projectsynapse:

Hey folks! I want to take a moment here to introduce Synapse: an installation for Burning Man, 2011 and 2012. 

Here’s how it works:

A participant (the “choreographer”) dances or moves on a stage. As they dance, Synapse interprets that movement and produces a rhythmically synesthetic audio/visual trip - intended to lull the minds of reclining observers into a trancelike euphoria. It’s a hippie-driven performance piece, where any burner can take the reigns and design-by-dance a unique synesthetic experience for her fellow burners.

It’s coming along quickly! As you’ll see above, we’ve got a working sequencer that remembers the motions of the “choreographer”. Our visualist, Elijah Parker, has also begun designing the visual system, that sometimes takes a visual feed from the performer (re-interpreted images), while producing geometry that’s directly responding to the “choreographer“‘s rhythms.

Pretty cool! Stay tuned here for more.

You can follow me (@ragamesound) on twitter for more updates!

Fun anecdotes:

  • We knew we’d be making this episode since the inception of the show, so I went online looking for open source first person shooters. Everything led back to Nexuiz, by Lee Vermeulen of AlienTrap Games, a Canadian indie game developer. So I contacted them, asking if we could use some screen captures for an episode. Lee was eager to let me, and the he noticed I was a sound designer, and suddenly asked me to do sound for Capsized, AlienTrap’s newest release (soon on Xbox and Steam via indiePub). So this episode sports some cleverly used sound from Capsized and some overtly used footage from Nexuiz. Thank you AlienTrap!
  • Eisenstein’s room, as you may notice, is strange… covered in black somethings… well, those somethings are actually a VHS tape of Beverly Hills Cop from a local GoodWill! But I didn’t buy the movie for decoration. I originally purchased it (for $1) because magnetic tape sounds like grass when you walk on it, so it makes great foley footsteps.
  • This is Allen Di Benedetto’s Spitefully Yours directoral debut. Congrats Allen for helping make an absolutely epic episode.
  • Spitefully-yours.com is getting an overhaul. Basic functionality is still there, but in the next month or so, it’s going to be incredibly different. There will even be GAMES available ;)