interactive sound installation

Soundcolors is an across-the-board musical installation for all! Music transcends beyond boundaries and barriers. Emphasizing this phenomenon with our technological capabilities, we developed this unique installation 'Soundcolors' including five terminals called ‘Beat Puzzle', 'Carpet of Distance', 'Sound mirror', 'Swing ding dong' and 'La Curbelle' for Fondation EME. Through very simple body dynamics, this installation allows people with no prior musical knowledge or with restricted physical abilities to create melodies and play chords together offering an inclusive musical experience for everybody.

The ‘Beat Puzzle’ is the main station of the five terminals. As the name suggests, it’s an amalgamation of a puzzle-like game played with different cards and a musical beat-producing mechanism. Six cards depicting abstract icons are placed on the side mounts of the station. On top of the terminal, four squares constitute the playfield and mark where the cards need to be placed. Each card placed on one of the squares produces a different percussive sound. By adding and interchanging cards a beat is created that can be more or less complex.

The ‘Carpet of Distance’ works with proximity, it measures the distance between the user and the stele. The carpet in front of it has four different icons printed on them which correspond to the icons on the stele. Each time the user steps on an icon on the carpet, the corresponding icon on the stele lights up and plays a chord. By moving forward and backward on the carpet a chord progression is created. A motion sensor mounted on the stele correlates the player's position with the according chord.

The ‘Sound Mirror’ interacts with the user through motion detection, it translates movement into sound. As soon as the user appears and dances in front of the installation, melodies are produced. The sound gets amplified and the speed of the produced melody increases through vigorous movements of the user. A colourful array of lights dashing on the ‘mirror’s’ screen generates an abstract reflection of the player’s body movements.

The ‘Swing Ding Dong’ looks like an experimental pendulum. Five spheres are suspended on strings on an incremental order of length from left to right. Each of the spheres plays a unique chord and the sound is amplified by pulling them to the extreme when the user pulls and pushes the spheres in a combination the chords make up a beautiful melody. The spheres give the user a very unique experience like a game of ball with a musical ambiance.

‘La Curbelle’ resembles a play area instrument. Hand-paddles mounted on the sides can be rotated in a circular motion. As soon as the player uses the paddles, sound altering effects are produced. They have an impact on the rest of the musical composition created by the other terminals. Depending on the speed and sense of rotation, a variety of effects are possible.