Celeste Dorigo
Industrial Designer
The Soundelier is one of the newest results of the project: ‘Designing a Group Music Improvisation System’. This piece of musical art combines the old with the new, the familiar with a twist and the specific with the general. The musical instrument is all about turning movement into sound and triggering every possible user. By making the woollen wires move, you can create a symphony.
The second quartile was spent on the development of our idea into a concept, starting by brainstorming on ways to execute our idea. Several options came up, but eventually we chose a way of determining the location of the hand by wires that start moving.
For the moment we made our conclusion the prototyping was separated in two streams. The technique stream was all about the possibilities we had with this idea and our options for the presentation on the Final Demoday. I have not been part of this side. Because of forced absence it would be more valuable to work on the other side of the design. The Form and Senses aspect got a lot of attention. Every aspect and every detail is thought over until we had the exact experience we wanted to create for users. The final result is the Soundelier and the experience prototype.
At the 21st and 22nd December the Soudelier was presented to guests of the Final Demoday. We had an experience prototype, a technical prototype and a pitch brought by me. The feedback was documented carefully.
To finish up the project a report was written. Everyone did a part of the text and had an extra assignment. My attention went to the reflection and I philosophized about the future of this concept. Using the feedback I analysed the result and the process. One of the reactions we got on the Demoday was the reaction of a potential buyer. The group assigned me as the most capable to keep this contact.
Process
The project started in September and the team started by getting on the same level. Shared timetables were made and everybody mentioned his or her expectation of the upcoming semester.
The other time of the first quartile was mostly used for researches. Mind maps were used to explore the actual meaning of the project. A lot of attention from this project goes to the group and making music together. Tasks were divided between the designers. We looked at the individual, duo, band and public feedback loops. This was used as inspiration for our first brainstorm. The result of this brainstorm was 3 ideas.
We decided to continue working on these 3 ideas until they were detailed enough for presenting at the first Demoday. My collegues worked on a video showing the core of two of our concept. The other two group members, Nik and myself, focussed on creating a small keyboard to express the third idea. This system had to have 8 tones that could switch places with one click. I contributed to the production by designing and making the physical part (the small piano and the circuit).
On the Midterm Demoday one table represented our group. On the table there were two laptops with clips and a piano that made sound, but could not switch tones. After advice from our coach we presented our three ideas claiming we had already made our choice, the piano. Hereby we wouldn’t only get feedback on which one, but also on the further development.
During the RSDL-weeks the feedback was analysed. A large amount of people had reacted very unexpected. The visitors liked the other two idea a lot more than they did the piano. Therefore we continued working on a fusion of the other two ideas, an instrument that reacts on random hand movement.
SOUNDELIER
