Making Noise Machines

As a part of being an artist in residence at Instructables, I took it upon myself to build of couple of noise machines / music boxes. My interest lies in designing objects that would enable people to explore the world of sound synthesis and for me to get a better understanding on how the different interfaces enables different interactions and sound qualities.

It has been an intense experience. Trying to build as many interfaces as possible within one month. I have tried to make all of them stand-out as finished, while still being hackable pieces. Everything I have done is published here on Instructables for others to experiment with.

All of the projects consists of a few basic components: An interface and sometimes a screen or a led matrix. The basis sound component is either a Gameduino or an internal 8bit audio synth.

Most of these machines would have been simpler to make as software programs on a computer or even as multitouch applications on a smartphone, but I wanted to have an aesthetic criteria as a frame for my experiments: I wanted to create simple tangible interfaces that would inspire curiosity. The objects themselves should welcome the user to try out and explore their interfaces. Lastly I wanted each experiment to be self contained. Instead of them becoming interfaces for a laptop they should be the ones who created the music.

All of the projects are remixes of earlier experiments and inspirational sources found on the internet. Therefore each project should be considered my own interpretations and evolvements of other inspirational projects. I have done my best to credit my sources in each project.

The software for each experiment is still a little crude and leaves many possibilities open for new people to experiment with. I will update the software as I go along.