The SynthMonster is an exploration in digital music synthesis and interface. The goal of SynthMonster is to create a musical interface that explores the relationship between musical creation and the physical world in an engaging way. The SynthMonster is an object of discovery that helps the user rethink the link between an object's physical movement and sound. It is a way to challenge and explore pre-conceived notions about the way music is created. For example, how can we design an instrument without keys, buttons, or strings? What kind of sounds would it make? How would you hold it? What if there was no obvious orientation? The SynthMonster is an attempt to answer these questions.

Most of all it is a fun way to make noise.

Video

Goals

• To explore musical interfaces and challenge my own pre-conceived ideas
• To develop a successful interaction. A strong sense of personality or an enjoyable core interaction was necessary.
• To focus on the craft/elegance/physical properties of the device.
• To make something that was fun and enjoyable to use.

Process

Iteration 1

Iteration 1 was my first exploration into this non-traditional interface. In general, most musical interfaces (especially those of the modern era) are angular, cold, and of an unforgiving space race style, so I was interested in seeing what could be done with curves, soft lines, and warmth. The first thing that came to my mind was teddy-bears. I thought that this would be an interesting interface.

The idea was that behavior that we normally associate with interacting with teddy bears (i.e. holding them, hugging them, swinging them by the arms, etc) would elicit unexpected musical responses. Perhaps a hug would start the music building, while moving their arms would play drums. I wanted to make sure that this interaction was not too obvious, however, and I had a hard time grasping how to map the sounds in an ambiguous way. Also, in user test and discussions with my peers, many people felt that the bears would have too much of a nostalgia around them to be effective in the way I was hoping. While much of what drew me to use these toys was this very thing (the remapping of preconceived notions of interface with implicitly non-musical devices) I could see that this stumbling block would not be one easily overcome by my users. Also, did it really matter what interests me in these areas, when the goal is to create something that brings joy and intrigue to a larger group?

Iteration 2

This brought me to the second iteration. In this I decided to house the same physical sensors that I had devised for the bears in a feature-less ball of fur. I felt that this would provide some of the same emotional response I was looking for in the bears, while easily declaring itself a separate entity, one to be used in a new and exciting way. I tried several different furs, and my tests showed that the standard teddy bear fur was the most liked.

I also experimented with different sizes of the device, from roughly the size of a toddlers first, all the way up to a small soccer ball. In the end, I chose to go with a softball-sized shape. It got the best response out of my tests, and would be easy to handle. (However, I am still not sure if this was the best choice, and would like to explore some additional sizes still). The SynthMonster, as I began calling him, used a gyroscope to detect its x and y tilt. I fed this information into the PIC chip that creates the music. I decided to have the x-tilt control the speed of the sound being created, and the y-tilt affect the pitch. At first, I had the chip randomly choosing between the 12 notes from middle C (c4) to c5 (the octave above middle C). This created a very unpleasant sound, so I changed this from the C, E, F, G, and B notes, which are the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 7th, respectively, in the key of C. Extending the range from c1 to c8, increased the musical note option from 12 notes to 41. In addition, I experimented with different time signatures and patterns. At first, the notes were completely random, but this made it impossible to detect the pitch changes. For the second round, I used an alternating pattern between c5 and a random note. With this implementation the user could discern the pitch change in the c5 note, causing a much more responsive impulse. After trying many more experiments, I settled on a 3/4 time signature with a twice-repeating pattern (random note 1, random note 2, c5; random note 1, random note 2, c5). My hope with this pattern was that it would create a more easily understood sound pattern, causing the user to interact with it more as a musical instrument than an object of curiosity.

Conclusion and Future Directions

The final implementation, housed in the ball of fur, seemed to be a success with those that tested it, though there were many failings that I found.

First, I saw the need for more sensors and a depper for interaction. Photosensors, flex sensors, heat sensors, proximity sensors, motion sensors, and touch sensors could all have been used quite effectively in enriching the experience.

Secondly, I would the music created needed to be more complex. Randomly generated noise was fun for some, but I know that a more mature and subtle orchestration would truly engage most users. The PIC chip might be a little limited for this, so researching other methods of sound production could be important. Also, it might be fun for the user to be able to upload their own folder of sounds to the SynthMonster. This could be pre-recorded mp3s perhaps or maybe the midi data used to outline more sophisticated instrumentation.

Lastly, I was still curious if an interface with a little bit more personality, such as the Thingamagoop, was not the way to go. It could be as simple as having an eye-like opening that acts as a proximity sensor. I feel that adding some character to the creature would elicit a more emotional response.