Design

🫧 Context 🫧

Water is the source of all things.

How long has it been since you last listened carefully to the sounds of water?

In daily life, the sounds of water are omnipresent—whether it's the natural water sounds (like the sound of waves, the flow of a stream, etc.), or the everyday water sounds (such as the sound of washing vegetables, the sound of sprinkling water, etc.), these are the sounds in life that are most easily overlooked but are an essential part of our auditory perception of the world.

The musical work "Water Music" is the result of Chinese composer Tan Dun's philosophical contemplation and musical exploration of water, attempting to express the vitality and impermanence of water through music. In "Water Music," Tan Dun uses water itself as an instrument, creating music from the natural sounds of water flow, droplets, and splashes. This approach of using natural elements as instruments breaks the boundaries of traditional instruments, providing new possibilities for music creation.

🫧 Mentality 🫧

In the preliminary design of the Melody Sound part of the "Spring Flowing" instrument, I took more into account the form of interaction between people and water, hoping to control the real-time generation of sound through the direct interaction between water and people, and also took into account that many electronic devices will It causes irreparable short circuit and other problems, so connect the FSR on the outside of the water bottle to obtain the pressure data between the water movement and the cup wall during the playing process. At the same time, because shaking the water bottle will bring about a change in the position of the water, the ADXL345 gyroscope sensor is connected in the part of the water bottle to obtain the acceleration data of water flow movement. In the design of the Background Sound part, in order to make the overall connection of the instrument between the bowl and the water bottle, I place the Water Level Sensor in the bowl to collect the water depth value poured into the bowl through the water bottle, so as to trigger different background sound effects.

·Materials & Sensors

Inspired by Tan Dun's creative concept of using water itself as a musical instrument, I began to explore the possibility of water as a medium to create digital instruments.

In order to make the design performance closer to life, the instrument uses two common household items, bowls and water cups, as a container for water. According to the dual characteristics of granularity (water drops) and coherence (water flow), I divide the sound into two parts in the design of the playing effect of the instrument: Background Sound and Melody Sound, where Background Sound passes through the bowl. The water flow data is triggered, showing the coherence of the sound of water. Melody Sound is triggered by the water flow data in the water bottle, showing the granularity of the sound of water.

To ensure the waterproof nature of the device, acrylic boards were chosen for the construction of the box. Additionally, to display the colorful effects of light refraction through water, acrylic boards with a laser-transparent color effect were selected.

·Learning Music (for Markov Chain)

In order to connect the music with sound, I use the Markov Chain to generate the pitch of Water Sound and give these to the sampling instrument in Ableton Live. The selected music works are all traditional Chinese musical instrument music that describes water. During the playing process, different styles of songs are learned according to the different water level in the bowl, so as to change the pitch generated during the performance.

Learning Music for Markov Chain Link

·Original Sound （water）

·Background Sound： Stream Chatty

·Melody Sound：Water Drop、Rock Drop-in Water、Splash Bath Tub 、Water Walk

Original Sound Link

·SFX Sound

To ensure that the instrument has a certain musicality during performance, I added a synthesised timbre to both Background Sound and Melody Sound based on sampling. This allows for a more pronounced representation of the sound changes influenced by the sensors.

🫧 AIMS 🫧

The core goal of Spring Flowing is to explore the shapeability of sound elements in daily life in generative music through the Markov chain. Can non-traditional musical instrument sound sources construct music in people's cognition by writing sound variables in the category of music, and convey the emotional information contained in the original music. We hope to gain research experience in the sound of generative music through the production of Spring Flowing.

By Xinyue Xu

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