DrumBeats

We have illuminating keyboards to teach us how to play the piano, so why don’t we have illuminating drums to teach us how to play the drums?

DrumBeats brings drumming to life through the use of a modular LED lighting and sound sensing kit. Although LED lighting kits for drums already exist in the market, none of these kits provide a learning feature to users, similar to what’s available for musical keyboards.

Synthesia is a popular piano trainer available on both desktop and mobile platforms, and teaches pianists how to play piano in a fun way. The users simply plugs their keyboard or piano into their device, and the application displays “falling” notes on the screen, much like the popular game “Guitar Hero”, but with real instruments. The users are expected to press the keys at the right time and for the right duration and are notified of their score and performance at the end of the song.

DrumBeats aims to bring a similar experience to drummers, to make learning how to play the drums more fun and immersive. Novice drummers are expected to develop their rhythm and timing when learning new songs. Seasoned drummers can also use this tool in creative manner by creating custom light shows to support their performances. DrumBeats could also potentially include light up drum sticks, which show the drummers which hand to use when hitting a particular drum, or as another lighting effect, further immersing the user in their drumming experience.

It is a well-known fact that music is probably the most popular thing in the world. This means that people from all kinds of backgrounds, and of all ages, are likely to enjoy the additional visual experience and feedback that DrumBeats provides when playing and/or learning the drums.

Poster

Inspirations

Synthesia - The Piano Learning Game

DrumLite - LED Drum Lighting Kit

Click to view poster

‘YOUR shoes' is a pair of shoes with sensors and leds implemented. The main feature of the product is that it can detect the users emotions based on the movements and pace, and then determine which playlist is most suitable for their current mood. It can be used for the general public with little limitation since the product can be easily accessed and navigated.

It has the following features:

• Detect your emotion based on your pace, movement and play music based on the results

ex, fast pace may because of the negative mood or have something urgent, so the music may have fast rhythm

• Show your emotion with colour spectrum
• Record personal exercise information (how many floors and distance you have gone through for the day)

The product comes with an app, which has 2 main functions:

1. Review the logs the sensors recorded. ex, moving pace, calories consumed
2. Collaborate with the music provider to select appropriate playlists

Scenario

• When a person is running, which has high frequency paces, she might be exercising. The music can be rhythmic, so that it suits the needs for the users.
• When a person have limited activities, the system will know the user is probably sitting, so that the soft music will be played.

Inspiration

• The token exercise we have done in DECO1800. One of the ideas is that the token present individuals emotions by colours, so that each other will understand if the others are in the emotion to chat.
• Personal experience: When I walk on the street, it feels frustrated to pick the right music for the mood at the moment and is quite dangerous of doing so. Thus, I imagined that it would be really helpful if there is an item that can detect your emotions and pick the right music for you.

Future Development Resources:

• Recognising human emotions from body movement and gesture dynamics

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-540-74889-2_7

• An application that works out how you feel and determines the suitable music

https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/6xzjx4/youneedtohearthis-septimu-knows-what-music-your-heart-wants

• Recognise emotion from movement

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01389/full

Melo Catcher – A music box that can DIY your own melody

Music is long be regarded as a way to relieve stress and make people happy (Myriam, 2013). Nowadays, many designers try to integrate the element of music into daily life using various interesting forms of interaction.

Inspiration

Interactive sound exhibition

Playing three novel music instruments by touching lines on the wall, floor, or hanging on the ceiling.

ARASHI Live Tour 2014 THE DIGITALIAN

A specially designed coat that can produce different sound according to different body movement.

What is Melo Catcher:

Melo Catcher is an interactive music box that provides users with a new form of musical interaction. Users can enjoy the beauty of music and DIY their own melody regardless of their musical experiences.

How to use it:

Each handle represents a different piece of music, people can start generating their own melody simply by rotating different handles on the box. The speed of the music will change in accordance with the speed of the rotation. Once the device is triggered, the screen will generate a different wave pattern based on the selected music and shaking speed. The music will stop when people stop rotating the handles.

Who I am designing for:

Anyone who loves music and enjoys creating.

The sparkling point:

• Easy to use

Inspired by the design of a music box, the interactive device looks more like a large music box with many switches, users are more likely to be comfortable with this device.

• No background restriction.

People don't need to be proficient with a certain instrument, anyone who is interested in music can use this installation for music creation.

• Unique experience for musical interaction.

Users can feel different rhythms by shaking different handles and trying different speeds, at the same time, they can also gather multiple people to create unique melody.

Reference:

[1] Thoma, M. V., Marca, R. L., Brönnimann, R., Finkel, L., Ehlert, U., & Nater, U. M. (2013). The Effect of Music on the Human Stress Response. PLoS ONE, 8(8).

[2] LINES - an Interactive Sound Art Exhibition. (2016). Retrieved 2 March 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hP36xoPXDnM

[3] Music box. (2020). Retrieved 2 March 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_box

Poster