An audio-visual music installation with dichotomous user interactions
Christian Mayer, Patrick Pogscheba, Dionysios Marinos, Björn Wöldecke, Christian Geiger · 2014
This paper summarizes the results of the design and implementation of an audio-visual installation, which focuses on the interaction of two casual players with complementary designed musical sphere interfaces. While one user interacts with a small dome touchscreen and controls the harmonic sound space, the other user stands inside a larger dome creating melodies by continuous gestures in mid-air. Similar to a theremin notes are played without touch using an invisible two-dimensional melodic table of notes with a dedicated layout that allows creating harmonic expressions by continuous gestures. The generation of musical expressions is visualized on both instruments with several visualization techniques. For prototyping purposes and to illustrate the idea of the installation without the need to set up the complex installation we also provide an immersion user experience by simulating the system using an Oculus Rift head-mounted display. The goal of this project is to provide and explore new methods of musical interaction and to exploit the complementary character of the installation to create a harmonic sound environment based on cooperative play.