Rabbit Semiconductor helps Soul In the Machine bring Soul to the Machine.

Electronic dance music for quite some time has been growing in popularity with its driving beats, atmospheric groves, and wide range of tonal textures. Synthesized music provides artists the ability to mold the sound to their liking, offering a level of flexibility and infinite variation to their music. In most cases, electronic dance music is pre-produced and performed by a DJ using turntables and an array of synthesizers. A group called Soul in the Machine aims to change the live-electronic-dance music experience, and Rabbit Semiconductor with the RCM3100 is there to lend a helping hand.

Erik Stauber and Henry Chang, otherwise known as Soul In The Machine, want to bring more energy and excitement to the world of electronic music. The music already embodies the primal and aural intricacies that make this genre of music very popular. Henry initially wanted to combine the magic of live performance with custom synthesized music, providing the best of both worlds to their fans. Erik and Henry conceived the idea of building a “living instrument” that not only is an actual instrument, but also a visual feast for the eyes. “Easy to conceive, less easy to execute” says Erik who mainly works with the technological aspect of the development. The custom instruments alone were a challenge to build, but over time Erik and Henry were able to fabricate the laser harp, the electronic marimba, and the stainless steel drum kit. Soul In the Machine needed to find components to control analog signals from their custom instruments, and route signals to sound processors and lighting relays.

“When I first began developing the brains of the instruments, I had no experience with electrical engineering, and only a small bit of programming experience.” Erik needed a platform that was easy to learn, quick to implement, and fairly inexpensive. Erik considered other product for development: “I’ve since considered using the Netburner® products as an experiment into the 32-bit world, and I’ve even bought a development kit, but the development environment and the documentation are definitely lagging compared to Rabbit.” A friend suggested Rabbit Semiconductor® and the RCM2000 RabbitCore® as a potential solution. Erik then bought the development kit and began learning the essential functions of the microcontroller. Erik’s development eventually moved to the RCM3100 RabbitCore. “The I/O on the RCM3100 is really excellent – six serial ports and the external data bus allow plenty of expansion.” Erik was looking for a microcontroller that had plenty of I/O, each processor having the ability to control 144 LED channels at 100 Hz, and full MIDI I/O processing at 31Kbps. Since the show is live, his ultimate concern was real-time processing and reliability.

The Soul in the Machine has 15 microcontrollers running in the system. Each instrument is an analog interface, which registers a signal when used. Examples of these instruments are the laser harp, the drum wall, the drum kit and the electronic marimba. The sensors detect the interactions and send a signal to the RCM 3100 RabbitCore® where a corresponding light is illuminated. At the same time a MIDI signal is sent from the RabbitCore to sound processors located in the middle of the performance apparatus. The processors will generate a specific sound based upon the song that is being performed at that time. The laser harp is one of the most visually stunning and interesting instruments in the Soul in the Machine setup. The laser harp has photoelectric sensors that detect when a laser beam has been broken. Furthermore depending on distance from the sensor, the pitch will also be affected. When all is said and done, what you have is a spectacular audiovisual performance that would get anyone on his or her feet.

Rabbit has really helped Erik in developing this complex system from start to finish. “The core-module concept was really helpful. It saved me a whole bunch of effort, particularly at the beginning when I knew very little,” Erik explained. He continued by saying, “Another factor that kept me going initially was all the sample programs and documentation. Pretty much every little feature of the microcontroller has a sample application to go with it – this makes writing programs way easier, as there is a known good place to start.” Erik took advantage of Rabbit’s easy development system using the provided libraries to get him started. From not being familiar with embedded system to being able to design the brains of Soul in the Machine, Erik was able to turn a dream into reality by using Rabbit Semiconductor's products.

For more information on Soul in the Machine, visit: www.soulinthemachine.com

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