Soundbeam is an interactive

MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and ...

hardware and software system developed by The Soundbeam Project / EMS in which movement within a series of ultrasonic beams is used to control

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradit ...

hardware and software.

System

Soundbeam uses a combination of ultrasound (

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect objects on o ...

) and tangible ( foot controller) inputs to generate MIDI messages. The sonar uses 50 kHz signals. The latest version SOUNDBEAM 6 incorporates many of the features of both soundbeam 2 - 5. It has a full touchscreen interface, inbuilt sampling, inbuilt high quality sounds, inbuilt mini keyboard - it comes with a wide and varied sample / sound library and with 37 preset soundsets for immediate musical composition and performance. It now also includes film that is embedded with each Soundset and you can also add your own film. The film is triggered by the switches.

Version history

Implementation

Originally designed by Edward Williams for the

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded da ...

, Soundbeam has been used primarily in the field of

special needs education Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...

due to the minimal physical movement required for its operation. David Jackson's ''Tonewall'' project has utilized Soundbeam since 1992. Due to the system's ability for expansion with four sensors and eight

switch In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type of ...

es, installations have included DAW synchronization (such as with

Reason Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, ...

Ableton Ableton AG is a German music software company that produces and distributes the production and performance program Ableton Live and a collection of related instruments and sample libraries, as well as their own hardware controller Ableton Push. ...

), as well as live video manipulation.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.soundbeam.co.uk Music hardware Music therapy