The first day of the physical computing course was for the most part spent exploring sound creation with different hardware components. We got introduced to concepts such as hardware hacking and circuit sniffing and also got to test patching in PureData.

For the workshop part, each group was supposed to create a variety of sounds from sniffing circuits, experimenting with hardware and circuits and from soundwalking. After collecting the sounds, we put them into a Pd sampler, which would later be used for a performance in the Portal. The Pd patch can be seen below.

We decided that we would do the sound collection part separately in Trondheim and Oslo, and then meet again to play with the collected sounds over Zoom. In Trondheim, we first recorded a small hardware jam and then split it up into one-shot samples. After that, we went outside to collect a different range of sounds, and ended up including sounds of ice breaking and splashing water.

The video below shows how we passed a battery current through a loudspeaker, which makes the cone of the speaker move in and out, creating a percussive sound. We added some small items on top of the speaker to make the sound richer and more industrial.

Below are some audio clips that we used in our sampler. The end performance didn’t turn out that well, due to some technical challenges with Pd. We will make a better performance tomorrow!