Updated Gantt Chart
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1f5ktulxfieisyMuqV76F8fRJTVERRSck8v7_xr6ND80/edit?usp=sharing
Control Process
Selecting Notes
The desired note can be selected from the smartphone controller by holding a finger down on the note grid. The eight notes represented on the grid are solfege representations of whatsoever key and tonality (major/natural minor) selected from the smartphone menu. For example, a selection of the key of C Major would involve a grid with the following notes: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C.
Octave Shift
To shift the range of notes in the smartphone note grid up or down an octave, swipe the thumb right or left on the touchpad of the VR controller (in the right hand). Swiping right once would denote a single octave shift up, and swiping left would denote an octave shift down.
Chromatic Shift
To select a note that may not be in the selected key and tonality, the user can utilize the chromatic shift function. This is done by holding your right thumb on the top or bottom of the VR controller touchpad (without clicking down). Holding up would denote a half step shift up, and holding down would denote a half step shift down. For example, playing an E-flat in the key of C Major would involve selecting the “E” note in the left hand and holding the thumb down on the right hand touchpad. The same note can also be achieved by selecting “D” and holding the thumb up on the touchpad.
Triggering a Note
To trigger the start of a selected note, pull and hold down the trigger on the VR controller. The selected note will be played for as long as the trigger is held down, and any additional notes toggled on the left hand will be triggered as the note is selected in the left hand. If no notes are selected while the trigger is pulled, no sounds will be outputted.
Note Separation
If the user wishes to divide a selected note into smaller time divisions, there are two options:
- Release and toggle the trigger repeatedly
- Use motion to denote time divisions
The system recognizes a change in controller direction as a time division. For example, to subdivide held note(s) into two subdivisions, one would initialize the note with a trigger press and initiate the subdivision with a change in controller motion. The same outcome can be accomplished with just repeatedly pulling the trigger.
Polyphony
Polyphony can be simply achieved by holding down multiple notes on the smartphone grid while the trigger is pressed.
Toggling Effects
Four different effects can be toggled by clicking on any of the four cardinal directions on the VR controller touchpad.
Updated Risk Management
In response to the current virtual classroom situation and progress with our project, the risk has changed a bit.
For the phone grip, it doesn’t seem very feasible to build it in the same manner/design we had originally intended. We had planned to build the grip with a combination of laser cutters and maker space materials. Instead, we have decided to go for a simpler approach for attaching the phone to the users left hand. Instead, we want to use a velcro strap that would go around the user’s hand. We would then have the other end of the velcro attached to the back of the phone.
Another area of risk we found was the limitations of the current Javascript package we are using to generate sound. While there are many features in the library such as accurate pitch selection and instrument selection, there were some features we didn’t see. One of these features we wanted to use was the ability to pitch bend. A workaround we have brainstormed is to use a Python bending that does support pitch bending library. We could run this in parallel on our Flask server with the front end Javascript to achieve features we want from both libraries.
