Courses

Thomas Kerr

Hi, My name is Thomas. Throughout the Creative Music Production course I have focused a lot on how music can help people with various disabilities. For my Final Year Project I have developed an application that will assist people with many various disabilities to perform music and control various sounds of their choice. My project investigated various new motion tracking technologies to use with max msp wich enabled music and sounds to be controlled by tracking the movement of various points on the body.

The application allows the user to control many aspects of the application including Scale, direction and what limb they want to track to control the instrument with. the application can send midi information to any external audio software that can take in a midi input. this allows the user to be able to have a wide range of sounds that can be controlled with motion.

The instrument also has a switch that enables the user to load and playback various samples when the tracked limb enters one of the boxes in the photo. This is an additional feature that is not currently used in the iMuse software, although highly recommended by the external advisor.

Instructional video that shows all the apps features and controls in detail and shows how to use each feature of the application.

Project Description

This project developed a motion tracking instrument that enabled people with disabilities to control music and sounds with various limb movements. The project was done in to investigate the feasibility of replacing some old technology used by iMuse with something newer. The application developed for the project uses max msp with new machine learning technology that tracks motion.

Assistive Technology: Motion Tracking Instrument for People with Disabilities

This research project aims to explore how modern assistive music technology, specifically motion tracking instruments, can be used to enhance musical expression in a therapeutic environment for people with disabilities in Ireland. This project will investigate the current landscape of assistive music technology and music therapy for people with disabilities in Ireland, evaluate the effectiveness of motion tracking instruments such as Posenet, collaborate with Apollo Ensemble and iMuse to develop and test a motion tracking instrument, and assess the impact of the developed instrument on musical expression and therapeutic outcomes. The findings of this research project will have implications for improving the accessibility and effectiveness of music therapy for people with disabilities.