Here's some suggestions for ways to use your InterOscitorTM
in a performance.
If you think up a new one send
us an email and tell us about it! Whatever you do with your InterOscitorTM
write us about it and we'll add a mention of it on our web pages.
It's a great way to let people know about your projects!
0) Display the video image created by the InterOscitorTM on a TV or projection TV screen. The image is unusual and quite interesting and can heighten the visual excitement in your performance. Use it to good effect by projecting it with a video projector. Make it part of your music video. Integrate it with your performance.
1) The InterOscitorTM can be used to create sounds that react to an actors motions. Create a zone, marked by tape on the floor, that indicates the region the InterOscitorTM is reacting to. Then when the actor moves into that region the InterOscitorTM will start making sounds. By turning the camera sideways you can create a horizontal zone that an actor can walk across to create sounds. Used with the camera in a normal orientation you have a vertical zone the actor can manipulate. It is often useful to set one of the controllers (pitch or volume) in the InterOscitorTM to a fixed setting. In this way a persons body can more easily control the other controller. To set a controller to a fixed value, select User Options from the Options menu and either set the Top Note and Low Note to be the same, or set the Loudest and Softest volume settings to be the same. This is useful if you only want to control volume or only want to control pitch. This is often used in situations where you want to create sounds based on body, rather than hand movements. Examples of ways to use the InterOscitorTM in this way are: use a spooky sound and arrange the camera so the sound gets louder as a person walks closer to an object or door. Use one half of the stage as a dreamworld and arrange the camera so that dreamlike sounds are played as an actress walks onto that side of the stage. Create an object from outer space that makes eerie noises whenever anyone approaches it.
2) Connect MIDI controlled lighting to the InterOscitorTM to be able to alter lighting using hand or body control.
3) There are several computer programs available that dynamically alter a pattern on the screen in time to the music being played. Find one that will accept microphone or MIDI input and connect the output of your InterOscitorTM controlled synthesizer to it. Display the pattern on a monitor or video projector to create a background that changes with your music and motions.
4) Set an InterOscitorTM in a store window and point it at the sidewalk. Set the speakers outside above the window. When people walk by they will see their edge detected image on a monitor through the window and hear sounds controlled by their motion. A great way to build up a crowd of people who will draw even more people to your window. See suggestion #1 for info on how to configure the InterOscitorTM to control only pitch or only volume.
5) New devices that can be controlled via MIDI are being invented all the time. Control them with your InterOscitorTM!
6) Sounds that react to body motion are a dramatic special effect that can be added to a performance. For example, a dangerous object can create sounds that get louder or raise in pitch as an actor moves closer to the object. An emotion can be portrayed by using sound that reacts to a dancers movements. A mystical presence can be created in the minds of the audience by an eerie sound that reacts to motion when a certain part of the stage is entered. An advanced space ship that reacts to hand motions with no physical controls can be evinced using InterOscitorTM controlled sounds.
7) Your InterOscitorTM can be used to control the volume of your main instrument using your body using a MIDI controlled mixer (either a physical one or the virtual one in a sound recording program). For example, you could change the volume of your guitar by stepping forward or back. Be careful that the roady doesn't step into your volume control zone though!
8) Similar to (7), you can use your InterOscitorTM to control a synthesizer while you are playing another instrument such as a guitar. In this way you can play two instruments at the same time!
9) Future versions of the InterOscitorTM will allow you to change the controllers used, so you can use the InterOscitorTM as a modulation wheel or other MIDI controller.
10) Use the InterOscitorTM to keep animals out of a restricted zone. Protect your sofa from cats or your garden from deer by setting the InterOscitorTM to create a loud scary noise when anything enters it's zone. Or use your InterOscitorTM as an interesting enhancement to your sex life. Just kidding. Wanted to see if you were paying attention!
11) Random or fractal sounds which can sometimes be interesting can be created by pointing the camera at anything that moves in the world around you. Point it at falling snow, blowing leaves, moving water, or a crowd of people. Sometimes it will be random noise, occasionally it will be interesting. Capture the interesting parts and use them. Or make it part of an art installation so that some natural phenomena or the audience becomes part of the installation.
12) See the Performance Hints and Technical Tips and Tricks page for further ideas that might be useful.
13) Use your imagination and then tell us about it!
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Peterson Enterprises