Lucas Dachman

Domains, Precedents, & Research Questions

Revision 1 –– 30 Jan 2019

Past Projects

Find my projects here: lucasdachman.github.io/works.html

They include:

  • The Foot Step Sequencer - an interactive music experience that uses the positions of people on the floor to create music patterns
  • A wearable midi controller that uses the position of the users foot to send control signals to any music software
  • Cirkit - an iPhone app that does common circuit calculations
  • Resistor Calculator - an Android app that displays resistor information based on band color coding
  • Wake / Make - A moving typographic sculpture
  • Web Synth - the music maker on the home page of my portfolio. It shows my interests in both programming and music tech

Domains

Here is a list of the domains covered in my top projects:

  • Music Tech
  • Arduino
  • Midi / controllers
  • Programming
  • Movement
  • Wearables
  • Mobile Apps
  • Physical computing/hacking
  • Typography
  • 3D printing
  • Web Design / Front-End Engineering
  • Interactivity

More generally, each of my projects fall into one or more of these categories: Programming, Music Tech, Physical Computing.

Why?

What makes me like these things?

  • Programming
    • I like to create things
    • I like having control over my creations
    • I can make complex things quickly
    • I get stuck in the zone when I do it
    • I can collaborate with other creative/intelligent people
    • I can apply it to many fields (interdisciplinary)
    • I like to solve problems
    • I am always learning (complex and fast-evolving field)
    • I can build off of other peoples work (open source)
  • Music Tech
    • I like creating things
    • I like mixing things that are structured with things that are organic
    • I like having control over my creations
    • I like buttons and knobs
    • I like music with a strong rhythm component
    • I like new things
    • I want to create unique musical instruments
    • It’s interdisciplinary
  • Physical Computing
    • It’s fun to make things with your hands
    • I can easily show off my projects (because they are physical)
    • I learn new concepts/technologies for every project
    • I get to write code

It turns out I have some similar reasons for interest in these domains. I like to create things, I like having a high degree of control over my creations, I like to be interdisciplinary, I want to learn all the time.

Precedents

People

Audio / Visual Web Apps

Experimental Instruments / Controllers

Music Software

Groove Boxes & Sequencers

  • Elektron Digitakt - A Sampler & Sequencer that I love for its randomization & chance features
  • Roland TR 808 - One of the most influential pieces of hardware in the electronic music genre
  • Novation - A company that makes some awesome music gear
  • Korg - A company that makes awesome music gear (I like the Korg Volca FM)

Research / Textual information

Research Questions

  • What place do modern technologies (computers) take in the music making process?
  • How can web technologies be applied to music production?
  • What are practical alternatives to buttons and knobs? How can gestures and movement be used in the music making process?
  • What makes new instruments novel or successful?
  • What is the smallest set of controls that can be used to make an interesting electronic instrument?
  • How can note triggering and sound manipulation (on an electronic instrument) be combined into a single gesture to improve expression during performance?
  • How can visual or haptic feedback from an electronic instrument improve the creative process of a music producer?
Previous

An interactive music floor

The Foot Step Sequencer My interactive music floor uses the idea of a step sequencer to put the task of...
Next

Why?

### Abstraction A central part of most of my past projects is abstraction. When I create something, I want to...