THE ANTHILL SOCIAL

Sonic bike (finding song home)

Software and hardware development of the Sonic Bike system for Kaffe Matthews Copyright (C) 2012 Wolfgang Hauptfleisch, Dave Griffiths Later additions made by Tom Keene & Jairo Sanchez A Bricrophonic Research Institute (BRI) Project: www.sonicbikes.net

Finding Song Home is a work that explores the injustices of birthright and questions the powers that enable or prevent the free movement of citizens. Many stories were gathered through meetings with legal and illegal immigrants in Brussels. Intimately told through the voices of their narrators, they create a multi-threaded libretto which plays from GPS linked sonic bikes by audience as they cycle through and beyond Brussels city centre. The routes of the opera pass between La Monnaie, the canal and the squares of Molenbeek, redefined with every pedal stroke of the sonic cyclists. Songs and narratives transform the journey as they unfurl through the street’s shifting soundscape and Matthews electronic counterparts. With sounds triggered by where and how fast the bike goes, each participating cyclist creates and defines their own opera experience.

The Sonic Bike, invented by Kaffe Matthews, has evolved over 10 years of international projects and continues to be researched and developed to expand the compositional potentials and unique listening experiences it creates. An instrument that plays sound and music that changes depending on where the cyclist goes and how fast they ride. It is simply a bicycle with speakers on the front and our GPS tracking audio system in a box on the back.

The Sonic Bike is an instrument that plays sound and music that changes depending on where the cyclist goes and how fast they ride. It is simply a bicycle with speakers on the front and our GPS tracking audio system in a box on the back.

Compositions are mapped to locations using this system, made in fragments and linked to different user determined zones across a city or landscape, each zone set to trigger a different sound or instruction as the bike rides in and then departs. Sound works can be mapped anywhere in the world therefore, along a road, across a park, over an entire city, a hillside, enabling multiple routes for a cyclist to take, and endless compositional experiences for the maker.

A number of Sonic Bike variations have been created that build on the original design, adding in interactivity and vibration, and make sonic cycling accessible to riders of all sizes and abilities.

Find further information on building a sonic bike here: http://wiki.sonicbikes.net/index.php?title=Hardware

The Hardware

Beagle Bone Black.
Beaglebone audio cape.
G-Star IV USB GPS Dongle.
USB hub.

Some usefull links

https://gitorious.org/swamp-bikeopera
http://sonicmapper.borrowed-scenery.com/
https://bitbucket.org/jyros/sonic-bike/
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ig4knawe4w7b6hr/beaglebone-notes.md?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/s1qa7bqdh613g1i/proteaAudio_src_140921.tar.gz?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jvorzygy318s1bq/ProteaAudio_Lua_binding.md?dl=0