Saturday, May 9, 2020

HarmoniSing: Harmonize on Another Level

What is It?
HarmoniSing is an application that allows singer, instrumentalist, and musicians alike the ability to harmonize with themselves unassisted. This will ultimately make the practice, production, and creative process much simpler since the instrument does not call for an ensemble. This instrument allows the user three function which include match-pitch, harmonizing a third above, and harmonizing a fifth above. Match-pitch is great for warmups, practicing perfect pitch, or brainstorming. The other two functions allow for simple harmonization which can aid in the composition process.

How to Use:
The interface for the instrument was set up to emulate that o any three note chord, better known as a triad. A virtual piano was chosen for the look, and allows the user more versatility when wanted to play several keys or chords at once. Sever of the keys are segmented into three sections which cuts down on confusion of use, and gives the user options as fas as the desired intervallic harmonization.


The instructions are simple with the instrument calling for little to know prior knowledge of playing an instrument:
To match-pitch, click the bottom segment of the key.
To harmonize a pitch with a third above, click the middle segment of the key.
To harmonize a pitch with a fifth above, click the top segment of the key.

Production Process:
Creating the interface for this instrument was pretty simple, as the most involved part of getting the exact measurements for the rectangles used to make up the keys for the piano. The three segments give the user more control in which interval they would like to harmonize, and the layout makes it relatively easy to play more than one key or triad at a time. Adding the functionality to the interface was a major issue, because if there weren't problem with the consistency of the output, the entire code was either giving errors or just not compiling. Below I have provided pictures of some of the code used:





The Future of HarmoniSing:
Eventually, I would like to add more harmonization capabilities so the user has the option to harmonize with any pitch relative to the key that they are in. This will call for more segments of the keys, but I think going that route will will still allow the user maximum control.

Video:
Below, there is a link to a video that further explains the instrument as it is today, and where the instrument could be in the future.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/17aXI6fGXbom78Pf2nwCKQF1GLdQBDx7z/view?usp=sharing