The Chosen One

So we have finally narrowed our 100(ish) ideas down to one. One idea that we believe will match our brief and our insight. We are looking forward to making it even though we don't know how it will all be done. Here is a brief rationale which we hope will explain our idea sufficiently.

A master cube with multiple functions. Play different

samples or use as an equaliser by simply stacking the

master cube and two auxiliary cubes in different

combinations. The sample playing, or wave range playing,

will depend on what position the master cube is placed in

the stack. This gives a very hands on and intuitive way of

manipulating music.

More than one set of cubes can be used at a time. This

means tracks can easily be mixed together.

We will now get started on a technical sketch prototype and get our heads around the electronics of our idea. Our next post should explain our idea further for anyone who doesn't get it yet.

Insight

After analysing the 10 ideas which we have narrowed down to, there is clear theme running through them which I briefly mentioned in the last post. Each of our remaining contestants seems to revolve around DJing, and perhaps more importantly, DJing from a physical perspective. Based on this we have been able to come up with an insight on which we can question, develop and eliminate our remaining ideas down to one concept which we will further develop and make. Here is our insight.....

DJing is becoming more and more software based and

relying on computers to do the work. This can often

detract from the performance. DJing is more impressive

to watch, listen to and do, when it involves the

physical handling of an object or objects.

Narrowing our ideas down

Here's a brief summary of what has been achieved since our last posting.

On the idea generation front the 100 ideas required was almost met (a more difficult task for our group being a man down on the rest of the other groups bar one) with about 40 ideas being generated each and being presented in a laser cut ring bound book. The next stage in the process was to cut down the total ideas to about 10 which was a fairly easy process as a lot of the ideas, we decided, were technically impossible, or at least improbable. The ideas which we agreed to take forward were mostly based on DJ software so this is the direction we took especially since DJing and music manipulation is something we are both quite passionate about. Based on the 10 ten ideas we have narrowed done to for closer analysis, we have decided it would be beneficial to start learning how to use Pure Data.

Pure Data (PD) is a real-time graphical programming environment for audio, video, and graphical processing. So far it seems quite tricky but also extremely interesting. We have created some basic things on it such as a metronome with a BPM counter and also a very, VERY simple sequencer using an oscillator. Luckily there are lots of helpful tutorial videos available and strong pure data communities.

Idea Generation

As expected, coming up with 100 sound device ideas is really putting our creative minds to the test but it is an extremely useful habit to get into in the world of design. Some designers believe that your best idea will be one of your first concepts but it never hurts to squeeze out another 97. As students of design it is a great way to develop your imaginative skills and also helps immensely with generating insights about your brief and also later on in the process when perhaps developing a possible solution(s). More ideas may give birth to even more ideas through rip&mix. Long way to go and a short time to get there. We will post again on the completion of our 100 ideas.

Playing with PICAXE

Ok, so we've had a bit of a play with our PICAXE gear, trying to familiarise ourselves with the basics and so on. Just some relatively simple things such as LED's linking to the chip and programmed to show different sequences. Also played around a bit more with our homemade mp3 player and got it to change between 3 tracks. We're looking forward to learning more about PICAXE as we can see it playing a big roll in whatever our sound device turns out to be. We will have a quick play around with using and programming different switches with our microcontroller then we really need to get started on generating 100 ideas for our device. A strenuous task but it really gets your brain into gear.