Rows, Columns, Collisions

This piece is an exploration of grid-based instruments for interactive-generative music. Ableton’s Push, Native Instruments Maschine, Novation’s Launchpad and the Monome are used extensively by digital musicians across many genres. Such grids may be used for triggering sounds directly, sequencing, step sequencing, controlling parameters and generative systems involving collisions. In this piece, I wanted to create an instrument that would be able to do all of these.
In addition, to traditional left-right motion of sequencers, I also wanted to explore right-left motion and the up-down dimension. In this piece, the red squares moving across the screens (rows) are used to trigger notes. The notes (e.g. pitch, speed) are modulated by the motion of the green squares (columns). When there is a collision between lit squares, a sample is triggered.
A Novation Launchpad is used for the performance of the piece. The projected visuals replicate what is happening on the interface, with some adaptations to make collisions more obvious and to remove the visual representation when no sound is heard. These serve to enhance the system’s transparency as well as the aesthetics of the performance.
Unlike my other work, this piece does not feature lyrical content. Instead it explores the idea of system creation/instrument building being the main driver of the compositional process.