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The Augmented Djembe Drum --- Sculpting Rhythms

Teemu Maki-Patola, Perttu Hämäläinen, and Aki Kanerva

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract

In this paper, we present an augmented djembe drum created by mounting a webcam inside a regular djembe. By moving your hands in the vicinity of the drum membrane, you can sculpt computer-generated rhythm patterns that imitate real-life djembe rhythms. You can also play the djembe for real, treating the patterns as interactive accompaniment. A computer vision system infers the 3d location of the performer’s hands by tracking their shadows on the drum membrane. The individual drum hits of the patterns are automatic, but the player has direct control over their loudness, tempo and timbre. We explain the design and implementation of the instrument and share our design experiences. We also present qualitative results from testing the instrument with amateur musicians and experienced drummers.

Citation

Teemu Maki-Patola, Perttu Hämäläinen, and Aki Kanerva. 2006. The Augmented Djembe Drum --- Sculpting Rhythms. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.1176971 [PDF]

BibTeX Entry


@inproceedings{nime2006_MakiPatola,
author = {Maki-Patola, Teemu and Hämäläinen, Perttu and Kanerva, Aki},
title = {The Augmented Djembe Drum --- Sculpting Rhythms},
pages = {364--369},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
year = {2006},
address = {Paris, France},
issn = {2220-4806},
doi = {10.5281/zenodo.1176971},
url = {https://nime.org/proceedings/2006/nime2006_364.pdf},
keywords = {1,2,2 9,3897,39,425,43,7,8,9},
abstract = {In this paper, we present an augmented djembe drum created by mounting a webcam inside a regular djembe. By moving your hands in the vicinity of the drum membrane, you can sculpt computer-generated rhythm patterns that imitate real-life djembe rhythms. You can also play the djembe for real, treating the patterns as interactive accompaniment. A computer vision system infers the 3d location of the performer’s hands by tracking their shadows on the drum membrane. The individual drum hits of the patterns are automatic, but the player has direct control over their loudness, tempo and timbre. We explain the design and implementation of the instrument and share our design experiences. We also present qualitative results from testing the instrument with amateur musicians and experienced drummers.}
}