synesthesia

my project is based around the synthesis of hearing & vision, audio & video. the installation would consist of an enclosed room with bands of LED lighted panels along the floor, walls, & ceiling. four speakers are integrated into the walls. in the floor are pressure sensors, which take the average position of people in the room. in three places along the center of the room are microphone stands with directional microphones. viewers of the installation would be instructed to explore the space & try interacting with the microphones.

the position determined by the pressure sensors would produce a chord of audio (three synthesized notes) from the speakers around the room at a modest volume. once a viewer speaks into the microphone the frequency data will be used to make “chords” of light (three lighted bands) with the LED bands around the room (ultimately the viewer is intended to “sing” into the microphone, only simple humming would be necessary & would likely be encouraged by the audio from the room speakers).

my mock-up consists of a flex-sensitive resistor giving input for an LED array, producing “chords” of light, & a potentiometer producing a range of colors from an RGB LED. code after the picture:

/* project 1 - analog in/analog out */

int potPin = 2;    // select the input pin for the potentiometer (powered 5V)
int flexPin = 0;   // select the input pin for the FSR (powered 3.3V)

int bPin = 11;   // select the pin for the RGB LED & LED array
int gPin = 10;
int rPin = 9;
int aPin1 = 3;
int aPin2 = 5;
int aPin3 = 6;

int val = 0;       // variable to store the value coming from the sensors

int B = 0;         // variables for output
int G = 0;
int R = 0;
int a1 = 0;
int a2 = 0;
int a3 = 0;

int inB = 0;        //variables to prevent the code from being super buggy
int inG = 0;
int inR = 0;
int in1 = 0;
int in2 = 0;
int in3 = 0;

void setup() {
pinMode(bPin, OUTPUT);  // declare the led pins as OUTPUT
pinMode(gPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(rPin, OUTPUT);

pinMode(aPin1, OUTPUT);
pinMode(aPin2, OUTPUT);
pinMode(aPin3, OUTPUT);

Serial.begin(9600);     // diagnostic printout
}

void loop() {
val = analogRead(flexPin);  // read the value from the sensor, set to diagnostic variable

in1 = analogRead(flexPin);
in2 = analogRead(flexPin);
in3 = analogRead(flexPin);

if(in1 <= 250)              // LED 1 on array a1 = 0; if(in1 > 250 && in1 <= 375) a1 = map(in1, 251, 375, 0, 255); if(in1 > 375 && in1 <= 625) a1 = 255; if(in1 > 625)
a1 = map(in1, 626, 750, 255, 0);

if(in2 <= 125)              // LED 2 on array a2 = map(in2, 0, 125, 0, 255); if(in2 > 125 && in2 <= 375) a2 = 255; if(in2 > 375 && in2 <= 500) a2 = map(in2, 376, 500, 255, 0); if(in2 > 500)
a2 = 0;

if(in3 <= 125)              // LED 3 on array a3 = 255; if(in3 > 125 && in2 <= 250) a3 = map(in3, 126, 250, 255, 0); if(in3 > 250 && in3 <= 500) a3 = 0; if(in3 > 500 && in3 <= 625) a3 = map(in3, 501, 625, 0, 255); if(in3 > 625)
a3 = 255;

analogWrite(aPin1, a1);
analogWrite(aPin2, a2);
analogWrite(aPin3, a3);

inB = analogRead(potPin);    // set value to RGB variables
inG = analogRead(potPin);
inR = analogRead(potPin);

if(inB <= 340)                // BLUE LED B = 0; if(inB > 340 && inB <= 510) B = map(inB, 341, 510, 0, 255); if(inB > 510 && inB <= 850) B = 255; if(inB > 850)
B = map(inB, 851, 1023, 255, 0);

if(inG <= 170)                // GREEN LED G = map(inG, 0, 170, 0, 255); if(inG > 170 && inG <= 510) G = 255; if(inG > 510 && inG <= 680) G = map(inG, 511, 680, 255, 0); if(inG > 680)
G = 0;

if(inR <= 170)                 // RED LED R = 255; if(inR > 170 && inR <= 340) R = map(inR, 171, 340, 255, 0); if(inR > 340 && inR <= 680) R = 0; if(inR > 680 && inR <= 850) R = map(inR, 681, 850, 0, 255); if(inR > 850)
R = 255;

analogWrite(bPin, B);    // output RGB values to RGB pins
analogWrite(gPin, G);
analogWrite(rPin, R);

Serial.println(val);  //diagnostic printout
}

5urlS

Daniel Rozin – Weave Mirror
all of Rozin’s projects are extremely well engineered examples of physical computing. the weave mirror is a particularly beautiful expression of the integration of the digital & physical realms that expresses the reexamination of a very simple everyday object.

http://toddvanderlin.com/projects/sound-fountain

Todd Vanderlin – Sount Fountain
using water as an audio interface. audio samples are played when one interacts with the streams of water. interesting audio compositions in the video on the website remind me of electronic musicians such as Boards of Canada.

http://vimeo.com/8428779

Calum Scott – guitarglitch2
musical composition with solenoids! such an interesting dichotomy between the sweet tones of nylon strings vs. cold mechanical clicks. & a very interesting piece of music is the result.

http://vimeo.com/7723745

Christiane Keller – dataMetamorphose
a project which aims to equate physical characteristics like tension & motion to data sets. elegant execution & an interesting film.

http://www.vimeo.com/5244260

Alex Beim – Pixel Box Two
intriguing visual effect from a rather simple concept. it would be neat to see the lights use audio input.