Arthur Ganson-Thinking Chair

Machanical Sculptures

Untitled Fragile Machine - Arthur Ganson

Final write up

Music is movement for the soul and can be thought of as an expression of the human spirit. We are often in our most inspired state whilst listening to music.

As a group of students we have chosen to find music in technology. Our intention has been to create an audio expression from a simple 3 dimensional makerbot print. Our constructed device used to extract this expression is called Melodybot.

Melodybot is built from the original Makerbot chassis file and laser cut from 6mm hardboard. Mounted in the chassis is a turn-table, sourced from an old record player, upon which a 3 dimensional print is placed. Mechanical arms “read” the print and electronics interpret and play sounds related to the geometry of the print. Sound is captured both audibly and numerically with computer software.

Final Images.

composition of reader arms

Text/ures..

figuring out the x and y coordinates in relation to the notes on the electronic organ

Altering x and y in excel.

The altered print, replicator G shows a live trace of each layer, plotting the z and y coordinates and referencing the z.

INPUT... To change the melody once a makerbot print has been made, the x and y coordinates on each layer need to be altered in the same position (for example (x2.0 Y 4.0) between the z6.0 to z11. The z position changes which organ will play the altered piece.

MelodyBot an audio expression.

This video represents the final expression of MelodyBot and displays how MelodyBot is played to create an audio expression of a 3D MakerBot print.

Final Construction of the three electric Organs

Reactive Design

Wiring Up.

James wiring up the MelodyBot components.

Melodybot write up

Okay so Yanisa and I were asked to write up brief description, for presentation, about what our group is aiming to achieve and present it in a way that relates to the over all aesthetic. The write up is as follows:

Music is movement for the soul and an expression of the human spirit. We are often in our most inspired state whilst listening to. We, as a group of students, have chosen to find music in technology. Our intention is to craft an audio expression from a simple makerbot three dimensional print. Our method involves reading the profile of a physical makerbot print object and converting or interpreting, digitally, the knowledge into an expressive audio output.

Music is such an expressive form of celebration that its very nature is quite meaningful for such a simple pleasure. It is noted that by aesthetics it is meant not just to count towards the ‘look’ of what is being expressed but rather the entire complexity as a whole that we as a group are trying to achieve together. The aesthetic of our project stems from the combined inspiration and idea of our group of 11 students that we’ve drawn from.

A key component behind what the melodybot does is mathematics. The ‘mathematics of sound’ is the brain function, while the music is the soul and the melodybot print is the body. There is a combination of different mathematics behind the music from the physicality of the melodybot, right through to the programming of how we reinterpret the prints into music. Using computer software and simple geometry we are able to design and create prints that are all about the music.

The melodybot part is a modified version of an original makerbot. The chassis of a makerbot has been altered so that a melodybot casing can be created. Inside the melodybot is a turn table, sourced from an old record player, upon which the print is placed. This print is ‘read’ by melodybot and converted into digital information that we can analyse, understand and alter in some way with a computer. As the melodybot plays, it tells a musical story of the print.

MelodyBot Object Print.

light projector

Team Effort.

Makerbot prints to play

Each circle represents where the note will change.

eletronic organ key board

The Keyboard Instruments

A keyboard instrument is the set of adjacent depressible keys on a musical instrument. The piano is an obvious example. Keyboards contain keys for playing the notes of the musical scale, for instance, 12 notes of the Western musical scale, repeating at the interval of an octave. Depressing a key on the keyboard causes the instrument to produce sounds. On electric and electronic keyboards, depressing a key connects a circuit, for example, in Hammond organ, digital piano or synthesizer.
The keyboard musical instruments include the piano, referred to as a pianoforte in the earlier centuries especially during the 17th and 18thcenturies, and various types of electronic keyboard, harpsichord and organs. Grand, upright and electric pianos feature a single set of black and white keys, usually 88 of them and covering seven octaves. Electronic keyboards often stop at five octaves. The organs and harpsichords tend to have more than one set of keys, or manuals (the term distinguishes keys depressed by the fingers from foot-operated pedals. The harpsichord makes a sound when 'jacks' pluck strings and the pipe organ, when air is blown through a pipe by an electronic blower.

