Jamming Gear is a concept gadget allowing you to control music through a tangible arrangement of gears. Each corresponding music loop is played in full with each complete rotation of a single gear. The performance method that makes use of the number of cogs is convenient for experimenting with ‘gaps’, such as polyrhythm or phase shift.
The system of Jamming Gear consists of custom-made computer software, five modules and several gears of varying sizes. The modules comprise two types: Driver Module, controlling the rotation, direction and speed to the remaining four Passive Modules. Each Passive Module sends its rotation data back to the computer wirelessly by Bluetooth, thus controlling the corresponding music loop. Depending on the size of the gear placed on a module, the rotation speed changes and playback of the music loop is altered accordingly. By combining many different sized gears, you are able to layer and control a complicated music arrangement.
In collaboration with Kenichiro Saigo