Year

2011-2012

About

The Arc is an electronic music performance interface that I designed at Memorial University. I worked under composer Dr. Andrew Staniland to design and fabricate the original prototypes – with additional assistance from Dr. Nick Krouglicof and Andy Fisher at the Faculty of Engineering. I then worked with the university’s technology commercialization arm, Genesis, to develop a third prototype.

Dr. Staniland and I set out to solve two big problems:

• Current products sat on a desk and did not allow the audience to see what the musician was doing
• Current products did not allow many parameters to be manipulated expressively at one time, like an acoustic instrument does

We developed several concepts intended to solve these problems. The audience-facing, backlit interface allows every parameter change to be seen clearly. The ergonomic placement of touch and force-sensitive sensors plus an accelerometer and gyroscope allow for up to 12 parameters to be controlled independently. I designed and fabricated the electronics, software and casing for the three incrementally improved prototypes. The instruments have been used in  concert since – receiving a ton of encouraging feedback – and the project has spun off  a start-up: www.munemusic.com.

Features:

• Wireless (Bluetooth with 100m range)
• 32 Force-Sensitive Pads
• 8 Touch Faders
• 3-axis Gyroscope
• 3-axis Accelerometer
• 3D Printed Casing