CreativeTone SOUNDRAW

Soundraw is a fun digital interaction that produces music as you draw. Create different 8-bit sounds by drawing lines, pictures or even writing words.

Soundraw is a digital interaction device which enables the user to draw lines, shapes or patterns and in doing so produce 8-bit sounds and songs. Therefore combining two art forms - music production and sketching. Soundraw is a rectagnular prism shaped box, only slightly bigger than a standard house brick, with an elegant woodgrain finish and a unique drawing surface positioned on top. Under the drawing surface there are 10 LDRs (light dependant resistors), each with a different 8-bit sound asigned to them, these sounds are activiated when the light levels are reduced (eg, by the ink of a pen on the drawing surface). When an LDR is covered the sound will play continuously in a loop, when more than one of the LDRs are covered the sounds will play in sequence and then  loop. The drawing surface or 'song sheet' is a transparent peice of acetate which is drawn on using a white board marker which can be be rubbed off and re-drawn, a permanent marker is then used to finalise each song. The acetate can then be removed and therefore the song can be 'saved' and replayed at the user's convenience. The user is then able to build up a portfolio of their work which can be replayed at any time. We feel that Soundraw is an innovative and creative way for amatuers and professionals alike to produce exciting new music.

Short Product Video

Donald Struthers and Richard Booth 

2nd Year Product Design Students

University of Dundee

Code

Here's the final version of the code that we used just in case anyone was wondering.


main:

readadc b.4, b0
debug b0

if b0 > 100 then sound c.7, (100,10)
endif
if b0 < 85 then sound c.7, (0,1)
endif

readadc b.5, b1

if b1 > 100 then sound c.7, (90,10)
endif
if b1 < 80 then sound c.7, (0,1)
endif

readadc b.6, b2

if b2 > 35 then sound c.7, (80,10)
endif
if b2 < 20 then sound c.7, (0,1)
endif

readadc b.7, b3

if b3 > 110 then sound c.7, (70,10)
endif
if b3 < 100 then sound c.7, (0,1)
endif

readadc c.1, b4



if b4 > 30 then sound c.7, (60,10)
endif
if b4 < 15 then sound c.7, (0,1)
endif

readadc c.0, b5

if b5 > 100 then sound c.7, (50,10)
endif
if b5 < 90 then sound c.7, (0,1)
endif

readadc b.1, b6

if b6 > 120 then sound c.7, (40,10)
endif
if b6 < 100 then sound c.7, (0,1)
endif

readadc b.2, b7

if b7 > 30 then sound c.7, (30,10)
endif
if b7 < 17 then sound c.7, (0,1)
endif

readadc b.3, b8 



if b8 > 30 then sound c.7, (20,10)
endif
if b8 < 15 then sound c.7, (0,1)
endif

readadc c.2, b9

if b9 > 35 then sound c.7, (10,10)
endif
if b9 < 20 then sound c.7, (0,1)
endif

goto main

Nearing the end

So, recently we've been working on our final hand-in prototype. We've finally decided on: having one large drawing surface with 10 LDRs; each LDR having a different 8-bit sound associated with it; having some kind of system enabling the user to 'save' the songs they wish; making it simple and easy to use by anyone and concealing all the electronic components.
We've just about finished our final prototype and here's what the inside of it looks like.

(Breadboard, power supply, speaker, 10 LDRs, speaker and amplifier)

We're still not sure what kind of finish we're going to go for on the outside of the box, we know we'd like it to be some kind of wood finish but whether we use wood stain, wood polish, wax or varnish is still to be decided. We are also yet to decide on a logo and what colour the logo will be. Along those lines we've prepared some samples (here's a picture) and, if anyones actually reading this, some feeback would be brilliant.

New prototype

Over the past couple of weeks we've been working on developing our idea. We've decided that making some kind of roller to pull the drawings over a row of LDRs is not the best sollution. Instead of pulling the drawings over the LDRs we are going to spread out as many LDRs as we can to create a much larger drawing surface so that as you draw you can hear the sounds being produced rather than just having to guess what your picture will sound like. We've produced another prototype along these lines, here's a wee snap of that...

With this prototype we've just been taping some acetate over the top of it and drawing onto it. We've also decided that we like the idea of being able to 'save' your song, as in keep the piece of acetate and put it back on the LDRs to prodcuce the same song again and again.

We'll keep you posted on our progress :)

Donald and Richard

Progress

This week we developed our interaction, of somehow drawing to create sound, further. We also decided that we will use 8-bit sounds (the kind of music you hear in old video games) as there is something simple yet quite pleasing about them.

This is our 3rd prototype, basically it has 5 round grooves along the top surface which are big enough to fit 5 of our LDRs (the wires come through the small hole in the middle of each groove). The idea is that a sheet of acetate is placed over the top of the surface and the user can draw whatever they feel like. This drawing will then somehow (we've not quite decided how yet) be pulled over the line of LDRs, playing the drawing in sequence.
We were pointed towards barrel organs as inspiration, they are similar in the way that the music is pre-decided and just pulled past the music playing bit.

Donald and Richard :)

Idea development

So last week we decided on and started developing what we think will be our final idea. Basically we're going to create some kind of sound interaction which involves drawing. We also made some basic prototypes using LDRs, cardboard and some mdf.

The cardboard box (on the right hand side of the picture) was our first prototype, it was basically a cover for our breadboard and other components which had a small acetate window which had 3 LDRs under it. As you coloured over the window with a black marker the LDRs would be covered and a sound would play. The problem was that when only on of the LDRs was covered there was still too much light getting through and therefore the sound was not playing.

This is our second prototype, its similar to the first except that each LDR has its own space so that light only gets to it from directly above. Therefore when you colour in each square with the black marker the sound starts to play. You can then cover more than one (and more sounds will play) or you an rub out the squares that you have already covered.

We were also interested in developing some kind of system to enable the user to 'draw a song' then remove the acetate sheet to 'save' the song. This would mean that if you wanted to play a song you had previously created you would just put that piece of acetate back on top of the LDRs.

Here's a short video of our second prototype in action, enjoy!

Programming - First Attempt.

Just a little update to keep the blog up to speed with our progress in class. Last week we had our first go at programming our BASIC stamp. We connected several LEDs to our breadboard and made them flash in sequence. Heres a short video of what we made:

We added the music later so don't get too exited, the LEDs aren't flashing in time to the music. If anyone's interested the song is called 'L.F.O' and it's by LFO.

We're currently working on getting speakers, LDRs and other components connected so we can interact with it in different ways.