Sitting behind a laptop is boring, but how do you of prototypes. The first was constructed from a invent a new musical instrument for “playing” clothes hanger, guitar string, and DV tape. Later, he the computer? Musician and interactive designer settled on suspended metal rods for pressure. The Ben Dove needed a new solution, and he didn’t motion tracking system uses a webcam connected want to simply mimic traditional instruments. to the free PC software Eyes Web, which “watches” So he started with the sensing technology first. reflected laser dots on the player’s fingers.
His “String Thing” uses a combination of laser- The work has paid off: while Dove has more powered motion tracking, metal rods for sensing refinements planned, the instrument is already finger pressure, and even a vibration system for fun to play. Dove’s own playing has been “trance physical feedback. Plug it into a computer, and you inducing, very droney,” but others have successfully can expressively play the rods with your fingers: tried it, too. Some attempted to pluck it, which position controls pitch, and pressure controls won’t work, but others “seemed to instantly get volume. The result may look like a strange robotic it — [their playing] sounded better than my efforts!” cello, but playing it is a totally new experience. Move over, Stradivarius, Theremin, and Les Paul:
If this sounds hard to perfect, it was. Dove admits there’s a new axe in town. —Peter Kirn getting the positioning system to work was a nightmare. “I spent so long trying things,” he says. “I just >>String Thing’s construction: people. interaction-ivrea. could not believe it was such a big deal!” The current it/ b.dove/string_thing/ model, Dove’s thesis project at Italy’s Interaction
Design Institute Ivrea, is the latest of a long string Hear String Thing at makezine.com/04/made.
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