Composing with New Musical Instruments Aalto University, 2022
lucidgloves wi-fi interpreter & sound controller
with SuperCollider and Bela.
The main idea of this project is to sonfiy aspects of the 2.4 GHz frequency spectrum and allow the wearer to engage with the generally invisible wave band on a sonic and tactile level. The sonic control is implemented by sending the potentiometer data from each finger on the glove into SuperCollider. Because a potentiometer is such a common use case in musical applications, it easily integrates into conceivably any piece of code or patch with a few knobs! The force-feedback provided by the servo motors creates the impression of holding an object of varying solidity.
For the purposes of the the 6-week intensive workshop (which was practically 3 weeks of work on this project), I was able to fabricate one glove with 5 spring-loaded potentiometers that track the movement of each finger. Additionally, I created a sample code in SuperCollider that uses the glove as an interface to control the parameters of three different synthesizers.
I am really satisfied with quality and aesthetic of the build so far. The spring mechanisms do not function fluidly or very uniformly. When I played music with it, this apparent defect, for me became a very joyful experience that I was really coaxing the bits out of the digital instrument. I used a cheap work glove from Biltema along with the springs and metal strings from retractable badge holders. It felt like a salvage project (although I was compelled to buy a lot of new parts), so being able to feel that aspect so directly while performing with it has made me want to continue developing the idea.
I began printing the components for the project right away. This involved a lot of learning as I needed to get access to the 3D print lab and learn the system at Aalto for the first time. I also needed to do many test prints to get the all the parameters right.
In the end, I printed about 4 days a week for 2 weeks. I tried not to print multiples until I had a good idea of the quality so I didn't have to throw away a lot of scraps.
The biggest obstacle to progress in this project was waiting for the components. I built out one spring loaded pot and tested some of the firmware code on an Arduino. In retrospect, my time would have been better spent with SuperCollider.
The wiring and threading of the glove were labor intensive. With repetetive tasks, you usually improve over time. However, since I was only making 5 of everything, I was done as soon as I started to get proficient. In any case, once I had all the necessary parts, the build was pretty straight-forward.
I veered away from the lucidgloves project pretty heavily at this point when I began wiring the glove. Instead of using the ESP32, I decided to run the output straight into bela's analog inputs. This allowed me to make music directly when time was of the essence.
The SuperCollider code instantiates 3 different FM synths and assigns each one to a melodic sequence. The speed of each sequence is controlled consecutively by the index, middle, and ring fingers. The thumb controls the starting frequency for all of the synths (pulling your thumb forward cause the pitch to rise and vice versa). Finally, the pinky controls the modulation frequency used acroos all 3 synths.
The glove is in good shape at the time of this writing and nothing broke during the demo! Although I didn't implement a lot of what I set out to, I got a good start on a project that interests me quite a lot. This is the first mechanical project I've done, so there was a bit of a learning curve for me to understand the design but I am glad I took on the challenge. I really hope to continue development soon and often.
