event
Synthux Hackathon 2024

Hip Synth

a belt that allows you to make music with your moves
MaxMSP
Arduino
Ableton
Camera feed
Gyroscope/Accelerometer
prompt

Coaches & collaborators

David Schaal, Jiffer Harriman
institute
Colorado University, ATLAS institute
Shakira was right - hips don’t lie. Our hip synth is a wearable synth that translates the movement of your hips into audiovisuals. For novice or non-dancers, simple movements such as lowering or bending your hips alone can create a sonic landscape. And for those accustomed to more technical hip movements, such as isolated pelvic tilts and energetic shimmies, the range is even greater. Strap it on, explore a sonic universe, and be impressed by the range of hip movement you didn’t even know you had.
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the tech

How does it work?

The fabric hip synth belt is embedded with a Lilypad Arduino, a 3-axis accelerometer, a lithium polymer battery, and an xbee. The accelerometer is nestled on the left hip and its x-y-z dimension data points are sent from the xbee in the belt to an xbee attached to a laptop. The serial data from the Arduino is read into a Max for Live device which then uses each of the data points as the partial to an additive synth. We’re using Videosync with Live for video, and for that we send the accelerometer data mapped to a smaller range via OSC for the purpose of controlling the percentage of red, blue, or green video input that is blended into the main video which shows Mary dancing.
Open source code
Click here to grab this project's code
MaxMSP
Visual programming language for music and multimedia
Arduino
Development board
Ableton
Music production program
Camera feed
Gyroscope/Accelerometer
A gyroscope/accelerometer is a device used for measuring or maintaining orientation and angular velocity
About the instrument
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