This year's Maker Faire features two I School student projects with inventive new interfaces for creating music: the Bubblegum Sequencer, a step sequencer for creating electronic drum loops using brightly colored gumballs, and Jug Hero, an old fashioned take on the Guitar Hero game.
Bubblegum Sequencer
The Bubblegum Sequencer, created by master's students Hannes Hesse and Andrew McDiarmid, is a physical step sequencer that lets you create drumloops by arranging colored balls on a tangible surface. It generates MIDI events and can be used as an input device to control audio hardware and software. Finally, people can't claim anymore that electronic music isn't handmade.
Here's how it works: A grid of holes, consisting of several rows with 16 holes each is the canvas. On it, you arrange colored gumballs. The 16 columns represent the 16th-notes in a measure. Each color is mapped to a specific sample.
Because the output is generated in the form of MIDI events, the Bubblegum Sequencer can be used to control any kind of audio hardware or software.
Bubblegum Sequencer Demonstration
More about the Bubblegum Sequencer.
Jug Hero
The Jug Hero game, created by master's students Kevin Lim and Shawna Hein, brings American jug band music into the computer age. In contrast to the rock soundtrack of "Guitar Hero", the "Jug Hero" prototype features tunes like "Jug Band Music" and Tom Paxton's "Bottle of Wine".
Two players are assigned one jug instrument each, which they blow puffs of air into to score points. Players also "clink" their instruments together in a social "cheers!" that allots them bonus points. Each jug includes a microphone to sense resonant puffs of air in the mouth of the jug, and a force-sensor to sense social "clinking" of two jugs at the side of the instruments. The interaction is kept both simple and social. Also, because the tempo of jug band music varies widely, the arbitrary "easy/medium/hard" trichotomy is removed in favor of a foot pedal, which allows the players to choose a difficulty level much more intuitively. At any point in the game, either player can tap the pedal slower or faster to play a song with the corresponding speed.
Demonstration of Jug Hero in Action
Maker Faire
Maker Faire is a unique "do-it-yourself" showcase of creativity and ingenuity, a newfangled fair that combines high-tech wizardry and low-tech craftsmanship, in a two-day, family-friendly event May 3rd and 4th at the San Mateo Fairgrounds.
The Faire features an eclectic mix of wild and wondrous creations, ranging from rockets and robots to weaving and screenprinting, and blending art and science with engineering and craft.
Tangible User Interfaces Course
Both the Bubblegum Sequencer and the Jug Hero game originated as class projects in the Fall 2007 Tangible User Interfaces course at the School of Information. Professor Kimiko Ryokai focuses on the physical interaction with computational media, and students design and develop experimental applications, underlying technologies, and theories using concept sketches, posters, physical mock-ups, working prototypes, and a final project report.
The course will be offered again in Fall 2008.