The Nashesizer - for Sound Artist, Gemma Nash Team Gemma

What

Gemma is a sound artist and digital storyteller. Gemma came to sound art through being a
laptop DJ and VJ composer, and now uses these skills for composing sound pieces that explore
the connections between medicine, disability and ethics.

Her practice has recently grown and she has been commissioned to produce work for a variety
of organisations, including Universities and Museums.

She would like to work with technologists to create a bespoke midi controller.

For more information please see Gemmas Biog below.

Why (barriers)

Due to Gemmas physical disability she has significant co-ordination difficulties and problems
with RSI (repetitive strain injury). The significance of her physical impairment meant that she
was not able to study music or art at school. However, through technological advances and her
own persistence she has been making sound art for about ten years.

Although the actual software has improved over the last few years, it is still difficult for Gemma
to find the right controllers. Her current set up entails a DAW, midi keyboard controller, com-
puter keyboard (with cover to create a custom shortcut keyboard) and a specialist track ball.
These devices often require fine motor skills and/or repetitive movements, which can be both
difficult and present serious health issues. For example:

Her trackball may give much more precision than a standard mouse, but requires very
small repetitive movements. So she uses it sparingly to avoid a relapse of RSI in her
right arm.

The MPKmini keyboard may be compact enough to fit on her desk but the knobs and
pads are very fiddly. This means that she often hit the wrong key or pad, which slows
down her workflow and also makes live mixing very difficult.

As Gemmas sound art practice develops, she feels she would benefit from a bespoke
controller so she can mix live and work faster without over straining herself.

The current alternatives to standard controllers, aimed at disabled people, are often too bulky
for Gemma or extremely expensive. She have a fairly small workspace and would need a con-
troller that fits in this space.

As a disabled woman Gemma feels this opportunity would not only support her, but would also
be a great way to raise the visibility of women within the music technology field.
How
Basic Outline

Within the constraints of the fairly limited timeframe of the DM Lab North Challenge, the group
plans to pursue three parallel yet overlapping approaches to creating more accessible music
controllers for Gemmas personal use:

Designing + prototyping one or more standalone modular components - a motorised

slider, encoder, joystick and button bank Lewis Sykes.
Designing and 3D printing an overlay for her Akai MPK Mini Mk2 MIDI Keyboard Con-
troller that improves access to the knobs and stops her accidentally hitting the keyboard
James Medd;
Hacking affordable, second-hand controllers such as the Novation Launch Control to
remove select encoders and create a more suitably spaced layout Craig Howlett;

The three makers of the group will each lead one of these strands of development - but will
cross-fertilise ideas and collaborate between themselves. For example, a re-designed rotary or
slider knob that better suits Gemmas level of dexterity, prototyped in mouldable plastic before
being 3D printed, will then feature across all.

Mike Cook will act as a consultant for the project.

Approach

The ambition is to realise bespoke design solutions for Gemma - ideas that genuinely respond
to both her needs and to the creative outputs she wants to realise. This requires a distinctive
approach to the design process - that is more than just a working understanding of the princi-
ples of Human Computer Interaction (HCI), a practical knowledge of User-Centred Design
(UCD) methods and a familiarity with Computer Aided Design (CAD) techniques and processes.

It requires design thinking that challenges able-bodied assumptions and biases; re-considers
conventional idioms that are so ubiquitous they are taken for granted; and develops a more sub-
tle appreciation of how people intuit interaction - of how they use interfaces to make the inputs
that generate the outputs they want.

Plan

Well start with Gemma showing us what equipment she currently has, what projects she wants
to realise and the difficulties shes having.

Well document and analyse these sessions and use them to inform and guide our responses,
for example:

Looking for alternatives to Gemmas old and large trackball - while retaining some of its
best features e.g. slow down tracking speed. Lewis suggested we might look into the
3DConnexxion SpaceNavigator 3D mouse - http://www.3dconnexion.co.uk/products/
 spacemouse/spacenavigator.html or Kensington Kensington SlimBlade Trackball USB
Mouse - https://www.kensington.com/en/gb/4493/k72327eu/slimblade-trackball as pos-
sible replacement. While these arent cheap - ~170 - we could approach the manufac-
turers and ask if theyd support Gemma and the project by providing test devices. We
could then design and 3D-print suitable overlays to make them even more accessible
for Gemmas use.

Using Duplo and a base board to test possible layouts - and perhaps even embedding
the electronics within suitably sized Duplo bricks.

Embedding LED rings + bars + possibly OLED screens into the modular components to
provide useful visual feedback - matching colours from Ableton tracks, indicating current
track # etc. (Mike Cook suggests the standalone modular components should communi-
cate via I2C - although this requires each analogue component to have a self-contained
I2C digital pot, port expander or Atmel ATtiny85 embedded).

Single key to chord functionality - Gemma currently edits these in software.

Sound and Music Support

As Gemma is currently on the Sound and Musics Pathways scheme for disabled and/or BME
composers, Sound and Music are keen to support this current application and potentially fund
further developments for this LabChallenge.

As Gemmas engagement with the Pathways programme deepens we will soon be moving to
the stage where she will be planning activity to be delivered between June 2017 June 2018.
The possibility of a meaningful return to live work has been a feature of our conversations thus
far and this work is dependent on technology. It is my current hope that Gemma will be able to
use Pathways as an Action Research opportunity; testing new technology in the live context and
revising and moving forward based on these experiences. This can create a virtuous upward
circle where the improving tools create both opportunity and creative restrictions that can help
Gemma to develop her live work and to become clearer about specific requirements for the fur-
ther development of her specific tools. I can see a very exciting link between Sound and Music
work and the aims of DMLab Northwest Challenge here.

