Space Synth
LED Zeppelins II
‘LED Zeppelins II – Space Synth’ is a generated soundscape mixer that uses computer vision (colour tracking) to track the x,y and z coordinates of up to three objects – in this case helium filled balloons – moving in 3D space from two live camera inputs.
Each tracked balloon can be attributed up to three looped sound file segments that can be altered and mixed on-the-fly. The tracked balloons y coordinate alters the speed of playback of the mix of sound clips which is automatically graduated over a musical scale, but the user is given control over the range of each of the these three separate scales to allow a wider spectrum of sounds. At the same time, the x, y and z coordinate data adjusts the amplitude of each mix as it is routed to each speaker in an 8-channel setup – as each balloon moves around in the 3D space its individual complex mix of sounds targets its spacial location which is experienced in comparison to that of the other balloons.
The viewer engages in the project by controlling the input/mixing of the audio clips and moving the balloons around in the space whilst listening to the 8-channel playback and viewing the tracking of the balloons via output monitors built into the synth.