The project started with a brief I set myself:
"Make live performance using a Eurorack modular synthesiser system more accessible"
As it stands, if someone wants to perform using Eurorack, they need hundreds if not thousands of pounds worth of modules, not including the huge cost of a case, power supply, patch cables, and other accessories. Given the immense benefits to modular in a performance environment, especially in experimental genres, I decided to design a product which would allow beginners with only small systems to begin performing live.
The project began with a lot of research - the elements of a product like this that are necessary, useful, or not needed all needed to be determined before a final form could begin to take place.
To begin with, analyses were performed of other products in similar fields to determine which features were common across professional audio fields, which were unique, and which were currently unique but might be employed in Eurorack to fulfil the aims of the project.
The identified features and design styling were then iterated upon with various concepts in sketches to begin to develop the product's feature set and appearance.
Some concepts were ideated in CAD to allow the material and other physical choices to be evaluated, including illuminated button colours and textures. The features chosen in the concepts were also combined in further sketches, as well as evaluated using Pugh matrices.
At this point in the development process it had become clear that some form of looping would be an ideal way to allow users with fewer modules, specifically fewer voices, to begin to layer entire tracks during a live performance. More in-depth analysis and development was performed to determine the exact implementation of the looping, including flowcharts and storyboards of the retrospective looping process.
More complex and considered approaches to the details of the interface also took place, including CAD ideation and sketching.
At this stage, more complete sketches and CAD were materialising, and a final product appearance was developing.
Following the creation of more in-depth CAD models, card models were created to allow ergonomics to be evaluated and developed, and more consideration was applied to details such as manufacturing.
A final initial proposal was created to present to potential users, which entailed a dimensionally and materially accurate CAD model, rendered as photorealistically as possible to aid evaluation.
