After the last class discussion, I really thought that giving multiple people control of a band of frequencies was going to be a fun, interactive way to present the “laser chadni plate” idea.
I’ve gone ahead and premapped three phones using OSC to a freq. range, roughly 300hz per person. As three “performers”, each band has an effect on the shape of the laser. Low/Mid/High have particular effects, so working together (or against each other) will inspire different shapes and results.
I’d like to test this concept in class before I go ahead and actually record the idea with a camera as a performance. There might be a few hiccups, but I’ve taken precautions to have it set up as quickly as possible. Each phone must download an OSC-enabled music app that sends accelerometer information. I’ve found a few free ones for both Apple and Android platforms. From there, the user has to plug in my network IP address and the corresponding port number.
After that, since the apps route the OSC packet differently, I’ll have to identify on each user’s phone what the accelerometer data is sent as. Usually it’s “/accelerometer” but it can vary based on how the app was coded.
From there, each user will mess around with controlling the shape. I’ll try “conducting” by bringing people in and out, using the volume mixer, or encouraging more or less phone movement.
I think the results are going to be pretty entertaining, but I’m expecting that I might need to add more or less frequencies for each person depending on what shapes come out, which is very easy to change.
After the results from experimenting with three phones, the last step is to find the most sleek presentation of the system at work. I will likely use a go-pro, and find a nice board/wall to project the laser on to. If the performers are in the shot, I’ll need to do a little bit of choreographing around the laser to further the overall presentation.