MAKING THINGS INTERACTIVE
"The Percussion Kit"
"The emotional and experiential values of sound suggest an opportunity for establishing a deep relationship between people and interactive devices, products, and services. The human appreciation of rhythm is a good resource for grounding this relationship, alongside the related fundamental capabilities of human nature, such as equilibrium, effort, and pace."
Cumhur Erkut, Antti Jylhä, and Davide Rocchesso - Heigh Ho: Rhythmicity in Sonic Interaction
Interaction design is the practice of designing interactive products, environments, systems, and services. This practice is a development from the fields of Human-Computer Interaction and it’s User-Interface Design concepts.
This project’s primary technology for interaction design is Arduino. Arduino is a micro-controller, that can have code known as a ‘sketch’ uploaded to it to conduct an action. Sensors and/or components are attached to the Arduino through wiring to expand on the micro-controller, allowing for a number of uses. Therefore, a basic understanding of electronics is key to working with this technology. Arduino's are very useful for prototyping digital and electronic ideas in a relatively simple, and cost-effective manner.
This final concept is an interactive percussion system, based around four piezoelectric sensors. These sensors are housed in four snare-like wooden objects, and when struck with either your hand, or an object, a percussion sound will emit from the connected computer. This idea involves prototyping a contemporary-style drum machine, that is easy to use and accessible.
design process
I began the project by researching how sound, interaction design, and product sound design have been utilised previously. I came across a book titled 'Sonic Interaction Design' which inspired a lot of work done within this project.
I then looked at how the Arduino technology had been used by the public to create and prototype drum machine solutions. I utilised this information to further develop my idea, and improve on concepts that had been presented. This lead me to explore the material aspect of the percussion system, as this had been forgotten in a lot of DIY projects, and showed a need for development.
A high number of iterations occurred during the experimentation and prototyping. Exploration in wiring, coding, and software was conducted to improve the final prototype as much as possible.
