APD Week #7 - Play and Sound

Response Link: https://youtu.be/CfOlIZjXN_E

• Theme

In response to the theme of Play and Sound, I propose a simple game that generates random balls falling onto piano keys by simply pressing the space button to create a piece of music with random notes.

• Method

When the topic Play and Sound popped out, I naturally thought of instrument play as a classical method of playing with sounds. So I decided to make some changes or adds to the existing instrument. I first created a part of the piano mockup in Unity and imported notes for each key. Then I pressed the space button to generate a number of balls at different time to produce pieces of music. I can control the number of balls and intervals of notes by changing the frequency of pressing buttons.

• Context

In this play, randomness is playing a big role. Dan FelderIn(2022) games, randomness adds a variety of outcomes and keeps players engaged because of each time’s unexpected results. The rolling of balls is random and this causes randomness in notes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpwBbm22_y0

I am inspired by Céleste Boursier-Mougenot’s installation art Clinamen. There are one hundred or more porcelain bowls floating on a pool. Those bowls hit each other gently and make percussive instrument sounds with beautiful resonant. I found that naturally occurring hit sounds can bring unexpected composition. Thus, I let the balls automatically roll and hit each other on the piano to let the notes occur naturally.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-1dZoSaA6E

Another inspiration comes from Erik Valbo’s Rainwaves which shows an uncontrolled concert with raindrops hitting on a metal stepped sculpture. This gave me the hints of balls falling down on the piano.

• Reflection

In this week’s work, although I apply randomness. I found the replicants of balls have the same patterns as previous ones, which may decrease the surprises in rhythms. So if the balls can fall from different angles or positions each time, the outcomes can have more variations.