Konductor
Konductor In an Interactive music experience exploring the use of pixel mapping, and touch designer in order to produce a salable modular lighting network.
Role
Product Designer
Year
Fall 2024
Tools
Touch Designer, Arduino, Resolume
Objective
For this project, I wanted to explore the use of pixel mapping and Art-Net for networked installations. The concept was to understand it on a small scale to enable its application to larger-scale networks. For this i made an interactive music mixing experience targeted towards middle and high schoolers.
Process
I came into this semester with the goal of learning more about networking for digital media and interactive experiences. LED pixel mapping became a perfect avenue to explore this, as I needed a simple way to achieve individual pixel control while enabling network functionality. With the help of WLED, I was able to control multiple DMX universes of pixels over the network using a single ESP32. This setup allowed me to interface it with TouchDesigner on the interactive side and Resolume as a media server to make it functional.
The interaction was relatively simple: the user could hover over a series of songs represented on five pixel strips and push to select. Once a song was selected, the user could individually control five sound elements within the song. For this project, the elements included bass, drums, vocals, guitar, and synthesizer. Each pixel strip was designed to be audio-reactive to its corresponding sound source, creating an engaging and immersive experience.
There were multiple challenges along the way, from designing and soldering the pixel strips to ensuring smooth interaction in TouchDesigner. By applying many of the UX principles and skills I’ve learned, I was able to successfully balance the roles of both engineer and lead designer on this project.
Takeaways
This project was a significant learning experience and a success in my eyes. I walked away with a solid understanding of pixel mapping and networked systems, as well as a clear view of the pros and cons of this approach. Time management proved to be crucial, and I prioritized creating and adhering to a schedule from the start. This discipline was incredibly rewarding, as it allowed me to push myself in ways I hadn’t before, both from an engineering and design perspective.
Skills
In this project, I utilized TouchDesigner, Arduino, Resolume, and the Kinect. You might wonder why I chose to use both Resolume and TouchDesigner, given that I could output all my DMX directly from TouchDesigner. My reasoning was to incorporate an additional layer of redundancy into the project. Since my focus was on scalability, having a media server like Resolume in the mix enabled me to synchronize redundant instances of the pixel mapping. It also allowed me to offload some of the processing power to another computer, making the setup more efficient and robust for larger-scale implementations.
Outcome
In the end, I learned a great deal about networked lighting systems and the design of specific pixel strips. I was able to weigh the pros and cons of this system's approach while exploring different forms of human-computer interaction. This same approach could be scaled and applied to various projects—primarily focusing on the idea of scalable lighting networks and the user interactions behind them. Providing users with almost instant feedback helps orient them within the experience and allows them to maintain a sense of agency throughout.