A bit of further development in the module 1 group work. As for input we are quite confident with using the Audio threshold functions to craft a nuanced input. User need to produce the desired sound within the frequency range in order to interact with the interface. Peak and sustained threshold is also supposed to be used. So not only has the user to hit the frequency but also a peak and sustain it x amount of time to succeed in the interaction. Now the functions combined can be used in different ways. We were in on the track that the user create the sound with anything in the near surrounding. Be it clapping, snapping fingers or stomping feet against the floor. Anything should be possible.
When experiencing this ourselves we find it interesting that different actions can hit the same frequency. It might be an microphone issue since we are using the built-in one in a macbook. It simply might be to bad quality-wise to differentiate frequencies. The tolerance can is unknown but we feel it’s good enough for this module.
Some ideas around the output were discussed and currently we are trying out. It will heavily depend on our coding skills since we know what we want, but have some issues with achieving it practically. One is to have window which will display a color. That color will be represented by a frequency at a specific loudness and it has to be sustained as well. So the idea was to use a range of colors where low pitched bass voice would show black or a dark color and high pitched voice would display red/yellow or some other intense color. The middle of frequency would display some mix of colors I would surmise.
Reflecting on our requirements for the input, we believe that the user would have some kind of knowledge and prior expertise while approaching the task of generating a sound through body movement. If absolutely no knowledge of sound (and the technical aspect of frequency) the user can quickly experience the output. That is why we also need to couple the input with the output so that no lag is experienced by the user. The user should know when an action is registered and performed. Otherwise there is no actual way for the user to memorize the interaction and frustration will prevail.
