Song Pong is an interactive exhibit that allows people to play music through the familiar games of skee ball and cup pong, with no musical experience necessary. Fabricated with Biofoam from the Living Matter Lab, coded in Arduino and MaxMSP. Each cup turns a musical loop on and off when a ball passes, showing how different parts of a song work together.
Song Pong uses familiar game mechanics from Cup Pong and Skee Ball to make a musical interface. When the user shoots a ball through a cup, part of a song begins to play and the ball rolls down the return ramp to be thrown again. Each cup plays a unique piece, this may be the bass, guitar, drums, or melody of the chosen song. The interaction allows users with no musical experience to play music through a familiar interaction, rather than learning complicated finger patterns or breathing techniques. There are multiple well-known songs, from the BeeGees to Jason Derulo, that have been transposed to electronic instruments running on a loop. Users can play around with different instruments playing and not playing to see what they can do with just a couple of instruments. The actual game was fabricated with wood and BioFoam, a recipe courtesy of the Living Matter Lab at CU Boulder. Using gelatin, glycerin, water, dish soap, and food coloring we were able to create a world of colorful whimsy. All of the BioFoam is biodegradable and reusable just had hot water and agitate.
Backend Code was created using Arduino and MAXMSP. The user interface is mapped to the corresponding cups, with song options along the top. The user can also mute the sound and stop the loops all at once.
First Prototype
User Testing with prototype 1
