push and pull

push and pull is performed in a virtual environment that enables musical interactions through simulated gravitational forces. Through a combination of gestures and controller input the performer can manipulate the floating orbs in the environment to collide between or with other objects to trigger sounds.

Each of the objects in the scene has a specific virtual instrument assigned to it. This is achieved through OSC communication between Unity 3D and Ableton Live, where collision data is mapped to the MIDI input of different virtual instruments. Pitch is determined by the size of the floating orbs, while other parameters such as velocity and note length are mapped to the magnitude of the speed at the moment of collision between virtual objects.

The piece can be characterized as a meta-composition given that the musical structure of the piece will be different on each instantiation of the piece. This is because the interaction is based on a dynamic process where agency is distributed between the human performer and the physics engine.