Collaborative Circular Revolving Musical Apparatus Jocelyn Robert, David Merrill, & Tim Hankins 1). What will you make and what will it do by December 3? We envision a spinning platter around which participants will gather & add objects to the rotating surface. A video camera mounted above the platter will allow us to capture each object's form, color, location, & speed. These attributes will then be mapped to midi messages that will drive a disklavier, & hopefully, produce a musically meaningful result. In a sense, the rotating surface will act as a modular real-time score through which people can collaboratively create music. By December 3, our hardware will be up and running, and we will be able to make some basic interpretations of the data captured by the camera. 2). Who's on your team and what specific jobs will they take on? - Jocelyn: Max Programming, Performance Art. - David: Computer Science, Computer Vision. - Tim: Digital Audio, Music Performance. - We would all like to work cooperatively on each part of the process. 3). What are your requirements for parts purchased and equipment borrowed? - USB camera - turntable or motor - camera stand - platter - computer / cabling - disklavier - toys / tokens / misc. objects - Scott's computer vision software 4). What are the most difficult problems you might be facing? We face three major hurdles... 1). Analyzing the image data. 2). Mapping the analyzed data onto out output. 3). Organizing the mapping so that is has musical meaning. 5). Idea: Exploratory, collaborative real-time music making. Error: Virtuosity as a barrier to music making. Metaphor: Our object IS the metaphor! Scenario: People having fun making music and performing. Model: A camera that scans a rotating surface and turns it into music. Task: We're not exactly sure yet. Display: Both the platter and the sound produced by the system will act as feedback paths that the participants can use to modify their interaction with the system. Control: The color, shape, size, location, and speed of the objects placed on the platter will control the sound produced.