Banging Interaction: A Ubimus-Design Strategy for the Musical Internet

Abstract

We introduce a new perspective for musical interaction tailored to a specific class of sonic resources: impact sounds. Our work is informed by the field of ubiquitous music (ubimus) and engages with the demands of artistic practices. Through a series of deployments of a low-cost and highly flexible network-based prototype, the Dynamic Drum Collective, we exemplify the limitations and specific contributions of banging interaction. Three components of this new design strategy—adaptive interaction, mid-air techniques and timbre-led design—target the development of creative-action metaphors that make use of resources available in everyday settings. The techniques involving the use of sonic gridworks yielded positive outcomes. The subjects tended to choose sonic materials that—when combined with their actions on the prototype—approached a full rendition of the proposed soundtrack. The results of the study highlighted the subjects’ reliance on visual feedback as a non-exclusive strategy to handle both temporal organization and collaboration. The results show a methodological shift from device-centric and instrumental-centric methods to designs that target the dynamic relational properties of ubimus ecosystems.