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CYPHER

Northumbria University

Role:
Interaction Design
Physical Computing
Sonic Design
Interface Design
User Experience
Aesthetic Computing

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Description:

Cypher is a collaborative music installation and physical computing piece created for my final year project. Initiated as a social experiment in collaboration and inspired by hip hop culture and dance circles, the installation aims to create an environment in which people with little to no prior background in music production or DJing can mix music. Different arrangements, distortions and effects can be applied to the music for a variety of outcomes in real time.

The installation is driven by 3 iPads with simplified touch interfaces consisting of buttons, sliders and faders that influence the music in various ways. Each iPad plays a different role in contributing to the overall sound, with the sound then analysed by frequency bands to drive an audio-reactive visual graphic built in Processing, in conjunction with Ableton Live 8.

PROJECT STIMULUS

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Originally a continuation of a previous brief, I was asked to look at another technology to stimulate a new opportunity and I looked into MIDI control. Having worked on multitouch projects prior to this I wanted to experiment with something more versatile, and MIDI later lead me to experiment with DJ software, sound equipment, production kits and more. I started to question how people listen and react to music, but I was also interested in how it was being made.

EXPERIENCING CULTURE

By attending different music-related events and listening to people talk about what they enjoy, there was an element of diversity that I wanted to capture in my final product. I knew I wanted to design something that can be enjoyed by anyone, something that transcends beyond the music genre or current pop culture trends.

I visited the UK Uni BBoy Championships held in Newcastle and found the 'cypher', a circle where dancers take turns to perform, share moves, and express themselves in a 'freestyle' environment without set routines. I spoke to dancers about how they interpret and react to the music, and learned about the sense of community that generally occupies such circles. I then spoke with DJs about their production/mixing process which fascinated me enough to take that aspect further.

COLLABORATION AND MUSIC

Having been exposed to a sound studio environment before I was aware of how some equipment worked, but realised how intimidating it may be to others. How could people go about making music in a similar way, and could the sound studio environment be made more accessible. I took the focus away from the expert and gave it to the novices by designing three iPad controller interfaces running TouchOSC, each with a different role. One would trigger sounds and control volumes, another would influence that sound with effects, and the next would control the entire output with additional inputs.

AUDIO DEVELOPMENT

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It was important to create a platform that inspired creativity and distributed power equally across the active devices, so a lot of time was spent mastering sound levels and controller mapping to form this balance. The sound then needed to make a suitable connection with the visual aspect of the installation, which would recreate the atmosphere of the cypher.

VISUAL DEVELOPMENT

The visuals developed needed to operate in real time and connect suitably to the music, therefore VJ software was out of the question. I wrote custom visuals in Processing to analyse and split one sound into different frequency bands, so that the values extracted can drive an audio-reactive visual output. This is in the form of concentric circles that expand at higher frequencies, and are designed to be projected from a ceiling downwards to create a metaphorical cypher.

PRESENTATION & CONCLUSION

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The final installation was exhibited at Northumbria University Reveal 2011, D&AD New Blood 2011 and demonstrated at the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) Conference 2011. Audiences responded very positively towards the display and how satisfying it was to try different combinations and create new possibilities. The final piece did not ever aim to solve a design problem but create an opportunity, and by giving audiences as much freedom as possible the installation was able to inspire discovery through choice.

VISUAL DEMONSTRATION

This is a screen capture of the visual output from the Processing sketch, analysing the different frequencies in the song and rendering out the resulting pulses in the form of concentric circles designed as a floor projection for the installation.

Music: Daft Punk - End Credits, Tron Legacy.
Soundtrack composed by Daft Punk © 2010 Walt Disney Records.