Technology

The intent behind the installation has changed, so my methodology has too.  The driving mechanic behind Better With You is human circuitry.  And the simplest piece of hardware conducive to that?

This wonder of engineering is called the Makey Makey, and it allows you to turn pretty much anything into a touch-powered keyboard.  In terms of the computer that would power it, I'm looking here...

The Raspberry Pi single-board computer is capable of holding samples, powering a USB peripheral, and outputting audio to multiple speakers.  And it's about the size of a deck of cards, making it easy to stuff into some damage-proof housing.

I'm still looking at Lexan or something like it to serve as the housing, as I want the guts to be able to light up.

And I'm looking for something similar to this to make it light up when touched...

But that's a bonus for after I get the rest of the technology figured out.

On the software end, I'm looking here...

That's Pure Data.  If you're thinking it looks a lot like MAX/MSP, it's because it's almost the same.  They were both developed by Miller Puckett, and the biggest reason I'm using it is because it's Linux-friendly, and I can install it on a Raspberry Pi.

And it's awesome, because I can use it to design a generative composition algorithm.  Hopefully.  This is why I have the summer.