NIME 2014 (New Interfaces for Musical Expression)

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In this work, the categories of performance device, loudspeaker system and compositional structure are jumbled and merged: the members of the audience are invited to be a part of the piece, and find themselves holding in their hands the loudspeaker system itself, which they can interact with via physical and digital affordances. A population of 10 ‘sound balls’ is distributed amongst the performance space. Each ball contains a small WiFi-enabled computer, with loudspeaker and sensors (accelerometer and gyroscope). The balls can be ‘live coded’ from a host computer, running synchronised realtime generative audio software that incorporates the sensors’ activity into the sonic behaviour. They are fully portable and interactive, and are encased in generatively designed, digitally fabricated shells by architects reinhardt_jung.

The piece provides a tactile-acoustic experience that renders musical performance in a way that directly involves the acoustic properties of the delivery system. The small speakers are far from high-definition, but the music is composed with their resonant qualities in mind and the distributed sound produces a rich sonic effect. The composition can also utilise the vibrotactile potential of the speakers through contact with the body, and interactive gestures such as rolling or throwing can be used to produce further sonic effects such as Doppler shift. Such affordances allow the work to extend game-based approaches to composition and performance, such as the work of artists like The Hub, Nick Didkovsky, Jon Rose  and John Zorn. As with Jon Rose’s experimental works, this involves the audience in the gameplay.
Created by Ollie Bown (concept, composition, audio programming), with Dagmar Reinhardt (physical design) and Lian Loke (game/interaction design, choreography). The work has received additional support from Sam Ferguson (network programming, sensor programming) and Alex Jung (physical design).