Project Post #1 – DS 501
Project Title
MIDI Armband
Team Members
Chris Hanko
Yewon Lee
Isaiah Scott
Project Description
At this point, we are in the initial phases of brainstorming exactly what out of our project. We decided we wanted to design something that could interface with live performance, whether that be DJing, singing, playing an instrument, rapping, etc. We wanted something that could be performance-based, yet playful depending on the context. We decided to choose an armband due to its ease of use in a live performance setting and its versatility. Due to the problems with using instruments and wearing a glove, we decided to not pursue this type of wearable. With the armband scope in mind, we are currently thinking about what types of buttons and where to integrate them into the band. We decided to have 7 buttons for programming chords, sounds, samples and 2 sliders to act as potentiometers. We decided to add a shift button to allow users to switch inputs such as to change between instruments, keys or anything else. We have included a picture of a sketch of the design we were considering to use on our armband. We are still in the very early stages of our project but I believe we have some pretty cool ideas brewing. Other challenges include interfacing our armband with software like Ableton to provide the user the ability to program the device live. The next step will be to finalize which buttons to incorporate and how exactly we will put them on the armband.