WAVE.
Custom pendulum instrument using three swinging wooden blocks as musical interface—dividing sine wave motion into four-beat bars to trigger samples and modulate parameters in Ableton, inspired by Steve Reich's phasing and pendulum music.
Overview
A 10-minute live music performance for IMA Low Res ‘Live!’ class showcase, broadcast on Twitch with chat-integrated lighting. Eric Rabinowitz and I built a custom instrument in two weeks: three wooden blocks swinging as pendulums, their momentum driving the musical performance. The system divided each pendulum’s swing into a four-beat bar, detecting midpoints to trigger Ableton samples while swing position modulated various parameters.
Created as our answer to not being able to take the NIME (New Interfaces for Musical Expression) class—we were jealous it wasn’t an option for us, so we built our own instrument anyway, drawing heavily from Steve Reich’s “Pendulum Music” and his phasing techniques.
How It Was Made
The wooden blocks served multiple functions: visual targets for pushing/holding, sensor housing, and aesthetic objects. We used sensors (accelerometers/gyroscopes) to track the pendulum swing, translating the continuous sine wave motion into discrete musical events.
The core technical approach:
- Each swing cycle divided into four-beat bars
- System detected swing midpoints, sending signals to Ableton to trigger samples
- Pendulum position influenced sound parameters (pitch, filter, effects, etc.)
- Twitch chat integration controlled lighting that also responded to pendulum motion
The instrument required physical performance—we pushed and held the pendulums, manipulating their momentum to shape the music. The phasing happened naturally as the three pendulums gradually fell out of sync, creating Reich-inspired minimalist patterns through physical interaction rather than predetermined loops.
Context
Built and performed May 2025 for NYU IMA Low Res ‘Live!’ showcase. The project combined our interests in participatory music-making (continuing from Jazz Hands) with physical instrument design. A one-off performance exploring how simple physical systems—gravity, momentum, sine waves—can generate complex musical structures when given the right mapping.
Part of ongoing collaboration with Eric Rabinowitz on music/interaction projects.