Featherbox

Featherbox is a sound instrument and installation played by touch. The top of the box holds 81 black ostrich feathers in a nine-by-nine grid. Run your hand across them and they sound.

Under each feather is an LED. A camera inside the box tracks the lights as the feathers move, and software (openFrameworks and SuperCollider) turns each movement into sound. Position sets pitch, and speed sets volume. The sound comes from four speakers built into the sides, and the box's own resonance comes back up through the feathers into your hand.

The piece came out of Wajid Yaseen's MA in Arts and Design (Sonic Arts) at Middlesex University (2008), "Touch, Don't Touch: Participatory Sonic Artworks and Tangible Interfacing". The research asked why audiences often feel detached from interactive sound art. Gestures seem to have random results, the technology is put on show, and gallery etiquette discourages touch. Featherbox answers with a familiar, tactile object, a clear link between hand and sound, and all the technology hidden.

Coding: Charles Mathews (SuperCollider) and Michael Zeltner (openFrameworks).