BCT Studio 1 Project 3: Makey Makey Instrument – the Zen Keys!
Our third studio project tasked us with using the Makey Makey and the Scratch software to create our very own “instrument”.
After some time thinking of possible instrument ideas, we decided to go with something relatively simple in concept. Our group had been somewhat burned from the previous project, where we built our board game around a spinner which was something that – while simple in appearance – was an unknown element that effectively cost us having a final working model to show at the end of the project.
To avoid facing such a fate a second time, we settled on the general design of our instrument to consist of a board with 5 buttons that would toggle the desired sound elements. Simple, but we’d rather have something simple that works than something overly complex that doesn’t.
We then thought about what kind of sound the instrument would make. An initial idea was to have it work as a hip hop beats maker, with each button controlling a part of an instrumental track, allowing the user to physically interact with the music by adding and taking away loops with their hands.
We concluded that, while this was an interesting concept, since no one in the group was particularly musically inclined, we didn’t want to go down that road and find out that creating individual parts of a hip hop instrumental required more knowledge than we had. In other words, we wanted to avoid that “marshmallow” altogether.
However, we kept the overall concept of a user toggling parts of an audio experience and planned to focus the instrument on something that requires less musical knowledge - nature. Plus, there have even been studies to suggest that nature sounds can increase relaxation (see reference at the end), so we decided to create something to do just that.
Thus, our final idea concluded in the creation of a nature soundscape, where the user can interact and toggle different parts of the soundscape using the buttons of our instrument. Effectively, the user would be able to control their level of immersion by adding layers of nature sounds.
First, we used Scratch to write some code that would play the desired nature sound when one of the five designated Makey Makey keys was activated by the button press. Fortunately, Scratch already had a selection of nature sounds for us to choose from, so we didn’t have to make our own or dig through other sound websites. We picked the following 5 sounds to be in our nature soundscape - birds in trees, water droplets, frogs, rain, and waves. We wrote some code that would play the desired sound when a designated key was pressed. For example, when the down arrow key is pressed, Scratch would play the sound of birds chirping, and turn it off when the down arrow was pressed again. This “down” arrow key would later be mapped to a button on our instrument through the Makey Makey.
We also planned to use Scratch to display a visual representation of what sounds were playing at any given moment. This would allow the user to have a better understanding of what’s going on, especially since some of the nature tracks could sound relatively similar in parts. When playtesting the instrument prototype, it became clear that sound alone wasn’t enough, and it could get quite confusing trying to figure out if a sound had been toggled or not, so a visual aid was clearly necessary. The end result was to be a grid of icons that would illuminate the corresponding icon for whatever sound was playing. But, for this early stage of the process, we just wrote a program that displayed the icon of whatever button had been pressed on the screen, as we still hadn’t figured out how to use Scratch to make a grid of icons with each icon operating independently yet.
Next, we used the Makey Makey and some tinfoil to construct a rough prototype of what the final instrument would be like.
When I pressed a tinfoil button, the assigned sound would play, and the corresponding icon would appear on the screen.
It was still far from a final product, but it gave us an idea of what the user experience would be like, and an indication that the concept we were building towards could work.
We then started developing the buttons for our soundscape board.
One of the key lessons we’ve learned for the creative process, from exercises such as the marshmallow challenge, is to test and prototype thoroughly throughout as well as try differing ideas and approaches.
Thus, Matt, Connor, and I split up to create our own prototype versions of the type of button we’d use and then reconvened to compare and pick the best option.
In the end, we chose Connor’s button design, (pictured right) which used the sponge material to provide an effective “bounce” after being pressed, returning to its usual state. This design consisted of a piece of tinfoil at the bottom, separated from another piece of tinfoil by some cardboard. The top piece of tinfoil was attached to the sponge and would be pushed to touch the bottom piece, completing, and then breaking the circuit when springing back – acting as an effective switch that would toggle the nature sounds.
We then started the process of making the real buttons that would be used in the final soundscape. In terms of sizing, we had already found a large piece of wood that we would use for the base, so we wanted our buttons to also be large to make the experience as immersive as possible. In keeping with the natural aesthetic, it was important that the buttons remained circular, as we wanted to avoid any sharp corners as these aren’t found in nature. Even the board we used as the base had rounded corners to maintain the natural aesthetic.
We decided that this would be a great opportunity to use the laser cutting facilities for the first time, as it would provide a clean finish to the buttons as well as give us a valuable learning experience, as this is something that will undoubtedly be used in future projects as well.
First, we used Adobe Illustrate to create the very simple design for the material that would effectively replace the cardboard element of the prototype. This consisted of us using two circles one larger and one slightly smaller, to create 5 duplicate rings that we would cut out in the printer. We found some dark acrylic in the maker space that we could use as the material.
Upon further consideration, we decided to use two rings per button for added height, to make the buttons require more of a “press” when being activated. We also had some excess acrylic to allow for this, so we duplicated the rings we had to print out a total of 10, with 2 rings per button.
