This Is A Test: Bio-feedbacker prototype - eurorack bio-intergration interface device

video upload by Mountainking Electronics

"My interest in biofeedback therapy and technology and electronic music has led me to design a variety of bio-intergration interface devices. These are devices that allow you to use your body to control and influence audio and cv signals within a modular synthesizer system but whereas we normally use our bodies to mechanically manipulate controls (ie using our hands to turn knobs, push buttons and flick switches) these B.I.D.s allow us to use things like galvanic skin response, eeg, physical proximity, body capacitance, etc to use our bodies AND minds to control and influence the signals within a modular synthesizer system in ways that we normally don't even consider. I believe that through experimentation and practice these devices can help us tap into a relatively unexplored universe of interaction with our musical instruments.

On to the Bio-feedbacker. The Bio-feedbacker is what I call a "touch box". A touch box is simply a box that houses touch plates that are connected to jacks. The Bio-feedbacker contains two signal touch plates and one ground touch plate but what makes it different than the other touch boxes I have designed is that it also contains a switchable, adjustable attenuator which can be used the way we normally use an attenuator in a modular synthesizer system or it can be used to create a feedback loop for use with signal processor modules. To accommodate this feedback looper feature there are two sets of normalled jacks on the input and output of the attenuator. These jacks also allow the Bio-feedbacker to be used as a multiple module.

Video clips:

1. In this clip a fixed control voltage from a voltage processor module is sent into the Biofeedback and out to the pitch cv input of a VCO. The clips shows the control voltage going through and being manipulated by hands as well as going through the attenuator and hands.

2. In this clip a fixed control voltage from a voltage processor module is sent into the Biofeedback and then into the cv input for the cutoff frequency of a VCF. The clips shows the control voltage going through and being manipulated by hands as well as going through the attenuator and hands.

3. In this clip a audio square is sent into a VCF and the Bio-feedbacker is used to create a feedback loop. First the loop is created by hands and the it created by the attenuator as well as hands. What is interesting about this patch is that because the VCF inverts the signal, mixing it with the noninverted and unfiltered signal that passes through via the feedback loop path you get phase cancelation creating an effect similar to that of an allpass filter or phaser.

4. . In this clip a fixed control voltage from a voltage processor module is sent into the Biofeedback and then into the trigger input of a drum module. Touching the two plates at the same time sends a short burst of voltage acting like a trigger or gate. The strength of the signal can be varied by the amount of contact your hands/body has on the signal touch plates as well as the pressure you apply on the touch plates and because the input of the drum module is sensitive to the amplitude of trigger/gate signal you can create the type of effect achieved by striking an actual drum harder or softer. In the second part of the clip a clock/low frequency square wave is sent into the Bio-feedbacker and then into the trigger/gate input of the drum module and this signal is manipulated by hands and then used inconjuction with the attenuator.

As with all of my B.I.D.s designs, the Bio-feedbacker's design is still being experimented with but if you would like to order one I would be happy to build you one so please email me for details:

alan@mountainkingelectronics.com

Thank you,
Alan"