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The sensors tried and tested including small bore conductive rubber tubing, strain gauges and conductive plastic linear potentiometers, all of which failed to withstand the type of pull and twist exerted by the movements of a dancer. Eventually small resistive elements were sourced. The sensors were backed with sprung steel and enclosed in heat shrink sleeving for improved durability. The sensors were then incorporated into a skin-tight suit. Switch elements were also used which allowed the performer to navigate through visual & audio patches, which immediately provided the means of developing stronger and more complex compositional structures for the musical, visual and choreographic content. The switching elements were miniature keypad switches built into a pair of thin gloves. On the body hard-wiring was kept to a minimum and short cable runs were organised and hidden safely within the design of the suit. In order to allow maximum mobility, a radio system was developed. The radio circuitry was based on a commercial 35Mhz design. The transmitter coder, which was worn as a small belt pack by the dancer, was modified to accept either switched inputs or proportional resistive elements. The modified transmitter was used in conjunction with a customised 8 channel PPM receiver. A Peavey PC1600 Midi controller was customised to accept 8 external control voltages that were fed from the radio decoder circuit.
An Emu4x sampler was chosen for the project as it has a large and complex system of modulation routings and facilities for external real-time control. The Emu4x is in itself a sophisticated ‘studio work station’ through which it is possible to facilitate a great number of the Electro-acoustic processes that would normally |
