Gammaphon

2016

The gammaphon is a portable 16-step music sequencer with 4 different tracks which makes it possible to transform colors into sounds using a color sensor. But instead of using ordinary audio samples the sounds are synthesized from the RGB values given by the sensor, so the available sounds always depend on the colorfulness of the current surrounding of the user. One might consider the gammaphon as a musical instrument but also as an explorative tool for investigating the relationship between color and sound.
By introducing a quite simple interface I tried to keep the barrier for beginners as low as possible. But nevertheless the gammaphon offers a lot of functionality for manipulating and rearranging the composition what makes it also interesting for more elaborated users. the key features are as follows:

• 16 steps
• 4 independent tracks
• variable BPM
• track and master volume
• shifting notes within one bar
• variable bar length
• play mode for each track: loop or pendulum