INKey
Electro mechanical music machine celebrating the maker culture
The idea behind INKey was to create a simple interface where anyone could compose a piece of music regardless of musical talent. Inspired by street organs and drum loop machines we wanted to create a new instrument for composing, that would play simple homemade instruments (chimes, cigar box guitar and cymbal). These can be used in unison to create an intricate musical composition, that unlike our inspirations would be intuitive, visual and easy to play.
In collaboration with Andy Butt, Andy Carrera and Dongyuan Li.
Selected for Sound Check Exhibition at Science Gallery Dublin.
Inspiration and Idea
Electronics
Reading Head: Each of the 10 track has its own white LED and photo resistor positioned next to each other just above the paper. White paper reflects more light than paper covered with ink. Toggle switches are added to temporarily disable individual tracks.
The Brains: To make sure the instruments run smoothly I have used one central Arduino connected to the reading head and controlling only the binary instruments (chimes, cymbal) while the guitar and drums had designated Arduinos.