SoundScratch

SoundScratch

SoundScratch, a part of my MIT Master’s Thesis, is a set of extensions I wrote to manipulate audio in a children’s programming language called Scratch. The environment emphasizes the expressive capabilities of sound through the act of creation and design. It is biased toward digital sound manipulation as a personal, meaningful and fun artistic endeavor, rather than as a venture into mathematical, electronic or networking relationships.

Lead by their own curiosity, children can design their own sounds by exploring SoundScratch. In doing so, they will indirectly learn a great deal about networks, mathematics and hardware synthesizers and sequencers.

SoundScratch is intended to shift the child’s focus from the product of creation to the process of creation. Audio processing was written in Csound.

MIT Master’s Thesis.pdf

Similar Posts

  • LegalLanguage

    I wrote LegalLanguage, a scripting language for lawyers at Legal Services Corporation in West Virginia. The staff used LegalLanguage to write simple scripts that could then ask clients questions, give guidance, and print out the appropriate forms. This freed up resources to focus on the large number of cases involving domestic violence.

  • String Improvation

    In 2001 I founded Wichita State University’s String Improvisation Department and established WSU’s yearly String Improvisation Day each year, an introduction to string improvisation for string players who had little or no experience with improvisation. I then expanded our String Improvisation program with a new grant-funded initiative: Sharing Music Sharing Culture (SMSC) which connected The Irish World Music Center students and faculty with WSU.

  • Strings, Kansas!

    In fall 2006 I launched an initiative at WSU called Strings, Kansas! A distance-learning-enhanced program, Strings, Kansas! connected WSU School of Music string students with 4th and 5th graders in communities without string programs. WSU string students created, designed, and implemented the curriculum for the 4th and 5th graders.

  • Touch #1

    In 2012 I created my first interactive touch wall: Touch #1. The work built on my experience creating the visuals for Still Life and was largely inspired by seeing autistic children experiencing pure joy while interacting in an immersive environment. Touch #1 received a great response and was later installed at Exploration Place and at…