Reason #1,386 why we should have gone to Moogfest: A bunch of students from Cal State presented a contraption called the Sand Noise Device that’s basically a sandbox for Brian Eno fans. Using a Microsoft Kinect, an overhead projector and a box of sand filled with movable lights, it sends out circles and traces of light that some custom software converts into various tones and drones, all of which alter their pitch based on the topography of the sand and the positioning of the little circular light objects. Translation: It’s a really fucking cool, tactile synthesizer.
You can read an interview with the Sand Noise Device’s inventors via Vice’s The Creators Project, and learn more about how it works via the official website. Or you can just watch the video below and go, “Wow! I wonder how they did that?”
