| What is a WAMI? | ||
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The WAMI is a digital instrument created to produce a variety of sounds and beats that react to hand motion above the box. The WAMI is the new version of the WAM Box. It has added features such as a keyboard to trigger a variety of sounds and it also contains programming to enable the WAMI to be connected serially to a laptop and give out a corresponding RGB color value in the same elecromagnetic spectrum as the sound its producing. The result is an audio visual experience controlled by the movement of your hands. Prototype:   About The WAMI: The WAMI (Wave Modulation Instrument) is an electric musical instrument that uses light sensors to produce and manipulate square waves created by an Arduino micro controller. The WAM box initially produces a looping sound through eight speakers in sequential order. The sound comes from square waves produced by the logic of the Arduino micro controller that switches the digital output from +5v to +0v at different frequencies. The frequency of the pulse is controlled by the variables produced by analog signals that come from external light sensors and a potentiometer. The signal comes in the form of a number ranging from 0 to 1024 enabling the user to manipulate the sound by waving their hand over one or both of the light sensors and by turning the potentiometer. The light detector are two photocells that were rigged to detect changing light conditions. A mean level is created by comparing both light levels and used in the logic to check for changes in light. If the light detected changes in one of the photocells a counter keeps track of the amount of time the light readings changed. The counter value is then used to detect the direction of the hand waved over the sensors. The direction of the sound sequence is then changed to match the direction (left or right) of the waving hand. The counter value is then used to set the speed at which the digital signal will be switched between speakers. The value read from the potentiometer is then used to increase or decrease the rate of the square wave value created from the photocells. A keyboard with eight keys was introduced to enable the user to trigger a specific frequency or pitch of sound. The keys are being detected by the Arduino through a shift register which can tell if a key is being pressed of not and serially passes the binary data. Ideally once the frequency is created it is analysed by an algorythm that translates the frequency to a color in the electromagnetic spectrum with a similar ratio than the sound. But for now I managed to create an algorythm that turns the value of the potentiometer into an RGB color value. The color value (in RGB) is passes serially to an external application (Processing in this case) to be procesed and projected or displayed. At the same time of the RGB algorythm the frequency variable is then passed by a function that triggers impulses of 5V to be transmitted to external self-amplified speakers. The connection between the speakers and the box is made using mini-stereo sound jacks. The jacks are connected to eight of the digital pins in the Arduino micro controller. Lastly an LED was included in the box to show the status of the box. The LED turns on when the power is on and off when the power is off. The LED also blinks at the same rate that the speakers signal is being switched. Diagrams: Sample User interaction:  The WAMI controls and sensors:  Schematic of the WAM Box:  And Yay! Code: Arduino Sample Code. Processing Sample Code. Media:
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