While there are a great variety of digital musical interfaces
available to the working musician, few o ffer the level of immediate,
nuanced and instinctive control that one finds in
an acoustic shaker.
bEADS is a prototype of a digital musical instrument
that utilises the gestural vocabulary associated with shaken
idiophones and expands on the techniques and sonic possibilities
associated with them.
By using a bespoke physically informed synthesis engine,
in conjunction with accelerometer and pressure sensor data,
an actuated handheld instrument has been built that allows
for quickly switching between widely diff ering percussive
sound textures. The prototype has been evaluated by three
experts with diff erent levels of involvement in professional
music making.
A new take on electronic percussion.
February 3, 2017 by Peter2708
