GotRhythm? is a learning tool by Amanda Bernsohn, Tymm Twillman, and I designed to help people keep time by mastering simple rhythms. It is designed with absolute beginners in mind and is user-friendly enough for children and those with little computer experience. Basic timekeeping is fundamental to all levels of musical skill. Though one may want to diverge from standard rhythm, the ability to keep a standard beat is crucial. It provides a foundation upon which to build and create. GotRhythm? aims to help. Images by Amanda.
Scope of the Project
GotRhythym? is a midterm project for Introduction to Physical Computing with Tom Igoe at ITP. From concept to presentation we had about four weeks to develop our tool resulting in an advanced protoype.
Specifications
GotRhythm? uses the Arduino prototyping platform (an Arduino microcontroller programmed in the associated development environment) which communicates serially with a multimedia computer running Processing. The Arduino and Processing code can be found here. Additionally, you can view samples of the software development here. The drum pad contains a piezo sensor which senses strikes on the drum’s surface. The sensor is buffered by several layers of anti-static mat and neoprene. This is all contained within a tin container. The user can strike the drumpad with whatever they would like, though traditional wood size 5B drumsticks are provided. Additionally, the user has the option of interacting using a keyboard instead of the drum.
The interface is simple to navigate and to use. The user’s goal is to strike the drumpad or keyboard on the beat that the software outputs. There are three difficulty levels and each round runs for 30 seconds. At the end of the round, the user is presented with valuable feedback: total amount of beats, correct hits, incorrect hits, extra hits and missed beats.
Testing
GotRhythm? was tested with users over a period of two days after the initial prototype was developed. For user responses and recommendations, please go to our developement Wiki. After user testing, the focus was primarily on developing more levels and settings in the GotRhythm? software. A scoring system was developed, as was the user interface allowing the user to switch from drum to keyboard and from easy to medium and hard; the physical device remained functionally the same. Please see the videos below demonstrating how the software works.
Future Applications
GotRhythm? can be used as a tool or a toy. With levels of increased difficulty, even the advanced musician can benefit from its use. In the future, one could develop the software further to allow for multiple users, perhaps in a music school setting or as a family activity. Music teachers can use the system with their students by tracking the students’ improvement over time. With modularity in mind, one can add additional drums to the system.