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Musical Device- Does It Exst or Need to be Invented- Sculptable Sphere of Sound



Has anyone seen or heard of those "futuristic music-making devices" of 
which
I remember, long ago, hearing a reference- or simply heard a prediction of
them, with the following basic form and structure- and if hasn't been
invented - Mark- you can work on it with me- LOL- but don't steal the idea!
LOL

Here is my idea of what the instrument would be...  since I only have a
vague memory of wherever I saw it before- I seem to remember a PBS special-
possibly NOVA- not the "It's About Time" special, with Dudley Moore- but
something more truly about music making instruments and possibly those of
the future...

The object in my mind sphere or ball-shaped, with a rubber or latex or
flexible surface, and would be moldable like clay.  Underneath the external
covering the are hundreds or thousands of sensors.  The sensor extends from
the middle of the device which inherently has a bagpipe-like structure.  
But
with a high-tech electronic processor core kind of like the new Apples but
without that flat screen popping out from a rod in the top...  I'd assume 
at
this point it would be powered from within the core of the ball and also
wireless so that there would be no need to leave any part of the surface
untouchable... Each sensor under the surface of the "skin" corresponds with
a different sound.  I suppose there are axes defined which assist in
defining the nature of the sound produced at any given point when it is
touched.  The device I remember would have been played by the hands by 
doing
whatever hands can do- it could be massaged, or struck.  Or tapped.  Etc.
Note that in my own mental version of this device as I think about it, this
device would feel like those old Stretch Armstrong balls in the hands, as
the hands work with the ball.  OOH- and that leads to an interesting
thought:  what if there was a layer of viscous substance in between the
sensor layer and the skin surface?  This would make the hand movement flow
more easily and could lead to an interesting effect as the viscous liquid
was heating up.  Anyway- just a random thought there...

I visited http://www.filmsound.org/articles/ninecomponents/9components.htm
and found a definition of nine components of sound.  I started thinking of
how these would be defined in this device and I make the following guesses
(I feel like I have so much to do but I'm also chasing waterfalls on the
inspirational sort tonight):
"Music components":
* Pitch  - defined by position of the sensors touched by the playing tool
(assuming fingers and palms of hands, or other parts of hands- but possibly
anything, for this device) along the various axes defining the specific
pitch at the location where the tip of each underlying sensor comes into
contact with the skin?  Also here's a question- how would one define pitch
in a non-bi-directional, but truly multidirectional instrument?
* Timbre - would this be the overall nature of the specific sounds produced
by the machine at any specific moment in time?
* Harmonics - this would be dependent, I think, upon the quality of the
device as manufactured, the talent and skill of the player, and the number
of sensors available - the coordination in the audio processor of all the
sounds produced by all the sensors coming into contact with the hands or
parts of hands as the instrument player plays the "ball"?  The management 
of
the sound so that the hypothetical wave crests and troughs associated with
the sounds where the device is being touched by multiple fingers
simultaneously?
* Loudness - this would be partly managed by overall combination of sensors
hit AND the depth at which they are hit AND the pitches (or timbre?) of the
sensory points being stuck or massaged to produce sound?
* Rhythm- I envision this device as primarily melodic, but any person with
the musical sense of someone like Bobby McFerrin - who I think can makes 
two
sounds at once in this throat(?)- could probably make this percussive or
both percussive and melodic...
"Sound envelope components":
I'm thinking that in designing these parts of the device the model would
come from percussive instruments?
* Attack - defined by speed of the hand in making contact (does this sound
right?)  From merely slapping the "skin" in an area to "pushing gently" 
into
it?
* Sustain - defined - hm - by the timing or duration of the placement or
contact of the instrument-playing tool- finger or (part of) hand- stays and
then slides off or away from a specific sensory point on the ball surface?
* Decay - defined by the - hm - perhaps by the amount of time the "skin"
sensory area, just touched, takes to return to it's original position after
the finger (or part of hand) moves away?  But with regard to "reverb" -
could this BE defined on the surface?
* ** I assume that there would be greater power in this instrument is it 
was
a partner effort:  you have the player playing the ball, then you have
someone managing the audio output...
"Record and playback component":
* Speed  - the pace of the movement of hand, hands, fingers, etc. along the
surface of the ball?
 OK...

So I'm no master of any instrument, but I felt the desire to pass this
on.... Particularly because I kept hearing ads today for the "Invention
Submission Corporation" and I thought- if this has not been invented- we
should invent it!!!!

-----Original Message-----
From: Tim Thompson [mailto:tjt@nosuch.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 15, 2002 8:52 PM
To: 'Mark Sottilaro'; Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
Subject: MIDI looping

> How do you do you're MIDI loops?

I usually do them with a program called typo(),
which I wrote using KeyKit.  When I run typo(),
the computer keyboard becomes my controller -
each keypress (such as pressing the letter 'A')
triggers a note or phrase.

If I am holding down the SHIFT key when I press
the letter 'A', the note that it plays
will be added to the current loop.
The loop plays continuously, and I can
play along with it or add things to it.
I can switch between 10 different loops
by pressing '0' through '9'.
I can process the MIDI data in a loop
(for example, control-W followed by 'F'
will apply a fractal algorithm to the current loop).

Some documentation can be found here:

   http://nosuch.com/keykit/doc/lib/typo.html

An MP3 file of a performance with typo() is here:

   http://nosuch.com/audio/wsh/2001/07_thompson.mp3

That performance was improvised live (only the drum patterns
were pre-determined), using only typo() and me typing
on a computer keyboard in my lap.

Recently I've also been doing MIDI looping using
playstation dance pads as a controller -
see http://nosuch.com/tjt/wsh2002.html
for a little description of that.

    ...Tim...