Inspiration
We wanted to build something that would add an extra dimension to music: visualisation.
What it does
µViz is a graphical tablet that generates music as you draw on it, and outputs the visualisation of what you draw. We mapped the horizontal axis of the tablet to frequency and vertical axis to volume, and visually we mapped the the horizontal axis to color, and the vertical to size. We used two color palettes from the viridis family in matplotlib. At Red Bull Hack the Hits, where we built this, we were also able to attach the outputted audio into physics objects, and make them vibrate at the same frequency, and then attach contact microphones onto them and use that for the audio output, to create unique acoustic sounds.
How we built it
We used python with scipy and pyaudio to create the audio backend, and processing.js to create the visuals. For the physics box, we laser-cut acrylic to create a box and suspend the physics objects from.
Challenges we ran into
One challenge we ran into was determining the duration of the wave, because having the same duration for each would mean that some waves would end near the peak of the wave and give off an annoying clicking sound.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We were proud of hacking the tablet to program different buttons and positions to sounds and visuals.
What we learned
We learned to create audio signals from simple sine waves in python. We practiced using processing.js, and we learned laser-cutting.
What's next for µViz
We would like to turn µViz into an app and incorporate different instrument sounds and effects.
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