New Expressive Digital Instrument

Bare Conductive have collaborated with designer and musician Vahakn Matossian from Human Instruments to create an exciting new expressive digital instrument. They say that, unique in its form and output, this physically dynamic instrument uses code as a means to allow for complex musical expression.  This project won the Graham Massey (808 State) choice award at Music Tech Fest in Sweden - "It's a really expressive instrument that can be useful to everyone. I can't wait to have a go on it!" - Graham Massey (808 State)

Here's more details direct from the designers:

Created using the Touch Board and Electric Paint, this instrument can be used by musicians with ranging levels of mobility and strength to compose and create expressive sound.

The goal of this project is to create expressive instruments that take into account musicians with physical constraints, and to use technology to make new instruments that are inclusive to anyone wishing to engage with music.

The instrument works via two highly responsive sets of sensors painted with Electric Paint which communicate with the Touch Boards. One controls the chord, and the other selects the note. Sipping and blowing the breath sensor or rolling fingers over stripes of paint on the wooden panels also manipulates the sound being played and allows for a huge range of musical expression.

When introduced to the instrument for the first time, composer Cosmo Sheldrake was struck by its physical form, "The way [it is] laid out presents a whole other language of sensitivity and touch and texture. It's a really interesting way of coming up with chord shapes that I'm unfamiliar with. I've thought a long time about trying to liberate the MIDI controller from the keyboard form ... this is a cool way of doing that and it seems to open a lot of possibilities."

For Vahakn and Bare Conductive, creating a physically dynamic instrument was tantamount to achieving complex musical expression with code. Vahakn "understands how fine control of an instrument allows a musician to express emotion and musicality" said Stefan Dzisiewski-Smith from the Bare Conductive technical team.

"We implemented this in a number of ways in the instrument, from partly variable note-to-note delays (to stop the instrument sounding robotic) to linking the pressure sensor to MIDI CC breath control messages. One of the most interesting elements of this was using the continuous data from the capacitive sensing platform on the Touch Board to provide velocity data for chord inversion – allowing a lot of modulation with a small number of contact points."

Human Instruments and Bare Conductive are excited about the possibilities of musical expression this prototype opens, and are encouraging others to use Electric Paint and the Touch Board as a platform for further experimentation in the area.

Bare Conductive is a design and technology startup based in East London. The company designs and manufactures a suite of conductive materials, hardware, and kits that connect any surface, object or space to the digital world.

Human Instruments is dedicated to the design and production of digital musical instrument interfaces for people with varying physical ability. Working closely with the British ParaOrchestra, we are developing the worlds first commercially available hands free instrument that will give its player total musical freedom of expression, with a resolution of sound as close as possible to traditional orchestral instruments.

More information:

• www.bareconductive.com
• www.humaninstruments.co.uk