1

There are a bunch of lines in this photograph. Many of them are implied as edges of objects — the contours these objects present. There is a flow of action in this photograph that proceeds from the upper left to the bottom middle. This is the most literal line here, but at the same time, each vehicle, while following the road is also following its own trajectory — an invisible line that is not shown here.

Notice how perspective affects the lines on the buildings. Because of the thirteenth floor vantage point from which I took this photo, the vertical lines on the building seem to be on a collision course somewhere below the street. You can even see that they start out thicker at the top of the building and grow thinner as they go down. It’s very interesting what our eyes (and camera lenses) do to lines that are in fact parallel (by measurement).