A System for Sketching in Hardware: Do-It-Yourself Interfaces for Sound and Music Computing

A system for Do-It-Yourself (DIY) interface designs focused on sound and music computing has been developed. The system is based on the Create USB Interface (CUI), which is an open source microcontroller prototyping board together with the GROVE system of interchangeable transducers. Together, these provide a malleable and fluid prototyping process of ‘Sketching in Hardware’ for both music and non-music interaction design ideas. The most recent version of the board is the CUI32Stem, which is designed specifically to work hand- in-hand with the GROVE elements produced by Seeed Studio, Inc. GROVE includes a growing collection of open source sensors and actuators that utilize simple 4-wire cables to connect to the CUI32Stem. The CUI32Stem itself utilizes a high-performance Microchip® PIC32 microcontroller, allowing a wide range of programmable interactions. The development of this system and its use in sound and music interaction design is described. Typical use scenarios for the system may pair the CUI32Stem with a smartphone, a normal computer, and one or more GROVE elements via wired or wireless connections.