Semester 01 Ideation Prototype
Introduction
After sketching out a variety of ideas for my artefact, I have no clue how to proceed with the actual making process, as it seems too complex to me.
Cymatics is the study of visible sound and vibration, which is a subset of modal phenomena. As a result of sound vibration, waves form and spread everywhere.
My idea was to make use of a mini projector that would be placed underneath a tray of water and in between my speaker location would be a mini projector. I sketched a rough sketch of how my artefact would work. The concept is that the projector will project an image of the park where I have collected the sound recordings, and based on the vibrations of the speakers, a water tray will distort the image projector if the volume is increased as the speaker will be forced to shake more.
I was inspired by a project by Japanese artist Akira Okamoto which visualises sound by shining a bright light through the water to show patterns resulting from the vibrations created by the speakers. My idea was to use a mini projector that will be placed beneath a tray of water and my speakers will be located in between the tray and the projector. I thought this would be a very interesting approach. I created a rough sketch of how the artefact will look and operate.
Cymatics Artefact
Noise Maker
As a second idea, I wanted to combine white and pink noises in order to create a loud soundscape. Generally, white and pink noises are designed to distract you from unwanted noise in your environment, however when combined, they may become distracting due to their varying frequencies.
Although I could not locate much information regarding the mixing of white and pink noises, a classmate of mine stated that mixing both forms of noise was difficult. My opinion was that it would be beneficial for them to not mix, as this might help me better illustrate my noise pollution issue. We often go to places of relaxation such as public parks to hear the sounds of nature, but they are often also polluted by man-made noises from construction sites, traffic and residential areas. As such, my artefact can be an effective artefact for my purpose if it is capable of polluting white and pink noise by means of a sound synthesiser.
The white and pink noise will both be controlled by the turning knob to select the amount of white and pink noise you want to incorporate into your soundscape. The other knobs will be for volume control and if possible the different types of white and pink noise you can choose from. I have the most complex idea out of all the sketches I have made.
Img.41 - White, Pink, and Brown Noise: What's the difference? 
Noise Maker Artefact 01 
Noise Maker Artefact 02
Goosebumps Maker
Initially, I considered the noise maker design to be too generic and boring. I considered the possibility of using textures to create sound as an alternative to the original design. As an example, I get goosebumps when I hear the sound of chalk rubbing against a chalkboard, metal cutlery scraping, or styrofoam rubbing against one another. Because I attended a robot arm workshop and learned that excessive pressure will cause the software to crash, I am uncertain if I will be able to implement this idea. I'm thinking about a more manual approach instead since the arm seemed too fragile.
For the nose maker, I produced another sketch in which the action is entirely manual. My lecturer thought that the manual approach is simple yet effective since the robot arm idea seemed too complex and ineffective.
Robot Arm Noise Maker Artefact 
Manual Noise Maker Artefact
Newton's Cradle
The Newton's cradle was designed by French scientist Edme Mariotte in honour of Sir Isaac Newton. Through the use of swinging spheres, this device illustrates the conservation of momentum and energy. The spheres are lifted and released, transferring force from the stationary spheres to the last sphere, lifting the last sphere into the air. A reverse effect is created when the spheres bounce against each other and strike each other. My inspiration came from Gift of the Gab: Interactive Sculpture by Xavier Sole Mora. With the help of a parrot candy head dispenser, the artist has created an artefact in which the candy dispenser heads move up and down as the bird sounds are played. In place of bird sounds, I thought it would be interesting to listen to man-made noises produced by a natural soundscape or by an animal.
While sketching my artefact, I intended the metal balls to have a birdlike appearance. As the balls are made of conductive material, I will be installing cables to the touch board in order to generate sounds. Upon contact between the balls, the sound being played will change. According to the lecturer, this idea lacked control and was too random, therefore I should concentrate on my other ideas.
Newton's Cradle Artefact 01 
Newton's Cradle Artefact 02
Singing Birds
Using the same thinking approach as my Newton's Cradle concept, this idea combines man-made sounds with natural sounds. My objective was to create a 3D representation of a natural soundscape, like a public park in Singapore. I am considering whether a realistic design approach or an abstract design approach will be more appealing to the audience. In order to serve as sensors for the touch board, the pieces will be constructed of conductive materials. In addition, I think it would be cool if the birds could move once a sound is played, but I am unsure how to connect both microcontroller boards from different brands.
I am still considering if this idea is good because I feel like there is a danger of the whole artefact looking too childish for my research topic unless my target audience is children, in which case I can consider creating an education kit or workshop aimed at educating kids about noise pollution in an engaging and fun manner.
Education Kit
In my kit, I thought it would be interesting to
make low poly 3D models of birds and trees in
Blender for 3D printing, but I was unsure
whether it would be possible to 3D print with
conductive material. The entire packing will be
used to create the background of a park so that
it appears to be a natural soundscape, and once
a child touches any of the conductive models, a
man-made sound will be played from the speakers
to demonstrate how the natural sounds of a park
are masking by urban noise. To my knowledge, it
is possible to activate two sensors at the same
time with the help of coding, but I do not know
whether that approach will work if the touch
board in the kit is not connected to coding
software such as p5.js. Currently, I am able to
play one sensor at a time; however, I have not
been able to figure how to code the touch board
for using more than one sensor simultaneously.
Singing Birds Artefact 
Play Kit Set Artefact
Feedback and Mindmaps
In my initial thought, I thought it would be interesting to combine the noise maker and cymatics to form my designed artefact, but when I researched the cymatics technique further, I encountered several issues. According to my research, cymatics does not work well with music or songs; instead, they create interesting patterns using a tone generator and frequencies. Therefore, I am unsure whether I want to pursue this idea further as I would like to take advantage of the field recordings I have collected from my soundwalks to a greater extent. Additionally, I noticed that the speaker must be positioned in the centre of the chladni plate, so if I were to project the patterns on the ceiling, this would obstruct the projector on the bottom.
This approach was considered too high risk by the lecturer, and he advised that I code the image distortion using P5.js or TouchDesigner, since there is a lower risk of failure and it may even demonstrate the effects of urban sound pollution clearly. As a result of the lecturer's suggestion, I was encouraged to produce several small artefacts as showcases so that I could concentrate on smaller goals rather than making a very complex and large project that might not work out as well as I had thought. In order to ensure that the information I collected from my soundwalks was accurate, I thought that it would be interesting to have artefacts on the experimental side and one artefact on the educational or commercial side.
Artefact Idea Mindmap