beacon: Embodied Sound Media Environment for Socio-Musical Interaction

This research aims to develop a novel instrument for sociomusical interaction where a number of participants can produce sounds by feet in collaboration with each other. The developed instrument, beacon, is regarded as embodied sound media product that will provide an interactive environment around it. The beacon produces laser beams lying on the ground and rotating. Audio sounds are then produced when the beams pass individual performer’s foot. As the performers are able to control the pitch and sound length according to the foot location and angles facing the instrument, the performer’s body motion and foot behavior can be translated into sound and music in an intuitive manner.