The Cave Of sounds

The Cave of Sounds was a sound installation piece that did not use any normal instruments.  There were eight different musical instruments that were made. These instruments were not performed, they were set up so an audience could come in and play with them.  It took about ten months to make these instruments, and they were created by a member of London’s Music Hackspace.  All of the instruments are new instruments they created. 

One of the nice parts about the installation is the interaction between the people playing with the instruments.  People will not only interact with the new instrument they are playing with they are also interacting with other people resulting in making the music together.  With only one person playing an instrument it could be a little boring but having three to eight other people playing at once could result in making something interesting.  This is part of the reason why they probably set it up in a circle to give a feeling of being together as one.  IT was also probably so everyone can see each other, work together, and go off of each other’s vibes.  It is like a drum circle, except they are not using drums.   They are trying to make a “unified connection” between the participants; they want everyone to participate together rather than by themselves.

            Max was used for at least five of the instruments.  For two of the instruments Max is actually making the sounds.  Then three of the instruments use Max For Live; this was to control pitches, loops and even had a drum kit.  A few of the instruments are made using light (cycling74).  The light based instruments are really interesting people can make music with only their hands under the light making different movements the instruments also using the body is very interesting.  These instruments let people make music without touching anything, which is the amazing part.  All eight instruments are connected together so the machines can recognize when multiple people are playing together, so one instrument is not overwhelming (cycling74).  The nice part about this installation is that non musically talented people can play the instruments and have fun, not worrying about if they are playing the instrument correctly or not.  

http://cycling74.com/project/the-cave-of-sounds/