SKETCH: PHYSICAL SEQUENCER Basically, I am really inspired by „GRIDI“, a large-scale physical sequencer built by Yuval Gerstein. (www.gridi.info ; see it in action: http://www.drlima.net/?s=tisch+musik). I would like to build GRIDI in a downscaled version, fitting in a case (ca. 1m x 60cm?), so the sequencer could easily be carried around and would just have to be plugged into a laptop that generates the sounds - like a bigger and more interactive version of the Ghettoblaster. Above, you can see some impressions of the original GRIDI, it's wiring and how it is connected to the Arduino, as well as a rough sketch of my version. I wanna give my version of GRIDI - name will be announced soon - kind of an spacey look, spraying the case in metallic silver and maybe adding some more gadgets. The original GRIDI is built from wooden plates with a 16 x 16 grid of holes, where the „player“ can place balls in in order to produce sounds. The 16 column of GRIDI are programmed to give particular sounds (each column for one sound/instrument) and the rows determine the beat or timing the sounds are played. Every hole contains an LED that is switched on if the beat reaches the a row. Additionally, if the switch beneath the LED is pushed by placing a ball in this hole, the LED color changes and the sound of this hole is played if the beat reaches the row the Ball is placed in (pushing the switch sends an information to the computer that runs the MIDI software and tells it to place the particular note into the music loop grid). The whole thing is controlled by the music software Ableton LIVE that controls the sounds, effects and tempo. For my project, I will to narrow down the huge Table to case size, and reduce the range of the available sounds to 8. The length of the loop should be kept at 16, as this is the typical loop size for music and allows playing a well-modifiable loop. The case I want to place the GRIDI in is still stored at my parents´, this makes it difficult to determine the actual size of my version - if it is spacial-reasoned absolutely not possible to make the loop 16 steps long, I will reduce it to 8 beats. It will not be possible to place 16 different Instrument-columns into the trunk, but I want to have at least 8 there to enable playing a full music scale. Material will be a big matter: As wood is too heavy for make the mini-GRIDI portable, I still have to find a material which is lightweight and stable enough to serve its purpose. Aluminum panels could fit, but I'm not sure about this yet. I thought about replacing the balls with switches, but this would not preserve the great visual and tactile characteristics of the physical sequencer. Using another, thinner material for the panel of the sequencer however makes it nearly impossible to place troughs in it which create a greater tactile experience than mere holes, but holes are still easier to cut out than squares (As I thought about using prisms or little pyramids that could be placed headover in square-shaped holes) - but, in the end, using transparent balls is still the best solution. To save some material, using metal balls as a switch could be usable, but then I would definitively have to use a non-conductive material as panel, which would narrow the choice. In Addition, Using a metal ball as a switch would demand having two open contacts directly under the panel which would not be as sustainable as having a push-switch beneath the LED as the contacts could easily move or bend. Additionally, a metallic ball would dim the light of the LED and not light up, which makes a pretty good visual effect for the user as it marks the placed sounds very obviously - finally, I decided using transparent plastic balls. The LEDs could either be RGB-LEDs, or two different-colored LEDs for each hole. As RGB-LEDs are hopefully suitable programmable, I think it's better to use these. After All, I will need lots of wires and a software for the actual music production that works out playing the sounds in right order and place. GRIDI runs with Ableton Live, but this is kind of too expensive for my budget - I am still testing alternative open source MIDI software. The upper half of the case should contain a stand for the Laptop that runs the software and speakers, as well as boxes for the non-used balls. The whole thing should be able to be driven through plugging it into a socket or an internal battery. In addition to the original piece, mine should have a regulator for regulating the speed of the music to enable the inexperienced user playing with more variety without having the administrator changed the speed at the software. Put in a list, I will need: - A case - A Laptop - Speakers - A lightweight panel where I drill in 16 x 8 holes (in optimal case) - At least 60 plastic balls - 128 push button-switches - 128 RGB-LEDs - Lots of wires - An battery for running the whole thing without plugging it into a socket Before I can start building, I still have to learn how exactly a synthesizer works (which I just begun), I have to learn way more of programming the Arduino and how I can use one in/output for several signals (as the Arduino does not have 128 input slots for every hole of the panel), how I can connect the Arduino to the music software and let them communicate and how to use a CNC machine for drilling the holes into the panel in an exact grid... For the presentation of my work I planned doing a documentation video about the building process and the way it works, showing in the end how people play around with the final object. I think I will need until the end of July with preparation (reading and learning stuff about sequencers, making plans for the connections and sketches for the program, building test circuits, getting all the material...) and with good preparation 1-2 weeks for physically building the object and writing the actual program for the Arduino.
