2025
Graduate Thesis
Designer
Graduate Thesis
Designer
How can the coalescing of good design, modularity, and music-making offer new social and sonic possibilities?
Highlights
Features full, analog sound
Flatpack and designed to be portable
App connected
Endless sound exploration
Easy inputs for non-musicians
Features full, analog sound
Flatpack and designed to be portable
App connected
Endless sound exploration
Easy inputs for non-musicians
DESCRIPTION
Situated within the context of digital interfaces replacing third places and “social” platforms hijacking our ability to spend time with one another, this project proposes slowing down, exploring, and building community in a new way.
For creatives, casual musicians, and/or design-conscious hobbyists, CO-LAB is a wireless synthesizer system that makes electronic music accessible, social, and fun through intuitive, tactile inputs and real-time jam-session connectivity. The form is designed to be flatpacked and built by the user at home, while the audio sent to the speaker is completely wireless.
The included app functions as a lightweight control and recording hub, organizing the various components and abilities of the CO-LAB system. Using the "locate" function, users can scan for active receivers in their vicinity. If a group is already playing, the system shows its location on a radar-like interface inspired by aircraft navigation. To further enhance musical cohesion, the app features a “soundscape” engine that lets users adjust global parameters for the group session, including scale, key, genre orientation, and tempo.
Situated within the context of digital interfaces replacing third places and “social” platforms hijacking our ability to spend time with one another, this project proposes slowing down, exploring, and building community in a new way.
For creatives, casual musicians, and/or design-conscious hobbyists, CO-LAB is a wireless synthesizer system that makes electronic music accessible, social, and fun through intuitive, tactile inputs and real-time jam-session connectivity. The form is designed to be flatpacked and built by the user at home, while the audio sent to the speaker is completely wireless.
The included app functions as a lightweight control and recording hub, organizing the various components and abilities of the CO-LAB system. Using the "locate" function, users can scan for active receivers in their vicinity. If a group is already playing, the system shows its location on a radar-like interface inspired by aircraft navigation. To further enhance musical cohesion, the app features a “soundscape” engine that lets users adjust global parameters for the group session, including scale, key, genre orientation, and tempo.