A List of Common Keyboard Instruments
Piano - is technically classed as a percussion instrument because its sound is made by hammers hitting strings when a player presses the keys.

The piano developed at the beginning of the 18th century. Its basic form has changed little since the middle of the 19th century, but the 20th century saw the growth of a broader range of instrument, including mini upright pianos and electric keyboards. A facility on the piano gives access to music written in a wide range of musical styles.

Electronic Keyboard - is an electric musical instrument whose popularity started in the late 1960s, was at its height during the 1970s and still is popular today. It is usually the choice of children. One big attraction is that it can be played with headphones. In the late 1980s, some electric pianos have built-in speakers and enlarged like a small upright piano.

Harmonium - a term used to describe all pedal or hand-pumped free reed instruments, that is, those in which a reed vibrates freely without touching or being touched by anything. The harmonium has been superseded by the electronic keyboards, but the smaller, more portable Indian version, is still popular. The European harmonium is similar to an upright piano and often used in churches and drawing rooms of the Victorian era.

Harpsichord - is a forerunner of the piano, the harpsichord has two sets of keys, known as manuals, and its strings are plucked, rather than struck. The spinet is a small harpsichord. Electronic versions are sometimes used in performance as a substitute.

Organ - has a variety usually found in churches. Organ can be pipe, electronic, or the blown-air. They have one or more keyboards, known as manuals, and a pedal board, which makes playing a complex feat of coordination and technique. The electronic organ became popular before the electronic keyboard. Today, for its portability, the electronic keyboard is a better choice.

Hearing These Instruments
The piano has a range of music wider than any other instrument. It is usually heard as a solo instrument and accompaniment in classical settings, jazz improvisation, and popular works of different types. The range of sounds created by electronic keyboards is very well explored in popular, as well as modern classical music. The pipe organ is best heard in church, the harpsichord in early music ensembles, while the Indian harmonium is heard largely in Indian classical music.

Keyboard Instrument Players
Keyboard instruments require a number of complex and challenging skills. The first is manual dexterity, although it is possible to play keyboards with restricted finger movement; second is the expectation that both hands develop independence and strength; finally, is the ability to simultaneously read two lines of music written on two staves, each allocating contrasting lines and spaces to different note names. The organ magnifies all this by having several manual keyboards, plus a pedal board that requires an independent movement of each foot. At least electronic keyboards help by doing some of the hard work for the player.
Playing the piano is not as easy at it looks, but often, many good pianists make it look like it is. The answer is practice and lots of it. While it is easy to make a sound on the piano compared perhaps with some of the wind instruments, constant practice of the skills required should not be taken for granted.

making of "the Box"

Object Reader.

A couple of shots showing how the electronic organ is being attatched to the MelodyBot.

Hard at Work.

Development of the horn and object reader in progress.

Development Board Stage Two.

silhouette and shadow

This is a really cool effect of shadow of the object that have show on the wall.

the horn

the solidworks model of the horn, for use of developing working dimensions, for the physical model (images to come soon)

puzzles

measuring and cutting frame for horn.

Working Drawing - Reading the Print

Progression

Wallpaper Hunt

Searched secondhand and paint shops and found some plain wallpaper from the salvation army. Found this print at resene and were able to order 3x 1 metre samples for free! Sending an email to see if we can score some more. We are going to apply the wallpaper to a framework to form the horn.

We now have max recording a list of frequency numbers of the sound input. These numbers will be used to alter the original g-code of a makerbot print to create a new version of the original form.

Development Board.

A Scrap Book composition of the development of MelodyBot.

The Legs.

The girls in action, constucting the legs for MelodyBot.