Aubrey Colter, Don-Derek Haddad, Brian Tice, Patlapa Davivongsa, Halla Moore and Hiroshi Ishii

Abstract

SoundFORMS creates a new method for composers of electronic music to interact with their compositions. Through the use of a pin-based shape-shifting display, synthesized waveforms are projected in three dimensions in real time affording the ability to hear, visualize, and interact with the timbre of the notes. Two types of music composition are explored: generation of oscillator tones, and triggering of pre-recorded audio samples. The synthesized oscillating tones have three timbres: sine, sawtooth and square wave. The pre-recorded audio samples are drum tracks. Through the use of a gestural vocabulary, the user can directly touch and modify synthesized waveforms.