MuSyC

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  Starting off; building the first circuit.

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  The real "back end."

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  Making the template for our box.

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  Drilling to make holes for the wiring.

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  MuSyC, looking snappy.

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  Melting the plastic so that it can be bent into the box.

Inspiration

MuSyC is a project which aims at building a music to colour synaesthesia visualizer.

Synaesthesia is a neurological phenomenon in which perception of a certain stimulus, such as the musical note ‘A’, involuntarily elicits another seemingly unrelated sensation, such as seeing the colour red. There are various types of synaesthesia, one of the most common of which is music to colour associations. However, explaining the qualia or feeling this cross-sensory activation elicits is hard to do – thankfully, music visualizers have made it easier to showcase how sound can influence and shape images. It's often difficult for people with synaesthesia to explain their condition to others. Plus, it is a visually interesting idea that makes beautiful art.

What it does

MuSyC - Music, Synesthesia, and Color- emulates the neurological condition of visual-audio synesthesia. It can be used to educate people on the condition as a form of neuroscience public outreach, help music students learn to read sheet music and it's fun, cute performance art. Importantly, this device can also provide a visual stimulus to promote accessibility - during orchestras and concerts which would provide an alternative visual stimulus for deaf or hard of hearing individuals.

Our goal with MuSyC is to make a device which is sensitive to the frequency or pitch of a sound and flashes certain colours in response to amplitude and frequency. Not only will this device allow non-synaesthetes to experience the world and music from the eyes of a music-colour synaesthete, it has great potential to be used as a tool for performance art in collaboration with musical orchestras and bands. Moreover, we hope that this device can also be used as an educational tool for those beginning training in music and those who need an additional visual cue to help distinguishing between closely related notes as well as become an aid in learning sheet music.

How I built it

We used Adafruit Arduinos to build the MuSyC. We also used Neopixel LED rings to provide the visual stimulus and an Ampli-Mic for detecting audio input. Cassiel and Kyoko had never heard of Arduino before the hackathon and then proceeded to learn the language in less than 14 hours each. We also took advantage of the fabrication studio by building a black plexiglass encasing for the circuit, Arduino Uno board and other wiring.

Challenges I ran into

We learned the arduino language on the spot. We also had difficulty with hardware connectivity and performance - especially with detection of aural stimuli.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

We're proud of having learned a language in 24 hours. We're proud of never having built an LED microphone circuit to a circuit with two LEDs, a microphone, and a potentiometer. And we achieved our grand idea from the start. This project has the potential to help music teachers, hard of hearing individuals who love music, synaesthetes, musicians who are aiming to expand their performance into a visual format and neuroscientists.

What I learned

We have learned a lot about circuits, hardware, and maker space. We also learned the power of patience and persistence.

What's next for MuSyC

We would love to make MuSyC a wearable, as was our original plan. We had to use a larger arduino than we planned because of connectivity issues, but if we could get the smaller arduino to work we could make goggles, neck ties and other wearables. This way a musician could be wearing one of these devices while playing an instrument, thus delivering a real time translation of their music into visual stimuli. Imagine an orchestra full of people with these devices!

Built With

• adafruit
• arduino
• neopixel