collision harmonies

Music installation. Sound produced on the Bob Cole Conservatory Analog Synthesizer, with CV data sourced from a Max MSP/Jitter patch that interprets the bouncing of a ball off surfaces to triggers for specific units of the synthesizer.

Interfacing Max MSP running a virtual physics world in Jitter using OpenGL with the modular synth housed at CSU Long Beach’s E-Lab, “collision harmonies” relies on interpreting different parameters in the virtual world as MIDI data and, ultimately, as CV signal within the synth. In this way, the aleatoric elements of a perpetually moving ball bouncing off an 11-sided polygon barrier hitting three moving targets becomes sonified in an entrancing sound bath, enticing the listener to anticipate those rare moments when ball and target meet.