2017, Java + Processing
I’ve always been fascinated by digital instruments, and a little disappointed that our interactions with them are usually inspired by analog counterparts.
Spin Compose was an attempt to come up with a totally digital instrument that would both produce unique sounds, and visuals.
Spin Compose
See it in action
The best way to understand it, is to play it. The second best way is to watch it.
What’s going on?
The player uses an Xbox controller to interact with the program. They can hold in one of the joy sticks and spin to set a tempo (which is shown in the center) which will cause the trigger arm to spin. Then the top and face buttons can be used to place drum hits where the trigger currently is in it’s cycle. The drum will be played every time the arm crosses over it, and get a little smaller and quieter each time.
The other joystick is used as a synth, which is represented by the flickers white dot. The space is split up as multiple pie slices radiating from the center. Each slice represents a different note, and the distance to the center how loud the synth should be. These slices are dynamic and can be tuned to different musical scales.
In addition to the primary synth the joypad was a pluck that could be played by pressing one of the 4 directions, and would instantly trigger a note and place a corresponding colored circle.
Inspiring, fun to look at, but not actually that good for making music
It turns out there might be a reason why most music software is programed in an environment specifically designed for it. ChucK advertises itself as strongly timed, spin compose is anything but. The timings of the notes float around, as the heartbeat of the software updates around 60-90 Hertz which is perfectly fast enough for our eyes, but not so much for our ears.
The other issue is the controller itself. An Xbox controller is great for games, but not nearly sensitive or precise enough for music production. I still think there’s lots of room for reimaging how we interact with and make music, but I suspect it involves a more purpose build control surface.