Aquapella- Gestural Interactions with Liquid Turbulence as Musical Expression

John Lettang, and August Black

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract

The Aquapella is a hand-held gestural instrument for exploring the unique relationship of liquid turbulence and musical expression. The device consists of eight conductive water-level sensors in a custom 3D printed container. As a musician moves the device, it generates a chaotic flow of water within the container and translates the motion into real-time midi signals for audio-visual interpretation. In our initial performances and tests with the Aquapella, we have focused on turning the flowing characteristics of the device into ambient and glitch soundscapes that move between noise and harmonics. We present the primary findings in developing the Aquapella including related works, description of the project development, and ideas for future iterations.

Citation

John Lettang, and August Black. 2025. Aquapella- Gestural Interactions with Liquid Turbulence as Musical Expression. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15699626 [PDF]

BibTeX Entry

@article{nime2025_40,
 abstract = {The Aquapella is a hand-held gestural instrument for exploring the unique relationship of liquid turbulence and musical expression. The device consists of eight conductive water-level sensors in a custom 3D printed container. As a musician moves the device, it generates a chaotic flow of water within the container and translates the motion into real-time midi signals for audio-visual interpretation. In our initial performances and tests with the Aquapella, we have focused on turning the flowing characteristics of the device into ambient and glitch soundscapes that move between noise and harmonics. We present the primary findings in developing the Aquapella including related works, description of the project development, and ideas for future iterations. },
 address = {Canberra, Australia},
 articleno = {40},
 author = {John Lettang and August Black},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.15699626},
 editor = {Doga Cavdir and Florent Berthaut},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 month = {June},
 numpages = {9},
 pages = {287--295},
 presentation-video = {https://youtu.be/KEIr1re4Gls},
 title = {Aquapella- Gestural Interactions with Liquid Turbulence as Musical Expression},
 track = {Paper},
 url = {http://nime.org/proceedings/2025/nime2025_40.pdf},
 year = {2025}
}