2010-11 Interaction Design Studio 1

As the project developed the idea of the jam session reminded, but with simple electronic sounds and percussions, while the idea of network was replaced by a simple idea. We found several meeting places which might encourage theatre like performances. Initially  the numbers of users wasn’t decided, but during the development of application we decided to allow a maximum of six participants to each performance. Each user can play only one instrument, so the final song is the ensemble of all the tracks of the different users. This permits a better interaction between users, and creates a simpler and more coherent final music track.

The graphics recall the music structure and regularity of pentagrams and other diagrammatic notations. A stencil font creates every  element of the application.

We researched sound and studied how the synthesizer works, what are filters, what kind of effects are commonly used in electronic music, and the common speed of  an electronic track (125 bpm). Initially we wanted to match an effect to each orientation of the phone (left, right, forward and back), but for a more clear track we decided to offer only two different effects.

The meeting places we identified by white spots on the map of Venice, if you click once on any of these points, the application tells you:

.. the name of the place selected;
.. how many users are missing from the maximum number;
.. if the performance has already started.

When you click twice on the chosen point, the application asks you if you want to get to the selected place and whether you have arrived.

We chose to divide the six instruments into two different graphic and music categories: percussion sounds and synth sounds. In the first we used closed shapes to reflect the drums’ structure and beat. For the second category, we used open forms to recall the spectrogram of wave shapes. Each symbols, and so each sound, is paired with a percussion instrument with which to interact during the performance, generating a third sound, of which we can only change the volume. The third sound is generated on beats in the same position within the tracks. We were inspired by the drum machine to place the sound and send the resulting in loop. The positioning grid of the beat is in sixteenths.

The first square of each line corresponds to the first quarter of each beat. When the user is satisfied by his composition track the instrument icon begins to pulse in correspondence to the beat position. In this loop we can change the volume, notes of track, and add two different filters that are activated when the IPhone is tilted forward or side words (distortion and delay). These filters graphically reflect the sound effects depending on the angle of inclination of the IPhone. We chose to limit the text within the application and let the user discover how to interact with the music and let the sound feedback of each movements.