Modullo is part of an 8-week interaction design course where I dive into the world of sound, experimental music, and synthesizers
Brief: to create a MIDI instrument with interactions different from that of mainstream musical instruments so that it will allow people to experiment, explore, and perform sound and music in unique and unexpected ways.
What's out there
As part of the research I went through documents on experimental music, sonic interaction designs, and music theory. I even ended up making basic analog synthesizers which gave me a good grasp on the technical part of the project.
After research multiple concepts were generated and shortlisted the appropriate ones and tried prototyping for them.
Form + music
One of the interesting thoughts I had was how to use form as a driving force for the sound coming out of the device. Form being the input and sound being the output. There are examples where sound is converted to form but not the other way around. what if there is a ring in which you can pass objects through it and expects various sound output based on the shape of the object. This idea when presented introduced a lot of other experiments you can do with the device since it interacts with the objects around it.
A pillar of an abstract form passing through the
device. The shape of the pillar is moulded in such a way that it creates an intersting melody.
A pillar of an abstract form passing through the This is an initial prototype made using LDR. Based on the reflectivity of the material and the distance from the LDR the intensity of light that gets reflected back to the LDR varies. The data from the LDR is used to drive different parameters of a sound output. So depending on the form and reflectivity of the material the output sound changes. I used Arduino Mozzi library for the final proof of concept.
Proof of concept
Moodboard
People listen to music as a way to escape from their busy life, as a distraction from their mundane jobs. But never really gets into making music or exploring the various hidden spectrum of sound. Even though they want to there isn’t enough time to invest in it. This was the starting point of this project. How to introduce sound and music in a new and interesting way so that people will take a closer look at it. How to make it simple playful and yet impactful.
Modullo is a simple and engaging MIDI-compatible platform where form meets music.
Interaction with Modullo is really simple. Once you plug it in and place an object inside the frame, it triggers a sound to play based on the shape and position of the object. You can place multiple objects, move around the objects, turn it, spin it, pass through it and end up discovering new ways to use and experiment the device .This encourages people to make unexpected and unusual movements of the interface alongside the ones that are expected to make .In a way Modullo is giving the form of an object a new dimension of sound.
How it works :
The IR sensor picks up the proximity from each side of the object and maps that value to the different parameters of the sound. The MIDI interface allows you to use a Digital Audio Workstation to decide what parameters you want to map .
Example : an envolope controlled by modullo
You can navigate to a simple sequencer mode by simply turning the device until adjacent PCB comes into position of the main one. Toggle the slide switch to lock the current mode.
Once you play around with the waveform you can go to the sequencer mode which works by mapping the proximity to the frequency of the wave.
The drum machine mode allows you to have more flexiblilty as a music production tool. The corners and the mid point of each PCB are guiding points. You can also get template of the drum machine which you can place under the device.
Assembly :
The package contains 5 modules of which 4 of them are assembled using an edge-to-edge PCB connection and the 3rd and 4th module snaps together to form the 4th module.
For people looking for a robust version, a plastic case is designed to fit the board perfectly which you can easily assemble. And for the people who have access to 3d printers, you can 3d print the case and use the color and material of your choice.
Guided by Sahil Thappa
Thanks to all my batchmates, Mohit Ahuja, and everyone who was involved in the process. Special thanks to Yash Sathe, Kishan Hathiwala, and Hari Krishnan Menon. Special thanks to Amogh Jadhav for burning his ass for the entire batch.