0.3. ABOUT KNURL

This is Knurl, an electroacoustic cello that offers to its musician the practice of diverse voice control, where each sound can be independently maintained and led by different sound techniques on-the-fly. It is a result of a personal impression towards the standard music practice, where artistic quality can become a synonym of integration, inclusion and diversity thinking by allowing different perceptions and hierarchies into music composition design.  When playing, Knurl has few actuators that can be defined on-the-fly to orient one of the possible 4 sonic layers. Those actuators are: Machine learning system, sound trackers (machine listening), tasks, patterns, envelope or a simple slider (potmeter).

Knurl is made with recycled bioplastic collected at the BENELUX ocean area, and designed open source by some members of the live coding community in the netherlands. It runs and modifies its sound by the microcontroller bela, connected with motion sensors, touch buttons, potmeters and capacitive sensors. Knurl’s mission is to empower musicians to create performances with the assistance of digital applications. It also became a platform for an interactive and engaged performance with its audience, since the instrument has a web platform where users can control and manipulate the sound of the instrument live. 

The role of an instrument doesn’t have to be defined constantly as a solo voce, it becomes also a platform to support other musical ideas, such as the ones received by an audience or other musicians. Sound can become a fluid process between listening and participation. Understanding music making as an integration of multiple characters, roles and ways of thinking is also achieved when we practice music in a collaborative way. The performance of Knurl is represented in a circle, where audiences and even other musicians can contribute to the manipulation of each voice made on Knurl, seeing their actions in a visual representation projected on the floor.