Next to the venue of the Grammys, at LA LIVE Plaza, Microsoft is inviting members of the public to create music in an innovative way. Microsoft Music Box set up at the venue creates music following body movements.
Microsoft Music Box
You need not to be a musician to create music, your body movements are enough to create music. You can use the upward wave of your arm to create high notes, and dipping downward toward the ground to produce lower notes – just by the way you moved. All possible with Microsoft Music Box.
The Microsoft Music Box used the Kinect to create the software for the project. The skeletal tracking employed by Kinect is used to interpret a person’s body movements on a three-dimensional grid. The body movements are then translated to music notes using a customized open source software.
Microsoft says,
“Depending on how you move your body in the 4-foot-by-4-foot space you stand in – by crouching down, or being very expressive with your arms, reaching up to play higher notes, or going lower to play lower notes, Kinect then interprets that and “produces a really beautiful, emotional piece of music based on your personal mood and expression. Anyone can step onto this device, move around however they like and create a beautiful piece of music.”
As soon as a person steps onto the platform, Kinect starts tracking the movements. Using software and coding done by YesYesNo, and powered by Surface, the projection and speakers transform the user’s body movements into an array of sounds and images, which evolve as they continue to move.
Microsoft has also invited the West Hollywood School of Rock instructors to make the whole experience for public more exciting by playing Grammy-nominated songs.
On Friday, “People young and old came to play with us on the Microsoft Music Box,” says Sheila Anderson, Microsoft Brand Studio director. “Some enjoyed just watching, while others jumped right in to explore how gesture could make music.”
Microsoft Music Box is certainly a great combination of technology and music.