Richard Whitelaw, Director of Programmes, Sound and Music.

Introduce Makers + Musos

Team Gemma is made up of:

Gemma Nash - a North West based multimedia artist and digital storyteller;

Lewis Sykes - visual musician + creative technologist

 James Medd - Maker Technical Co-ordinator, The Landing an Artist, musician, educa-
tor, technician, developer, producer, and curator, based in Manchester, UK.

Craig Howlett - music producer + DM Lab North member

Gemmas Biog

Gemma is a digital storyteller and Sound Artist. Gemma came to sound art through being a lap-
top DJ and VJ composer, and now uses these skills for composing sound pieces that explore
the connections between medicine, disability and ethics.

She uses a range of creative methods to produce her work, such as midi controllers, field
recordings and sensors. Her work incorporates spoken narratives and sounds from an array of
unusual sources

Her practice has recently grown and she has been commissioned to produce work for a variety
of organisations, including Universities and Museums.

She is currently working on a sound commission for the Thackray Museum to explore and com-
plement the museum's medical collections. She is very keen to develop this area of work, as it
combines her sound art skills as well as her degree in Geography and Politics.

In addition she is also on the Sound and Musics Pathways scheme for disabled and/or BME
composers.

http://gemmanashartist.com

Lewis Biog

Lewis Sykes is a visual musician, creative technologist, researcher/educator and digital media
producer/curator based in Manchester, UK.

A veteran bass player of the underground dub-dance scene of the 90s he performed and
recorded with Emperor Sly and Radical Dance Faction and was a partner in Zip Dog Records.

Co-ordinator of the digital futures think tank Cybersalon (2002-2007) founding artists-in-resi-
dence at the Science Museums Dana Centre - he was also Director of Cybersonica, an annual
celebration of music, sound, art and technology launched at the Institute of Contemporary Arts
(ICA), London, UK (2002-11).

Honing an interest in mixed media through an MA Hypermedia Studies at the University of

Westminster (1999-2001) he continued to fuse music, visuals and technology through creative
collaborations most notably as musician with the progressive audiovisual collective The San-
cho Plan (2005-2008) - performing and exhibiting interactive audiovisual sets and sonic installa-
tions at numerous UK and European festivals. Currently as a member of Monomatic he explores
sound and interaction and the interplay between music and image through physical works, cre-
ative software and audiovisual performances.

A doctoral graduate from MIRIAD, Manchester Metropolitan University since February 2015, his
Practice as Research Ph.D. The Augmented Tonoscope explored the aesthetics of sound
and vibration. His research interests in multisensory perception and audiovisual composition
techniques which attempt to engage our senses in a way which is not discretely seen and heard
but is instead co-sensed or seenheard - has led to a current focus on designing for differ-
ence - the development of interactive environments and assistive technologies for people with
disabilities.

http://lewissykes.info
http://phd.lewissykes.info
http://phd.lewissykes.info

James Biog

James is an artist, musician and educator based at The Landing, Media City UK. His work
comprises entertainment, accessibility, and whimsy. He makes physical and digital things, for
both fun and functionality. James has made sculptures that respond to humans, built tools and
toys for his home, and transferred electronic circuits to canvas. Just recently, he built an arcade.

He runs innovative creative technology workshops for the community. His workshops involve a
range of activities, including using electronics, code, light, 3d printing and sound. He has deliv-
ered workshops for local authorities (including Manchester City Council and Blackburn & Dar-
wen Borough Council), as well as smaller organisations (such as Manchester Digital Laboratory
and Afro Futures UK).

http://jamesmedd.co.uk

Craigs Biog

Craig Howlett is a newly qualified sound engineer, music producer and DM Lab North member.
He has a degree in Sound Engineering & Design, and his final year dissertation focused on as-
sistive music technology. He has experience of working in live sound for various venues around
Manchester, such as the Roadhouse and Noisebox.

His journey to sound engineering and music technology wasnt particularly easy as he faced a
number of socioeconomic barriers and personal struggles with bereavements and ill health.

His hidden disability (and associated health problems) has led him to work with community
groups, especially those with a focus on disabled artists. For example, he currently provides
technical assistance to a guitar group for people with mental health in Oldham and is an active
member of DM Lab North. He finds this type of work very fulfilling, and envisions his future ca-
reer will focus on assistive music technologies, disabled people and interactive/game audio.

He is therefore very keen to support the Nashatizer in terms of collaborating with another dis-
abled artist, as well as developing his own music tech skills in a supportive environment.

Mikes Biog

Mike Cook is a veteran technical author, electronics maker and freelance electronics consultant.
He is best known for his series of 200+ articles in The Micro User, Acorn Computing and Acorn
User from 1983 to 2000 called the Body Building Course and Run the Risc.

Mike started work in the late sixties at an industrial electronics company in Oldham. He went on
to take a degree in Physical Electronics at Newcastle including a year spent working at the Ad-
miralty Underwater Weapons establishment at Portland. He went on to post graduate research
in sound compression at Salford University. He spent over twenty years at Manchester Met-
ropolitan University (initially Manchester Polytechnic) as a Physics lecturer, specialising in com-
puter instrumentation, astronomy and image processing.

Recently he has exhibited at the UK Maker Fairs, Mini Maker Fairs and the prestigious New
York World Maker fair.

www.thebox.myzen.co.uk