Talkback

MRes Phase One (Design by Making)


















scroll down


Talkback offers a fortified musical experience. Three synth voices change notes when triggered by user sounds (via an internal microphone).  With a clap, snap, vocal sound or just by tapping on the enclosure, you cycle through quasi-randomised notes. The instrument is entirely tuned to C Major. The lead synth voice randomly cycles through two octaves worth of notes, while the mid and bass synths have a more refined set of notes in order to keep relative harmony.




Proof of Concept:


As a proof of concept I made this Plugdata patch. It shows just one of the interactive soundscapes that users can switch between in the current hardware version.

This initial patch inspired lots of ideas for potential use cases; Music Education, Physical Therapy, Music Therapy all seemingly have a use for a device like this. It not only promotes musical interaction, but the physical embodiment of it also.







First Iteration Notes:


Designed as a prompt for music therapists in my research, Talkback aims to achieve a few things; Firstly, to fortify musical experiences in a way that doesn’t require complex physical precision or strength. A user can clap or tap a rhythm and Talkback offers a harmonic accompaniment. The ‘fortified musical experience’ has proved to have some interesting subtleties and strengths in my own initial testing. By virtue of being removed from the decisions around harmony, it feels somewhat akin to a jam between musicians (except you’re always in time). 

Secondly, the randomisation of notes (in my own testing) has been prompted me to be mindful of what I’m hearing, and to specifically tap until a resolved not appears. This could have applications in music pedagogy as an exercise in harmonic recognition.