The Musi Pro in action. Photos courtesy of Ernest Warchoza
How do you make the most harmonic music? Keep a messy room. At least, that’s what Ernest Warzocha, creator of the Musi would tell you. The more objects scattered around the machine, which turns physical objects into sound, the more interesting the music it makes.The Musi creates melodic sound with an octagonal octave reading system, essentially wrapping traditional musical notation around in a spiral. When the Musi is turned on, sensors pick up on the objects on each side of the machine at a steady tempo; objects in the vicinity of the Musi alter the pitch of the bleeps and bloops.
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Warzocha designed the Musi, and another version, the Musi Pro, as part of his studies at the School of Form in Poland. It was inspired by creative learning techniques and projects like the Cubetto, an analog game designed to teach children how to code.The Musi Pro also has a function for children, allowing them to use smaller modules on the more music-making oriented version of the machine, which can be used as a MIDI controller with music production software. Where the original Musi can only be placed amongst different arrangements of objects to achieve new sounds, the Pro version allows the user to change the BPM, sensor range, octave density, note length, and more, of the sound. Users can add more modules to their setup, creating unlimited music-making possibilities.Watch a demonstration of some of those possibilities in the video below.
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