The monument is an Tesla Coil synthesizer powered Moog Werkstatt. It was designed to be the monument to scientists. The base design with eight pillars is inspired by the Waterphone and each pillar represents an achievement in the history of electrical science. Two Moog Werkstatts are used in The Monument: one is for melody and the other is for percussion. The signal from the percussion Werkstatt splits into two paths: one fed into speakers and the other fed into the Tesla Coil. Eight force-sensitive pads are maps to different notes in the scale. When the note is triggered, the Tesla coil will "sing" in the same frequency as the Werkstatt and light up the fluorescent tubes. Four photoresistors on the pillars are mapped to VCFs and scales. The environment brightness will change the scales setting of the force-sensitive pads so when the Tesla coil turns on, the color of the music will completely change. The players move the flashing fluorescent tubes to interact with the photoresistors to create interesting filter modulation. The player can also spin the leaves on top of the monument to deliver further modulation.
THE 2019 MOOG HACKATHON THIRD PLACE
Project Length: 48 hours
Team Size: 3 Engineers (Yi Wu, Yang Ning, Wenyu Mao)
My Role: Interaction Designer, Arduino programmer