This week, we regrouped to discuss the possibilities of the our digital xylophone. Despite Tom's advice to not get attached to this project, all of us have committed ourselves to this piece for our final.

Based upon a few comments from Tom, it seems as though we need to create a tighter connection between the technology and its application. In essence, what is the system that informs the work. In our presentation we mentioned the relationship of color as a metaphor that could be used in a teaching system and applied to our work.

In terms of design, we spoke of the implementation of a screen into the next version. The screen may add an additional layer of information or visual stimulation. If done correctly this can be a beneficial design element, reinforcing our concept and design, if done poorly it may appear to be a second thought add-on, relegating the design into a "blinky" toy with an attached screen. It's worth researching and discussing.

We wanted to explore several ideas: adding a screen, making it portable, making it modular, concentrate on interface design, adding several features, building a MIDI, making it portable and wireless.

Possibility of Screen Implementation

In our meeting, we discussed using a screen to reinforce "Key Signature." We spoke to Todd Holubek, who had experience with wiring a screen. He told us the advantages and disadvantages. We would have to scale our instrument up to fit the added components of the screen and receiver. Because of the timeframe, we opted to save this idea for the future.

Portability and Wireless Features

We also like the idea of keeping this instrument smaller, so that it was portable. Sharper Image carries a digital portable piano. If we decided to make our xylophone portable, we were also considering making it wireless. We did some research on PICT chips that specialized in wireless. We decided if we went this route, we would have to make our own MIDI synth to fit in its case, which would be out of the scope of three weeks. We haven't abandoned this idea.

Interface Design Research

Then we explored the interface design, and spoke to Jeff Gray, who did a similar project, called the "Social Instrument." He shared some criticisms of his group's instruments.

We received valuable feedback about interface design. He suggested that we reverse the curve of the keys to emulate the curve of an ergonmical keyboard. He also suggested that the octave keys were too close, and may explore changing their form into "slider bars" on the far edges of the instrument. Instead of one button to change chords, he suggested 7 additional buttons for different chords, since musicians often change chords in one song.