Rubik's Cube, Music's Cube

Richard Polfreman, and Benjamin Oliver

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract:

2017 marks the 40th anniversary of the Rubik's Cube (under its original name the Magic Cube). This paper-demonstration describes explorations of the cube as a performance controller for music. The pattern of colors on a face of the cube is detected via USB video camera and supplemented by EMG data from the performer to model the performer's interaction with the cube. This system was trialed in a variety of audio scenarios and deployed in the composition “Rubik's Study No. 1”, a work based on solving the cube with audible connections to 1980's pop culture. The cube was found to be an engaging musical controller, with further potential to be explored.

Citation:

Richard Polfreman, and Benjamin Oliver. 2017. Rubik's Cube, Music's Cube. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.1176332

BibTeX Entry:

  @inproceedings{rpolfreman2017,
 abstract = {2017 marks the 40th anniversary of the Rubik's Cube (under its original name the Magic Cube). This paper-demonstration describes explorations of the cube as a performance controller for music. The pattern of colors on a face of the cube is detected via USB video camera and supplemented by EMG data from the performer to model the performer's interaction with the cube. This system was trialed in a variety of audio scenarios and deployed in the composition “Rubik's Study No. 1”, a work based on solving the cube with audible connections to 1980's pop culture. The cube was found to be an engaging musical controller, with further potential to be explored.},
 address = {Copenhagen, Denmark},
 author = {Richard Polfreman and Benjamin Oliver},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.1176332},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 pages = {493--494},
 publisher = {Aalborg University Copenhagen},
 title = {Rubik's Cube, Music's Cube},
 url = {http://www.nime.org/proceedings/2017/nime2017_paper0095.pdf},
 year = {2017}
}