GP01 Controller
The GP01 Controller is a performance interface for the Gesture Painter video synthesis instrument. It enables navigating scenes of presets and the manipulation of parameters within them. It is designed to be simple, yet powerful for a performer.
Concept
The Gesture Painter synthesizes video by translating mouse gestures into instant visualizations. A wide range of creative options may be triggered by the computer keyboard. The results are fun to create and beautiful to watch. However the mouse and keyboard do not provide the most facile interface.
The next generation Gesture Painter will replace the mouse with a touch-sensitive LCD. Direct contact with the pixels will provide intuitive gestural control. The GP01 Controller will replace the keyboard with a simple purpose-built interface for specifying creative options.
Options will be organized in combinations as scenes – each a texture within which to play. The GP01 will offer a dial and alphanumeric LED display to select scenes, toggle switches to activate options, and knobs to tune parameters. The scenes and what parameters are mapped to the controls can be set up in advance. It will greatly facilitate performance.
Design
The GP01 may integrate directly into a Gesture Painter or exist separately as a peripheral controller. The designs anticipate two users: the novice who encounters a Gesture Painter in an installation setting, and the artist who exploits a Gesture Painter as a performance instrument.
Gesture Painter as art. The simple design of the integrated interface invites play. Play is rewarded with colorful ephemeral visualizations. They can be as beautiful by a novice as by an expert. It encourages discovery.
Gesture Painter for the artist. The peripheral controller offers advantages to the performer. The port the Gesture Painter will use to interface the GP01 will be compatabile with other controllers like as the more advanced GP02. The artist will have the flexibility to choose the model most appropriate for each occasion.
Long Term Goals
The GP01 will be interoperable with other instruments part of the Sandbox Project, such as Sound Canvases, which generate sound through a paradigm similar to that of the Gesture Painter.
The GP02 Controller will provide step sequencing and sophisticated real-time control over a much broader range of software parameters.