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The Broomotone
Introduction
The Broomotone is a revolutionary new instrument, inspired by the Otamatone and designed to make chores fun. Developed by Samuel Garcia-Bryce ([email protected]) for Northwestern's Digital Musical Instrument Design Course, the Broomotone combines an accelerometer and a soft potentiometer with Arduino hardware to create a functional singing broom.
Inspiration
As an avid whistler, I wanted to make an instrument that I could use to accompany myself. I settled on the idea for a broom one day after noticing how frequently I whistled while doing chores around the house, particularly sweeping. This instrument began as a Max patch that utilized the keyboard of a computer as input and pitch-shifted a sampled whistle tone to a corresponding note based on a MIDI number generated from keyboard input. There was also a glissando function that could be modified to move more quickly or slowly between notes. This Max patch then evolved into an Arduino-based instrument that used potentiometers for all of its inputs. So instead of a keyboard, a knob was turned to select pitch, and the speed of the glissando was also modified using a knob. Finally, this patch evolved into its current form which is a soft potentiometer used to control pitch, and vibrato substituted in for a glissando. An accelerometer at the base of the broom detects the speed of sweeping, and faster sweeping results in more vibrato. The user slides their finger along the soft pot in order to change pitch.
How it Works
An Arduino breadboard with a soft pot and accelerometer feed data into a Max patch that tracks input on the soft pot and motion from the accelerometer. The soft pot takes in position based on pressure and generates a MIDI number within a discrete range, playing a corresponding tone based on said MIDI number. The MIDI number is passed through a Max sampler that can be customized with any .wav file. For the Broomotone, a sample of a whistle is used and makes the broom sound like it's whistling along with me. The accelerometer at the base of the broom detects motion and speed of sweeping in order to effect vibrato. Faster sweeping will result in more vibrato. In conjunction, these two axes of user inout combine to make the sound of the Broomotone very customizable and allow it to be an instrument that can be used in all sorts of capacities.
Challenges and Obstacles
Through this instrument's development, a variety of challenges arose that had to be overcome to reach the final product. First, the parameters of user input had to be decided and fluctuated between iterations of the product. A glissando in an earlier Max patch (see above) turned into vibrato. Second, the whistle tone that is inputted into the Max sampler took a few rounds of development to get right. Earlier iterations of this tone sounded simply like a theremin tone and not enough like a whistle. Adding some white noise on top of the tone along with the sound of air rounded out the sound and made the broom truly sound like it was whistling.
The instrument's hardware posed its own challenge as well, as housing all of the component on the broom itself was difficult. After lots of electrical tape and hot glue, everything is housed directly on the broom. A cardboard plate zip tied onto the broom's handle holds the Arduino board and bread board. The soft potentiometer has adhesive on the back, allowing it to be stuck onto the handle. Finally, the accelerometer is taped to the bottom of the broom and its accompanying wires are wrapped around the handle up to where they are wired into the Arduino board.
The instrument's hardware posed its own challenge as well, as housing all of the component on the broom itself was difficult. After lots of electrical tape and hot glue, everything is housed directly on the broom. A cardboard plate zip tied onto the broom's handle holds the Arduino board and bread board. The soft potentiometer has adhesive on the back, allowing it to be stuck onto the handle. Finally, the accelerometer is taped to the bottom of the broom and its accompanying wires are wrapped around the handle up to where they are wired into the Arduino board.
Future Development
Future development of this instrument might include refining of the input parameters that exist and development of new ones. In its current state, the vibrato of the Broomotone is more or less binary, and one has to move the bottom of the broom quite rapidly to get solid, consistent vibrato. Changes to the Max patch that are more delicate with accelerometer data will produce a vibrato that the user has more control over. Furthermore, the soft pot is currently monotonal. This means that only one note can be played at a time. Making it polyphonic so that multiple fingers can be used to create chords would enhance this instrument and expand the range of music and sounds that a user can create with it.