The Augmented Tonoscope

The Augmented Tonoscope is an artistic study into the aesthetics of sound and vibration through its analogue in visual form the modal wave patterns of Cymatics. Key to the research is the design, fabrication and crafting of a sonically and visually responsive hybrid analogue/digital instrument that will produce dynamic Visual Music based on the physics, effects and manifestations of sound and vibration. This paper describes the first stage of the study a series of artistic investigations into analogue tonoscope and digital tone generator design integrating light and camera control driven by an artistic experimental method devised specifically for the project. The paper concludes with future directions for the research: Can the inherent geometries within sound provide a meaningful basis for Visual Music? Will augmenting these physical effects with virtual simulations realise a real-time correlation between the visual and the musical?