Facing the Music

Final Assignment: Make a device to control playback of synthesized or pre-recorded music using MIDI.

Your device should support the following features:

• start and stop the playing of a note

• play multiple notes simultaneously

• sustain a note

• pitch-bend a note

Partner: Helen Zegarra

CONCEPT #1

Using several ultrasonic sensors, create a kind of "invisible" instrument controlled by your hand position. The sensors would play different notes depending on how close or far away you place your hands. We would map distance ranges for each note and having several sensors would permit the user from playing several notes at once. If the sensor does not receive any object it would stop playing anything. We're playing with the idea of adding a pedal to control volume.

CONCEPT #2

Using a joystick the user would scroll through notes or popular groupings of notes and play them using a pressure sensor. Depending on the amount of pressure on the sensor you would be able to regulate the volume.