Knurl
Knurl embodies the fusion of art, science, and technology, offering a different approach to music instrument design and its practice. Inspired by knurling, a process that enhances rotation as a metaphor for circularity, Knurl emphasizes the collaboration between sustainable and socio design technologies and the needs of artistic productions and its performers. This project introduces a new era of musical exploration, facilitated by sustainable materials, creating self customization, sound design ownership and innovative design thinking in music practice.
Knurl is an electroacoustic instrument merging concepts of momentum-craftsmanship with live music performances. It explores the boundaries of polyphonic music systems, while bringing innovative elements of interactivity, automation, sustainability and creative programming into music practice. Comprising 16 cello strings with a distinct tuning, the instrument employs sensors on its strings and rotation for its actions, dynamically remapped by the live performer. Consequently, a touch on any string can evoke specific sounds, pauses, arrangements, or parameter adjustments, forging an immersive musical interaction. This empowers performers to conjure diverse sounds with a mere touch, amplifying the artist-instrument connection.
In the last two decades, makers have witnessed a different relationship with the 3D printing revolution, bridging the gap between makers and testers. When designing Knurl, Rafaele Andrade explores the influence of this dynamic relationship on the music industry scenario. Through testing cycles of music production, music composition and instrument design, Andrade employs 3D printing and open-source software to refine a new relationship with music, having the design to serves as the nucleus of various research projects, such as:
Art science Music ensemble: The Knurl Quartet serves as a dynamic music ensemble dedicated to testing and showcasing the capabilities of Knurl. Through performances and installations at the intersection of art and science, the quartet explores the creative potential of the instrument, pushing the boundaries of musical expression.
Automotive systems for artistic production: Knurl also boasts the ability to control the automation of entire opera productions, such as the project Dead zones. Through innovative technologies and collaborative partnerships, Knurl transforms the way performances are conceived and executed, ushering in a new era of artistic expression.
Sound energy harvest: Combining sustainable technologies and research on Knurl, Rafaele and Adam Pultz aim to uncover new insights into the relationship between music and green energy. This research ranges from the study of acoustics to the exploration of energy production through music. By investigating the instrument's acoustic properties, we can understand how sound can be dissipated and reused into other approaches such as the generation of electric energy itself, in a project installation called Sound energy harvest.
Knurl can be considered:
Sensor-based string instrument:
The strings become a trigger to play, stop, plan or set controllers for sound
Multiple voice control interface:
The ability to control multiple voices determining different goals, agent and controllers for each sound
Semi-Autonomous instrument:
The ability to cooperate with its context and readapt into its boundaries
SystemThe instrument strings are sensor based: when the performer touches the string, it also triggers an event ( such as play, stop, pause or set parameters for a specific sound). These events can be constantly mapped and configured by the faders placed on the frame part of the instrument. The interface manages this system and with it, the performer can control and maintain up to 6 sound channels by changing sliders and pressing the strings.
The public
In addition, Knurl is a platform to experiment interactive systems between its public and other musicians, since it has the ability to receive and interpret information from its network connection via OSC (Open sound control). Few examples in some projects have shown this example in practice, such as the performances "This isn't solo" or At Knurl Quartet
To read the complete story of this project and research, feel welcome to read my master research available at Research catalogue
Knurl is also a platform, access here
Releasing Soon, a manual of Knurl at gitbook!