2008-07: A PureData audio and GEM video rapid prototype of DranceWare for use with
Wii Remotes as wireless accelerometers has been developed for Mac OS-X.

2006-09-07: Amazing new GIF animations of a Drancel-RGB light show (extracted from video) !
A single Drancel-RGB using 1 triaxial accelerometer and 3 LEDs is combined with mirrors, crystal balls, and video feedback.

The truly mobile DranceMan for body music and gestural light shows

For many years I have developed versions of Drancing for desktop computer that use real-time synthesis of 3d-accelerometer signals (read from a data acquisition (DAQ) card) to generate sound, visuals, and controls. However, such systems restrict the performer to the sphere of the computer, i.e. either to the length of a cable from the performer to the DAQ card, or to the range of wireless data telemetry. Thus many of the advantages of using 3d-accelerometers - which require no spatial reference point - are lost.

I am now developing a truly mobile Drancing system I call the DranceMan that could be worn by anybody: performing, dancing, or exercising anywhere, even underwater, when flying, or in outer space WITHOUT THE NEED FOR A RESTRICTING REFERENCE SYSTEM (unlike motion-capture technology used for animation) ! This zone serves primarily as a record of the ongoing development and of planned and implemented features.

The DranceMan for one performer is composed of many Drancel units

The DranceMan is composed of many independent units, each called a Drancel (from "drancing element"); when it has on-board or virtual association between (X,Y,Z) channels and (red, green, blue) colours it is known as a Drancel-RGB. Many Drancel units can be multiplexed, whereby one becomes the "master" and the others "slaves", to form a complete DranceMan instrument.

Example: A performer wears 5 multiplexed Drancel units. Two units are worn on the wrists and ankles respectively, and one (the master) on a belt around the middle. This "star" configuration has been demonstrated to promote body awareness (proprioception).

Further, many DranceMan systems can be multiplexed for multi-performer mobile drancing, such as many performers making body-music and light across a whole stadium, with central control of modes.

Multiplexing of many Drancel units for 1 DranceMan system (for one performer) can be achieved by fine cables (as done in the Drancing suit) or even short-distance data telemetry. Multiplexing of many DranceMan systems (1 per performer) is best achieved with longer range data telemetry.

A simplified UML2.0TM component instance diagram of a DranceMan with 5 Drancel units in a "star" configuration on hands, feets, and waist.

The Drancel unit

Each Drancel-RGB has one 3D-accelerometer and can generate synthesised sound (heard via onboard mini-speakers), audio (for headphones or remote speakers), and visuals (via on-board LEDs) from the 3 acceleration signals. The Drancel-RGB is thus the atom of the mobile DranceMan system.

(Select image to enlarge in new window)

A simplified UML2.0TM component instance diagram of a Drancel-RGB unit. Details of appropriate audio synthesis and LED pre-processing - as demonstrated by existing prototypes - are omitted.

Drancels as picture elements and sound primitives

It is no accident that "Drancel" rhymes with "pixel" (picture element), in fact a Drancel using (R,G,B) LEDs acts a lot like a pixel, and the (R,G,B) components can be considered to define an effective composite colour (subject to the complex LED spectra of course). This effect can be enhanced by using a single reflector behind 3 (R,G,B) LEDs, or by shining the Drancel-RGB through optical elements such as lenses or a crystal ball.

Closeup of the RGB LEDs of a prototype Drancel-RGB with 3 mini-reflectors, one per LED.

Lots of Drancel-RGB units can by combined to create dynamic gestural pictures with amazingly rich, dynamically varying, composite colours. So hundreds of performers wearing many Drancel-RGB units each can create amazing light spectacles. Just imagine a stadium full of colourful "Drancers" !

Similarly, sounds synthesised by many Drancel units can be combined to generate extremely rich dynamically varying sounds, the body music of many limbs, or even of many performers at once ! This is of course directly related to Fourier synthesis of complex waveforms from simpler waveforms.

The Drancel concept is mathematically and physically well-defined, and worthy of my neologism. A Drancel is by conception 4D (since it processes 3 time-varying signals), and is simultaneously "multi-sensual", since it is both aural and visual.

Drancels as remote light controllers

Of course accelerometer signals can also be used to modulate and trigger stage lighting. It is relatively straightforward to map acceleration signals to MIDI commands to drive - for example - MIDI light modules. (Please do not confuse this with MIDI sound control, which I no longer use in favour of direct real-time sound synthesis.) Again the (X,Y,Z) to (R,G,B) "acceleration to light" paradigm can by used. In addition, directed lighting can be steered by acceleration signals. Just imagine many performers controlling a ring of lights around a stadium with their body movements !

Performers can thus generate all the music and control all of the lighting with complete synchronisation to their free body movements, with strong aural and visual biofeedback. Is this not the stuff of dreams in the 21st century ! No wonder I am so dedicated to gestural synthesis with 3d-accelerometers.

Progress towards a self-contained, mobile Drancel unit

Light: I have made significant process with gestural light show generation with LED Drancel prototypes (as demonstrated by video snippets).

Sound: I am now concentrating on reducing the proven principles of the accelerometer-based, desktop-computer-driven gestural sound synthesis system Drancing to a mobile, micro-electronics form.

If you are a potential technology partner interested in sponsoring or participating in the development
of the DranceMan and Drancel-RGB units, please email or phone +61 (2) 9386-0090.