Reading Response 5: Artful Design Chapter 5 and Interlude

Wesley Larlarb

I deeply resonate with the vision of making computer instruments which feel embodied in a way which intuitively and simply maps input to sonic output. Despite the infinite, arbitrary programmable mappings between input and output which are possible using digital technology, we see very few digital instruments becoming popular which do not resemble traditional input mechanisms; keyboards are by far the most popular digital instrument input interface, illustrating the principle that leveraging expert technique is smart. At the same time, I find that the most beautiful instantiations of this digital keyboard idea tend not to be pure imitations of physical instruments, but instead they trigger different, synthesized sounds or perhaps include multiple layers of effects chaining, mapping keyboardists’ intimate familiarity with the piano as a harmonic input device to new sound textures. 

Another example of this concept which comes to mind are drum pads and drum triggers; both of these technologies augment the existing idea of hitting a drum with a physical head, trying to emulate the feel of the bounceback of the drumstick and leveraging the existing skills of drummers to hit drums. At the same time, these technologies also bring up an interesting point about the cultural dimension to building digital music instruments, in that drum triggers and drum pads are actually connecting drummers back to an existing musical tradition which already leveraged digital techniques, namely hip hop, which has long leveraged sampling and sequencing to create looping drum grooves. Because audiences are already familiar with sounds like 808s and bitcrushed, overdriven, compressed snares, downsampled hihats and so forth, the introduction of electronic drum pads and drum triggers actually allows for an incredibly powerful degree of cultural interpolation between a fully analog concept of jazz drumming, with strengths lying in the dynamic, human nature of the groove, and a heavily digitized drum machine sound.

I’ve always loved drumming on things. My desk, the car door, my teeth, cups, so on and so forth. This chapter makes me wonder if it would be possible to make a device that can bring to life drum grooves that I tap with my fingers on arbitrary surfaces, and if this would even be a good idea? I’ve read a lot about the idea that rhythm is felt in the body and in our sense of balance… what if there was some way to turn the motion of feet stomping, torso rotating, and arms moving up and down into larger beats, and a way to connect the fingers to smaller sub-beat rhythms? And crucially to do all this while still experiencing the feeling of banging on random stuff (because that’s what makes it fun in the first place).