Geometric Music from Superbe on Vimeo.Images viaSince the advent of the microchip, computer technology has expanded access to creative production to unprecedented levels; tools which used to occupy entire rooms, required excessive operational know-how, and often significant artistic and conceptual vocabularies, now fit, reconstructed, innovated, and aggregated onto handheld platforms. While the throwback allure of analog can't be ignored, and skill-sets still remain paramount, it's difficult to deny that these scaled-down software-based upgrades make for really exciting new products:Recently unveiled in Barcelona at Sónar festival’s MarketLab, Geometric Music is an interactive music app for the Android, Apple, and your browser. Fascinated by beatboxing, head designers Gaëtan Libertiaux and Gaël Bertrand, from interactive design studio Superbe, wondered if it was possible to create music without knowing how to read notes or play any instruments. Their answer was to translate samples into forms as easy to manipulate as they get: buttons, knobs, sequencers, and other professional mixing tools now take the forms of simple polygons.Geometric Music v1.0 doesn't’t just allow users to edit and sequence sounds in intuitive new ways, it’s sampler relies on on-the-spot sound recordings, taken through your device's microphone. It aims to create an in-the-moment experience, accessible for everyone, with engaging ways to control basic music production, and it's already solidified itself as an nascent production staple by winning the prestigiousSoundArt App-Art award at Germany’s Center for Art and Media.
From Geometric Music's Press Release:"Once you have recorded your sound, you choose a geometric shape and your recording will be played on each of its edges – hexagon for a six-time sequence, square for four, triangle for three and circle for one. But that’s not all about it! You can also edit those edges by selecting normal, reverse, down or none.It’s now time for you to tackle your shape size in order to modify the speed; the smaller it gets the faster it sounds, when it grows bigger the sound slows down. Keep playing by moving your shape into space; influencing the volume while moving up and down or changing the stereo moving from left to right. By choosing the random button, you leave it to the unpredictable algorithm and discover some surprising patterns."
The ability to modify individual sounds as tactile units means that the composition on the screen translates directly to what becomes audible. And with a minimal amount of variables, users are forced to get creative with what they have— sparking new compositions by bringing music production back to the basics.
Start making your own tunes with the web release of Geometric Music v1.0 by clicking here.Related:An Exclusive Look Inside Radiohead's Audiovisual App, PolyFaunaWant To Play Music Like Bjork?The Future of Music is Now if You Want It
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