An interactive musical toy

noreply@blogger.com (Antosh) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 21:33:00 +0000

Electroplankton for the Nintendo DS

Electroplankton could have fallen very flat, caught between game and conceptual art. Thankfully, the creator hasn't been distracted by the medium - a game console - and has created something unique and wonderful. It isn't a game, but it is a toy.

Those who say that it needs a save facility are, I feel, missing the point. It's not about creating a finished piece of music. Frankly, I think it's unlikely that anything you create with Electroplankton would stand up as music on its own. It's an interactive musical toy - in the best possible sense. The 'music' is only good in the context of the Electroplankton environment - where you are interacting and changing it continuously, and have the visual feedback of the smiling plankton twitching in time to your directions.

It's no coincidence that the artist, Toshio Iwai, has worked with Hayao Miyazaki (of Spirited Away fame) on an interactive exhibit for Studio Ghibli's Museum In Toyko. He has a similar talent for creating a beautiful, dreamlike and captivating world populated by strange creatures. If you are drawn into the strange realms in Miyazaki's films, you should have no trouble believing this world of glowing musical plankton.

The impossibility of creating anything that sounds too unpleasant (unlike a traditional synth or sequencer) frees you to experiment without feeling that you are making mistakes, or don't have any musical ability. Combine this with the intuitive controls that encourage experimentation, and you have a remarkably creative musical plaything.

The collection of ten different types of plankton do not really form a coherent whole neatly covering a range of musical needs. However, they are remarkably well thought out individually. If you do create music, you may find Electroplankton surprinsingly stimulating, as it is so different in approach to anything else. If you don't, and it gets to you, you will simply have a dreamy, relaxing diversion and emerge with a slightly different view of the world...

Lightwriting in London

noreply@blogger.com (Antosh) — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 15:36:00 +0000

A Vision Of Students Today

noreply@blogger.com (Antosh) — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 15:35:00 +0000

Graffiti Research Labs - LED Throwies

noreply@blogger.com (Antosh) — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 15:30:00 +0000

SOMA

An interactive musical toy

Lightwriting in London

A Vision Of Students Today

Graffiti Research Labs - LED Throwies