Beat Catch

BeatCatch is a robotic, intuitive, experimental drum machine. The focus of the artefact is on the expression and the aesthetics of the interaction and the use, combining an intuitive and playful first time experience that yet gives joy after long time of practice. The BeatCatch prototype was made as an interactive metronome, which gives audible, visual as well as haptic feedback. By steering through different layers of a beat, while controlling things such as backbeat and triplets with the other hand, different multiples of the beat is caught, and the outcome is a funky rhythm.

With BeatCatch you can explore the given pace. The pace is visual as the device constantly moves in phase with the created rhythms, and this makes it possible to feel the pace in your hands when you use the device. By playing around with the moving part in different directions the pace is modulated and beats are produced.

BeatCatch is made for easy creation and experimentation with rhythm. Rhythmical patterns are created through pushing the moving part in different directions ? in this way, basic beats are combined to make complex rhythmical patterns. The moving part itself visually indicates the pace of the rhythm and the movement is also felt in the hand, which enhances the control. With BeatCatch you can see, hear and even feel the rhythm as you create it and as the pace are provided, you cannot play badly, you will only create a more or less interesting beat.

BeatCatch was presented as a short paper and displayed at the Aesthetic Artefact exhibition at the NordiCHI conference in 2002.

Technics
The device is based on conventional joystick technology using both its controller and force feedback capabilities. The device sends signals to an application written in PD, the graphical programming environment, where the input is mapped to MIDI signals for playing sounds using an algorithm. The PD application sends MIDI signals both to a sound bank to play sounds and back to the device to give haptic feedback