It then came time to use the laser cutter. Chris – the head of the maker space – guided us through the process and we came away with some pretty clean results. The laser cutting facility does appear rather complex at first, so I’ll likely need some more assistance when doing this again in the future, but it was a useful way of familiarizing myself with the facility in advance.
I then used a word processing software to create some simple icons that we then printed out, laminated, and put on top of the buttons. It was important to use the same icon images that were to be used in the software to ensure the experience was as easy to understand and intuitive as possible. As we learned in the Intro to Creative Technologies classes, iconography plays a large role in the quality of user experience.
After using the hot glue gun to stick the pairs of acrylic rings together, we used a different spongey material and the laminated icons to recreate the prototype in a much cleaner final design.
To help make the user experience as seamless as possible it was important that the user wouldn't be required to hold the Makey Makey ground wire for the instrument to work, as is often the case with Makey Makey projects. To avoid this, we had to create a common link between all the buttons that would be connected to the Makey Macey’s ground wire instead. This involved connecting copper wires to the tinfoil base beneath all the buttons. Initially, we tried soldering the copper wires to the tinfoil for a clean look, but this proved to be too brittle, so we used some tape instead, which was still discrete enough to not hinder the natural aesthetic. We drilled a small hole beneath each circle of tinfoil to feed the copper wires through so we could stick them to the back of the board, where they would be connected to the Makey Makey’s ground wire. This allowed us to keep that part of the wiring hidden from the user.
To further enhance the clean, natural aesthetic of the Zen Keys, we stuck two pieces of wood to either side of the board, to provide elevation so that the Makey Makey and its wiring could go underneath and be hidden from the user.
We then used the hot glue gun to stick the buttons down onto the soundscape board.
We also added on some leaves and sticks that we’d collected outside, to provide a nice natural finishing touch to the final design.
On the software side, we had finally managed to create our initial vision of having a grid of icons, with the active sounds highlighting their respective icons.
We did this by splitting up the code into 6 separate parts; 5 for each of the sprites representing the different nature icons, and one default background that had all the icons visible in the grid formation. The individual sprite code consisted of the icon and a red circle around it, and this would be shown over the backdrop of the default icon grid whenever activated. The end product resulted in exactly what we had initially envisioned - when a sound was activated, its icon on the grip would have a red ring appear over it, and these icons could be activated and deactivated independently of each other, providing a clear visual guide to the user regarding their input.
Finally, we hooked the Makey Makey up to the laptop and the soundscape worked pretty much exactly as intended.
Overall, I am really proud of this project. We achieved our goals both aesthetically and interactively.
The general design of the product was the highlight for me. The large, expansive size of the board provided plenty of space for the large buttons and natural decorations. The icons were clean and matched the software. Speaking of, getting the software to work exactly as intended from the start, especially when we had no idea how to do it in the beginning, was another triumph.
Another design process element that we carried out well was continually testing and prototyping our ideas as we went along so that when it came time to laser cut and laminate icons, we already knew that the concept would work.
The only issue we faced was that one of the buttons didn’t work as consistently as the rest, so it wasn’t very reliable for toggling the nature sound it was responsible for at the showcase. It appeared as though the tinfoil under its spongey surface wasn't springing up as well, thus not breaking the circuit when intended to and making the switch faulty. Given more time, it would've been beneficial to take it apart and fix it so that the whole soundscape worked flawlessly. Regardless, this was still a minor issue that had a minimal impact on the overall user experience.
While the button-making process taught us a lot about prototyping and using the laser cutter, when considering how much time it took to get right, it’s fair to say that next time it may be worth it to just purchase a button. Especially when considering more complex projects in the future, we may not have the time to spend constructing our own ones. That being said though, it was nice being able to make our own, large custom buttons with our own icons. Plus, doing this a second time would likely not take as longs since we’d have a better idea of what we’re doing, so there’s still an argument in favor of making our own buttons in the future. It will have to be something judged on a case-by-case basis.
An idea that could be developed with this soundscape is incorporating it into an educational game of sorts for children, where they are played a sound and have to identify it by pressing the correct button. This is an idea that became apparent to us while showing it to our peers and thinking of other use cases for such a design.
Another way to enhance the general nature simulation element of the soundscape would be to incorporate virtual reality to properly transport the user into nature, not only by sound but visually as well. This is a bit more complex, but it would be great for maximizing the immersion if we could use a VR headset for the user to wear that displays a 360-degree image of a forest while they activate the different nature sounds.
This was definitely the best project we’ve done so far. Granted, that isn’t saying much given that our last project didn’t technically work, but this soundscape genuinely seemed to impress a lot of peers when we showed it off in class. We also connected a pair of wireless headphones to the laptop, to provide a more immersive experience.
All in all, the combination of an aesthetically pleasing nature-themed design language with an easy-to-understand software and user experience provided an impressive and immersive instrument experience.
Reference: https://www.health.com/condition/stress/why-nature-sounds-are-relaxing
gummygunk
blakekathryn
tangentwithtanner
theartofmadeline
pixelskylines
origamiaround
kaledo-art
titsay
germansingergirl