Some news from the Sound Front

We have been working on a solution for the sound diffusion in the structure. At the beginning we investigated the possibility of having a system composed by several mp3 players connected to commercially available portable loudspeakers (similar to what is being used in Toddlers Room or Opus 7). After seeing the real structure in Miguel´s atelier it became evident that any commercially available solution would be strange and we should design something that would make sense (visually) with all the rest. In the process we spoke with Rui Penha, a dear friend and collaborator, and we decided to create an original solution which would solve not only the visual problems but also the sound (off course) and the synchronisation of mp3 files (which may or may not be an important question). The drawing and photos show the idea currently being developed:

1) We will have 8 pairs of loudspeakers that have inside a LilyPad2 mp3 connected to a circuit that hosts a “xbee” micro controller (Rui Penha´s circuit). The LilyPad2 mp3 has an amplifier, connections to 2 loudspeakers, and an SD card. We have chosen Phonestar SQ-2504 loudspeakers and developed wooden pieces that will host them as well as the electronics and battery. 

2) The idea of  using “xbees” is to create a wireless network that is controlled by a “xbee master”. The master sends information to the receivers (Rui Penha´s circuit) and they send information to the LiyPad2 mp3 player. In other words, the master allows to synchronise all players and it is programable (Arduino). It is possible to write a program with a final sequence of files to be played or a more or less randomised sequence.

3) The system is wireless (except for the connection between pairs of loudspeakers) and fits into the structure so it looks that sound is emanating from the space itself. This is really nice because all the ideas we talked about defining a space have now a very elegant solution: the structure is very minimal (well, not really, if we look at the amount of work and effort needed to produce it and to assemble it) and it is the interaction of lines (pieces of wood) and sound that will create the sensation of being immersed. It has a lot of empty space around but it is very effective in creating a very conformable sensation of being “inside”

Rui is still developing some aspects of the programming and it looks that the maximum number o mp3 files is going to be 30. I believe this is more than enough. It would mean that we could work with a total of 240 sound files which is far more than we can deal with (both musically and in terms of the work with Sandra and Pedro). The length of the files is only determined by the capacity of the the SD card, so we can have many hours of music.

During the first week we will not be working with the final version of the system, but that is not a problem as we have agreed to work with Live as a composing tool. In fact, we will only “close” the program in the xbee master when we will have made decisions about the sounds and the order they will appear. I have already a selection of mp3 files that I have created or processed and, off course, the idea is to work with everyone, and Nils in particular, towards a wider pool.