The concept of this project is to use color sensor to manipulate Max8 to produce different sounds. I think color sensor is very different from other sensors because of its working principle. For example, if I am using an ultra sonic sensor, I can simple combine the distance with the volume or frequency. If I am using a light sensor, I can even use it as a switch. But it is difficult to combine color with sounds. I still don’t think I did the best, but at least I made the color as a message. For example, the red produce slow and high frequency sounds and the blue produce fast and middle frequency sounds. And white, it produce a suddenly sounds of broken glass. It will definitely catch the attention of the audience.
My intension is to express a story about forget. I use the phone ringings as the beginning which means a person is calling another person. It might be his lover, his friends or anyone else. But the other person didn’t answer the phone at the end of the story. Maybe she just forget to answer or she pretends not to notice this phone call. The ringing sounds is made in the whole process of my performance. It shows the waiting process of the caller. And the color sensor is a symbol of the person’s eye or heart. During the waiting time, he saw different things feel different emotions. At first, he was very nervous, then he calmed down, the he became nervous again. Again and again, until he forget his purpose of the phone call. He may forget the purpose of the calling, may forget the person he is calling, or forget to call her again. All in all, it is a story about forget. The two person forget each other generally.
From this project, I learned how to use Arduino to manipulate Max8 and record live sounds. I also learned how to use color sensor. From this class, I learned a new art form and to admire many new works. I knew many artists who make the experimental music. I successfully make the patches and circuits to produce sounds. I can use Max8 to express what I want to express. As for circuits, I can only find what I can express according the sounds I made. Because I can’t control what kind of sounds I can produce. I think this is what I can improve in the future. I admire Daniel very much because he can use the circuit to express what he wants to express.
I always make a connection between art and music I learned from this class. I think the biggest gain of this class is not the technique but the way to admire different art forms. I will never consider noise as art if I don’t take the course. I discovered a new angle to admire new interfaces for musical expression. I knew the art of noise, I knew the beauty of nature, I learned to listen not only by ears but also other organs, I learned sensor band, I learned the aesthetic of failure… This course provides me a platform to know some special arts. It is like a gallery. I know different arts, paintings by attending art galleries. And I know different form of music by attending this course. I really appreciate it because it can give me many inspirations and a new way to look at the world around me.
