GraviTone: A Tangible Musical Interface using Gravity Well for Sound and Music Creation

Kratika Jain; Allwin Williams; Akhilesh Kumar Bhagat; Sukanth K; Arunav Rajesh; Prashant Pal; Krishanan Chandran; Rajashekhar V S; Anandu Ramesh; Gowdham Prabhakar

GraviTone: A Tangible Musical Interface using Gravity Well for Sound and Music Creation
Image credit: Kratika Jain; Allwin Williams; Akhilesh Kumar Bhagat; Sukanth K; Arunav Rajesh; Prashant Pal; Krishanan Chandran; Rajashekhar V S; Anandu Ramesh; Gowdham Prabhakar

Abstract:

We propose a new musical interface, “GraviTone” that produces sounds and musical compositions via interaction with spherical objects in a gravity-well benchtop setup. The interface consists of several spherical objects in different colours orbiting around the centrally placed static object on the spacetime fabric. The spherical objects are launched at a certain angle from the setup’s periphery, and the objects’ motion is tracked by an overhead camera and mapped to different parameters to generate sound. In GraviTone, users can experience sounds generated from objects’ parameters and have control over different configurations. We use the setup to send Open Sound Control (OSC) signals and Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) signals to map different sounds and musical scales (Indian classical ragas and Western classical scale). We mapped the moving objects’ parameters to control synth parameters, VSTs, and DAWs. Users can also route generated MIDI data into DAWs using preset configurations or customizing their frameworks for sound generation. We also generate real-time visuals corresponding to the object’s movements for further immersion and interactivity. This integrated interface combines various domains like musical mathematics, sonification techniques, sound synthesis, and sound design for live music creation and real-time audiovisual composition.