iPhone/iPod Touch instrument Workshop :: September 10, 2010 from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. :: @ NK Elsenstr. 52 2HH 2Etage 12059 Berlin :: Transform your iThing into a personalised sensor instrument! :: Participation is limited to 12 :: Registration: Pre-registration is recommended and can be done by sending an email to: Ko-Le Chen–k.l.chen@ncl.ac.uk :: Fee: Free

…This one-day workshop is intended to give people the skills to develop their own personalized sensor instruments on the iThing, without the need to purchase a developers license, learn much coding or ʻjailbreak’ their phone. Continue reading

Plug & Play Sensors & Puredata Workshop– taught by Servando Barreiro :: June 18-19, 2010; 2:00-7:00h pm :: NK, Elsenstr. 52/ 2.Hinterhaus Etage 2, 12059 Berlin Neukölln.

This workshop is an introduction to the world of the analog sensors (light, infrared, ultrasonic, accelerometer) that are used to control audio, video, midi applications and interactive installations. The “minitronics” board will be used to communicate with the computer because it’s cheap, plug&play, multi-platform and it doesn’t require any extra knowledge to use.

On the first day we will construct a “basic” sensor controller with a pair of light sensors and a pair of potentiometers. On the second day, I will explain the different interfacing possibilities with different softwares and also provide and explain some puredata patches that are ready to “work”. (all platforms)

For more info: here | here.

Variable 4 by James Bulley and Daniel Jones :: May 22-23, 2010; noon-noon :: Dungeness, Kent, TN29 9ND.

Since the earliest civilizations, a complex relationship has existed between human society and the weather systems that define the world around us. We make sense of seasonal cycles through rituals and folklore, passing down ways of harnessing the natural elements whilst constructing defenses against those which threaten our existence.

Variable 4 transforms these weather patterns into a living musical composition with the same unpredictability as the elements themselves. Using meteorological sensors connected to a custom software environment developed by the artists, the wild weather conditions of the Kent coastland act as composer, navigating through a map of 24 specifically written movements. Every aspect of the piece, from broad harmonic progressions down to individual notes and timbres, is influenced by changes in the environment: wind speed, rainfall, solar radiation, humidity, tropospheric variance, temperature, and more. Continue reading

“With the installation Sonicity, the English artist Stanza adds another significant chapter to his quest for new metaphors to translate the countless interactions produced by data passing through an environment into a sensory plane. Stanza’s aim is to create a data space that is perceived as alive. To achieve this goal he has installed a great number of sensors that are able to detect the smallest changes in variables (such as light, temperature, noise, humidity and the location of certain objects) in the building that houses the gallery. Each of these sensors provides information on the parameters being monitored. These data are then transformed by Sonicity into a sound environment through the use of a wireless network consisting of hundreds of small speakers positioned on the floor and walls of the exhibition space. Continue reading

Digital Developments, artist development weekends, will begin at the Digital Media Centre, South Hill Park, Bracknell at the end of October. The season runs from “Found Sound Stories” led by sound artist and composer, Janek Schaefer, through “Using Sensors for Performance & Installation”, “Experimental Digital Printmaking”, and ends with “Circuit Bending: Atari Punk Console” at the end of November.

24/25 October :: Found Sound Stories :: Janek Schaefer, award winning composer and sound artist, introduces a weekend of field recording, performance and the physical manipulation of found sounds using an array of recording devices, turntables and Minidisc. A laptop-free zone in which to record and imagine an active audio narrative, leading to improvised performance. Results of the weekend will be recorded and may become part of a broadcast on Resonance FM. Continue reading

Sensory Threads @ Surface Tension :: June 23, 2009; 10:30 am - 4:30 pm :: The Science Museum’s Dana Centre, 165 Queen’s Gate, South Kensington, London.

Sensory Threads — by Proboscis — is a work-in-progress to develop an instrument enabling a group of people to create a soundscape reflecting their collaborative experiences in the environment. For this interactive sensory experience, we are designing sensors for detecting environmental phenomena at the periphery of human perception as well as the movement and proximity of the wearers themselves. Possible targets for the sensors may be electro-magnetic radiation, hi/lo sound frequencies, heart rate etc). The sensors’ datastreams will feed into generative audio software, creating a multi-layered and multi-dimensional soundscape feeding back the players’ journey through their environment. Variations in the soundscape reflect changes in the wearers interactions with each other and the environment around them.

Theremin Sensors Workshop with Andrei Smirnov :: May 18 - 22, 2009; 12:00 - 6:00 pm :: NK, ElsenStr. 52 (2.Hof) Berlin, Germany :: Course Participation fee: 100 euros :: Registration required (limited to 12) — email enka_nkATgmxDOTde

This intensive workshop offers hands-on introduction to interactive systems, based on the theremin-sensor technology developed by Andrei Smirnov and based on the same principle as a well known electronic musical instrument the Theremin, invented by Russian inventor Leon Theremin in 1919. The sensors are small and sensitive digital Theremins useful for numerous applications including motion tracking, gestural interfacing, monitoring of small variations of electrical capacitances related to any sorts of conductive materials and media, including metal objects, foil, liquids, water, human body, plants, metal threads, thin plastic films with metallization, all sorts of Christmas stuff etc. Continue reading

G.A.P. No. 2 from Dream Addictive on Vimeo.

G.A.P. No.2 is part of a series of electronic prototypes with organic form, designed to simulate generative sound process. The device consists of a set of speakers, amplifier, sensors and Arduino. The organic disposition of elements, like a little sound garden sensitive to movement, stimulates the sensory interaction as a means for manipulating audio. Continue reading

[Image: Edwin van der Heide’s Speed of Sound in the granary] “… Later that evening Seattle-based instrument inventor, Trimpin, performed his mechanized one-man band. He controlled two record players, a keyboard, and his wheelbarrow rhythm machine from sensors on a cello, and took us on a humorous music-making journey. As he “played” his cello, sensors tracked the movement of the bow and cued the turning of the records, sequences on the keyboard (a series of intricate automated “fingers”), and mechanized mallets made rhythms on found objects and drums that were mounted in a rusty wheelbarrow. The records’ self-reflective spoken word content (an instructional on the making of music and sound) punctuated the enigmatic story being told… Continue reading