Symphony of a Mass

Light and sound interaction between a pulse sensor-controlled fan and photocell synthesizers.

This installation is a cooperation during the 2024 Synth Hackathon within four days, I made the sound hardware (the photocell synthesizers), while Emily Zhang did the coding of the motor and pulse sensor.

Creating Symphony of a Mass, we connected a pulse sensor to an Arduino Uno, where readings of pulse waves are scaled to the speed of a DC motor, which drives a fan. Serial readings are also sent to MaxMSP, creating a MIDI interface that communicates with Ableton to create sound. The physical installation consists of five photocell synthesizers hung on a ceiling, along with the pulse-controlled fan in front of a spotlight. The oscillations from the photocell synthesizers are sent to Ableton to adjust the hearing effect, and exported out to six multichannel speakers. As pulse readings control the fan motor speed, light is blocked from the photocell synthesizers, causing the swifting of pitch. Played beside the sounds from pulse readings, the oscillations continuously fluctuate, harmonize, and clash.