digital rainstick

The digital rainstick is a composed instrument that extends the performance and sonic capabilities of a traditional acoustic rainstick. Pressure and tilt sensors are mounted on the body of the rainstick, and communicate performance gestures to underlying sound and control software that shapes an overall formal trajectory of the improvised piece. The performance explores compelling aspects of the acoustic rainstick and reveals new modes of interaction and sound production. The resulting live performance work is a collaborative improvisation between the performer and the instrument.

A definitive feature of the rainstick sound is the mass of individual articulations that together produce the effect of a solid mass of rain-like noise. With each turn of the rainstick, the listener hears this sound mass gradually transform into a sequence of individual articulations. This process, typical of the acoustic rainstick, is expanded in the digital rainstick. Additionally, the sonic reference to water and rain in the acoustic instrument is explored and made explicit in the digital rainstick.

The natural performance gesture of the rainstick is another a key feature that is explored in the digital rainstick. In performance, the rainstick is necessarily flipped from the right side to the left side. However, the sounds produced by the two 'sides' of the acoustic instrument are indistinguishable. In the performances with digital rainstick, the sides of the instrument are sonically drawn further apart as the piece unfolds.

Click the images below to see video clips from the rainstick in performance
clip from the beginning where the two sides of the rainstick are still sonically similar and the sound of the acoustic instrument is mixed with the digital sound	clip from the middle of the transition from acoustic to digital rainstick. Here the two sides are sonically different.	clip near the end of the transition. The sound of running water has emerged from one side of the digital rainstick, while the synthesized sounds of individual raindrops have emerged from the other.