nOdes: A Networked Constellation of Handheld Orbs for Community Music-Making

Thomas Didiot-Cook; Simon Jones; Johanna Blee; Nadine Meertens; Razanne Abu-Aisheh; Ophelia Deroy; Sabine Hauert

nOdes: A Networked Constellation of Handheld Orbs for Community Music-Making
Image credit: Thomas Didiot-Cook; Simon Jones; Johanna Blee; Nadine Meertens; Razanne Abu-Aisheh; Ophelia Deroy; Sabine Hauert

Abstract:

This paper presents nOdes, a platform for networked handheld musical objects designed for collaborative music-making. The system consists of spherical “orbs”, each a self-contained wireless device with motion sensing, twelve icosahedrally arranged RGB LEDs, audio hardware and wireless charging. A central server coordinates up to 24 orbs over Wi-Fi using a frame-based UDP protocol at 50 Hz, supporting low-latency ensemble interaction and structured logging. We illustrate the platform through an example orientation-based mapping in which each orb’s gravity vector selects one of twelve pitch classes, visualised via LED colour. The active pitch classes across all orbs are mapped to the harmonic material of Cellular Au-Tonnetz, an external generative sound-and-light system. We present timing and scalability measurements and outline future directions in co-design and open dissemination.