Proposal

Proposal Project - MUS303 Interactive Sound Environments

Areas to be explored

This work will be exploring the ideas of data visualization, in particular with MIDI note information. The MIDI information is going to be received from an electric keyboard/piano. This may explore ideas around Toshio Iwai, with his “Piano - As Media Image” (Young, 2010). It will also look at performance based visualisation the same as Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto (Robin Chan, 2012).

Description of Project

For this project, I am proposing that I build an LED board that can be controlled with a Piano Keyboard. The basic principle will be that if I press a note on a keyboard, a specific corresponding LED will light up. It will also be possible to play multiple notes at once, which will light up simultaneous LED lights. As well as this, the lights will stay on for the length of sustain, this will include if a sustain pedal is used. It is unlikely that velocity will be taken into account at this point, but this may also be considered if the project leads that way.

What will this achieve?

When going to see live bands with keyboardists, they are often hidden behind keyboards, with little ability to express their skills with a visual indicator. This differs, for example, from a guitar player. A guitar player has his/her instrument facing the audience, and he/she can move about that stage freely to express the skills he/she possess. That being said, there is an instrument which can be used by keyboardists to reflect this very problem. A keytar. However, I found when watching live keytar players, that they are limited again to what they can do. Keytars are best played with one hand, which limits the skill of the player.

What the LED board will achieve, is a visual indicator of the skill and expression of the keyboardist. Not only that, audiences enjoy visual lighting during performances, and having lighting that is in time with the keyboardist can only increase the enjoyment of the show. Much the same way Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto do during their live performances.

So the aims of this project are:

• To create a way that LED’s can be lit by playing a keyboard
• The length of the LED should be controlled by length of note being played and/or through a sustain pedal
• The LED’s should be presented in a way that would be visually pleasing to an audience.

Breakdown of how to fulfill this task

1. The first task will be to get an LED to light up when triggered with a keyboard. This will be achieved with an Arduino and possibly MAX. This will break the boundary between getting a MIDI signal to activate the hardware and be the first major achievement.
2. Second task will be to get a set of LED’s to light up to a corresponding note. This will be achieved by starting small, maybe one octave. Then move on to the full length of a keyboard, most likely 49 keys. This will require working out how to differentiate the MIDI signal to a corresponding LED.
3. The next task will require getting multiple LED’s to light up when multiple notes are being played. The LED’s that light should be the correct corresponding LED. This will allow chords and full sequences to be played and light up the corresponding LED.
4. The last task will be further improvements. Ideally, the length of the LED’s should be able to be controlled with a sustain pedal as well. Further improvements will also include presenting the LED’s in an appropriate way for an audience. This may be with multiple coloured LED’s and laying out the LED board in a way that it attaches to the back of a keyboard, on a stage, microphone stand, or possibly person. Having a way to hide any external components (Arduino, cables) will also be considered.

Issues that I may come across

The most probable Issue that I will have to overcome will be working with hardware. Getting a single LED to light up when a MIDI note is being played is a fairly straightforward task. However, getting the Arduino and/or MAX to understand multiple notes being played simultaneously and the sustain and the note off signals will be more difficult. I believe this will be my biggest challenge.

I may also find that getting the LED’s to sustain with a pedal will also be challenge. This is because the Arduino will have to deal with even more signals being sent to control the LED’s. Finding a way for the Arduino to understand and process all this information with little delay will probably be a massive issue.

Bibliography

Robin Chan. (2012) Alva Noto Ryuichi Sakamoto Live in 2012. [Online] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ggEYoVKX_M [accessed 13 November 2014]

tcone. (2013) LED Piano Learning Strip. [Online] Available from: http://www.instructables.com/id/LED-Piano-Learning-Strip/ [accessed 13 November 2014]

Young, D. (2010) TOSHIO IWAI. [Online] Available from: http://www.inventinginteractive.com/2010/02/05/toshio-iwai/ [accessed 13 November 2014]