Adding to the ever-growing list of things that my ex-students now do much better than I, Karl D. D. Willis is working on a playful new project called Bubble Sequencer. Bubble Sequencer uses the flow of bubbles through pipes to trigger notes set by lighting up LEDs - the bubbles work like kind of playback heads, or like a pianola roll. It’s easier to understand from the video.
I wrote recently about Karl’s win at the Tokyo Type Director’s club with his Light Tracer project. He’s pushed that project a long way, but it’s nice to see him working on something new.
It’s very Japanese I feel (and where Karl lives at the moment) - there are shades of Toshio Iwai in there I think and, let’s face it, he inspired all of us. I think there is probably more to be explored here too, but I’m sure he’ll be doing that.