SampleRate

Summer Krinsky (Stanford)*

SampleRate
Image credit: Summer Krinsky (Stanford)*

Abstract:

SampleRate is an interactive sound installation in which light functions as a shared, embodied interface for collective music-making. Participants use custom 3D-printed flashlights whose beams strobe in clock-synchronized subdivisions of a shared tempo. Each flashlight is assigned a different subdivision pattern, allowing multiple participants to layer interlocking polyrhythms while remaining aligned to a common pulse. Sweeping these flashing lights through a darkened space reveals a ceiling-suspended net of photoresistor sensor nodes. When a beam strikes a node, it triggers a one-shot audio sample, and the continuous strobing produces repeated retriggers that form rhythmic patterns. Across longer phrases, sample assignments morph gradually to create continuously shifting textures while preserving a coherent groove. In addition to discrete triggering, continuous qualities of light (intensity and diffusion) are mapped to timbral parameters such as filtering, reverberation, and delay, enabling expressive gesture without screens or knobs. Because light is visible across the room, interactions are socially legible: participants can anticipate cause-and-effect, coordinate timing, and negotiate density and form together in real time. The work is driven by a central Max/MSP system with ESP32-based wireless flashlights and a cabled sensor hub, outputting stereo audio to the venue sound system.