Research and Development
Project research and development
Our initial plan was to research the production of customised musical instruments which will interface with a bespoke piece of audio computer software designed in collaboration with Midlands based programmer Ben Neal.
The instruments were to be a hybrid of computer interfaces, such as keyboards and mice, and traditional guitar or violin, drum or woodwind shapes. They will function as playable devices and also as sculptural objects.
The period of research so far has identified that the type of audio software we were asking Ben to produce is already commercially [and often freely] available. The focus of Ben’s involvement shifted to producing some kind of interactive visual accompaniment to the music produced by custom instruments. For example, a computer game which is controlled by playing a musical instrument.
Having identified the software we intend to use to create the sounds for the instruments, Audiomulch, we have begun to develop an instrument interface based on transducer microphones - for example, transducers hidden inside the body of a guitar, which cam be played by tapping on the guitar, or manipulating it in some other way. The signal from the transducer, which is a kind of contact mic, is then processed by Audiomulch into musical tones.
This interface means that the instrument operator has far greater control over the velocity, rate and length of the sounds produced, which is more like a normal musical instrument. This is far better that the computer input interfaces, using keyboards etc, which we had originally planned, as these input devices would simply be used to trigger pre-recorded samples, rather than the generative process using the transducers.
The new interface also means that we are not restricted by the forms for computer input devices such as keyboards and mice – the instruments we build can be any shape or size and can fulfill our wish to make instruments that are both playable and sculptural. To this end we have begun researching the use of rapid prototyping to produce the form of the instruments. We visited Birmingham University where Geoff Dolman very kindly gave us a tour of the Materials and Metallurgy department and we plan to return for a further visit to look at their ‘Reality Lab’ facility.
More Information on Ben Neal and his Work
Ben Neal has his own small business, Psicon Lab (www.psiconlab.co.uk), which produces software for the creative industry, such as his Phlumx VJ programme. Phlumx is used to trigger, mix and scratch digital video and flash files with sound. The programme is intuitive to use, particularly in a live situation.
Juneau Projects has worked with Ben Neal previously on the design of the software for ‘The Juneau Records Superserver’, a kind of audio/video jukebox which toured the USA and UK. and on the computer game piece ‘Beneath the Floorboards of the Forest, Empty Space’ for the exhibition and tour from Ikon, Birmingham.
juneau/projects/ (January 2007)
Also see: www.vivid.org.uk/projects.php?work=25
The initial research and development phase was funded by VIVID, Birmingham through its Interdisciplinary Research Programme. For more information on VIVID and ISP please visit www.vivid.org.uk or email info@vivid.org.uk VIVID and ISP gratefully acknowledge financial support from the European Social Fund through EQUAL and Arts Council England.
