Balance

• Title – Balance
• Artist – Vincent Cusson
• Event – improv@CIRMMT: T-Stick Music Creation Project
• Date – Feb 11, 2020
• Venue – La Vitrola, Montreal

Gestural interfaces like the T-Stick offer the opportunity to explore controls beyond the classic musical metaphor. It could refer to a wind instrument or a percussion mallet at first glance but could also spark imagination and evoke a paddle or a fishing rod. Its affordance also is clearly related to the 3D space, with this additional dimension where so much can happen.

The idea is to arrange multiple Sopranino T-Stick in a sculptural way, reminiscent of a sonic installation, for a performer or the public to play with. The emphasis would be put on their position and rotation in space, acting like a controller for an original ambient interactive composition. The physical and positional limitations (guides, cables, etc.) normally unwanted in this kind of device, would help the engagement of non-experts. Taking advantage of the conductive and pressure sensor embeded in the T-Stick, another layer of more minute gestures were developed to allow a more dynamic sonic exploration.

I took the opportunity to explore the possible integration with the open-source virtual modular synthesizer VCV Rack. This software allows the creation of complex soundscapes and the CV control paradigm is similar to the continuous gestural control information from the T-Stick. The input processing and mapping is done in Max/MSP.

A CIRMMT talk on this project can be found here.