An Electronic Art Installation

Presenter : Athan Spathas

Major : Sociology

Poster 44

This is an electronic art installation: using the Arduino (an open-source microprocessor), an accelerometer (which measures tilt and acceleration), an electronic drum-pad (midi-controller), and the computer program ‘Max’ to design a multi-person instrument. The accerometer is on a cord which can be swung like a pendulum (hence that part is an electronic pendulum), and its lengths can be adjusted to demonstrate how it swings faster or slower (educational for explaining the functions of a pendulum). As it swings, the accelerometer measures the velocity at which it’s moving, and controls the amplitude of the tones which are controlled by the drum-pad. To summarize, I made an instrument that you can swing in a variety of ways to manipulate sound, and can be used in conjunction with other instruments to create an interdependent sound (this primarily came from 2 classes I took this year which are brand new, with Chet Udell in the Music (Technology) Department, Sensormusik & Computer Net- work Music).

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