Smart Systems: Continued + Contextual statement
So with the Audio shield made and the LCD on top, bare bones manipulation of the code from http://skoba.no-ip.org/msgeq7/ allows us to display frequency patterns. Currently it shows whether the bass, mid range, high mids and high frequencies are happening. So if a song had high bass, the LCD would display - Bass is high.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMKCj-BV5xE&feature=related was used to test. Although the chip doesn't respond too well to higher frequencies, it still has some use.
You can find the Arduino sketch here: http://pastebin.com/TuE9APGT
Contextual statement:
Defining music genre has it's problems, as how can you really categorize music? With this project I was going into it with the intention of automatically categorizing music into a genre through frequencies. From what we can tell through music, it all differs from each other - and that's why we categorize it. But as we have progressed in music, more and more genres have sprouted - especially in the metal and rock scene. There are sub genres, and genres within those genres. It has become ever more increasingly difficult to really say "What genre am I listening to?"
With this project, if developed on more, I was aiming to not categorize music, but compare it to a genre. So say you were listening to an obscure artist you've never really heard of - you could hook your ipod/computer into this device and it would display "What you're listening to sounds like _______". At it's current stage, it can be plugged into an audio device, and it will read how loud the frequencies are, and on the LCD screen it will display whether the Bass, midtones, high midtones or high frequencies are dominant in the song. Through further research, this information could then be used to make a rough pattern of a music genre. Maybe rock has more mid to high tones than say hip hop? Radio stations of the multigenre could use a tool like this to sort through music playlists to create automated shows. Someone who is unsure of what "genre" of music they are into could analyze their favorite songs and make a decision based on what style their music fell into.
The way that the shield has been designed also is so that it can be added onto and customized, so that in future if it ever wanted to be prototyped with something else such as internet capability, it can be done so easily. Maybe someone could use it to tweet/post on facebook what kind of music they were listening to.
I think this project has a lot of potential, and if worked on further could be developed into something great.