Our patch in Pure Data is now finished and we’ll need to load our own samples to the project ready to generate soundscapes. After we finished the design and laser cutting working together we decided to split the next steps so Lucas would be in charge on the sound design and I would do the coding stuff as I’ve shown previously. He then sent me the samples and I have programmed them to run in PD using the message [open filename.wav], and the object [readsf~] will play our sound file after being triggered with a bang. The files are played and looped from the beginning using the object [loadbang] and their volume will be controlled with the distance sensors as we have seen before. The initial volume is 0, so the instrument will be silent until it detects some activity in the sensors. This is the Bela IDE, the built-in application where we load PD patches in Bela Mini.
The Bela IDE helps us to load patches, samples and other customisations as well as set up a project which will run on booth on the Bela as standalone. In the patch we can see the final programming for each sensor, in the left side, the sensor equations to calculate distance, and in the right side the sample file system with the volume control in the middle.
Now I was ready to wire up the four sensors and attach them to the instrument’s enclosure, here we can see some pictures of the main wiring system.
As mentioned before, our instrument plays three different sounds commonly used in Sound Arts; noise, ambience and field recordings, and the fourth sensors adds and effect to master channel. I also added two hinges to the top side in or the to create a lid that can be opened and closed if we want to manipulate the wiring from inside. And this is the amazing look of our finished accessible instrument:
I did a little jam to share on social media, for which I had a good feedback, with plenty of people intrigued asking questions about it. I also tagged Bela Platform in it and they shared it on their main profile. Here is that jam, where you’ll be able to see and hear how the Air Soundscape Generator works.