Stringed Clavier

There are various ways to feel sound that cannot be seen. One of them is feeling sound through vibration. Sound waves are transmitted to humans by the sense of touch. Through the project I did at the college, I realized that there are ways to feel sound by eyes and hands, not ears and I wanted to apply this theory to the Stringed Clavier There project. First, I searched for conductive materials and then tested how much resistance it was when I touched them. The first material was aluminum foil and I made prototypes that some images were visible when I touched custom-made aluminum board by using Arduino and Processing. After that, I designed several acrylic models to create a new instrument with aluminum board. However, I faced some problems with conducting wires that connect the aluminum board and Arduino. In addition, it was difficult to solder the board and the wires because aluminum is not a material that is soldered easily. Although I succeeded in soldering them with special lead, the process of measuring the resistance from the aluminum board was complicated. I used Processing to give the feeling of a stringed instrument by swinging lines and applying an oriental pentatonic scale to the sound. There are five aluminum boards in the new instrument and the lines of the screen are changed with different sounds when touching each board. This interactive work is a new instrument that people can enjoy and stimulate sight, hearing, and touch. Overall, I thought that this project needed to develop design and aesthetic aspects; I wanted to create tangible and flexible interactive art to attract the audience's attention.

Let's try!

1. Click the center of screen.

2. Type 'a, s, d, f, g' on your keyboard.

3. Check a transition of strings on the image and listen to the sound.

For a better experience, please open this web page on your desktop so that you can use a keyboard.