TIEM

Jon Cambeul: designer, builder, programmer

The “Wacom Rock Guitar” a.k.a (Speech Guitar) is a USB powered pseudo rock guitar. It is a device that is made from an extensively modified 1999 Wacom intuos graphics tablet combined with an appropriated hand held game console that becomes a wearable interface for the control of an application suite made with Cycling 74’s graphical programming environment Max/MSP. The applications take control of the Apple MacInTalk 3 speech synthesiser making it sing, chant, and drone multiple layers of improvisational synthesised emotionally expressed speech vis-à-vis an aggressive STK Electric Guitar Synthesis.

The Speech Guitar: Improvisational Mobile Street Performance at Trampoline Nottingham UK

Sid Fels: co-investigator
Eric Vatikiotis-Bateson: co-investigator
Bob Pritchard: co-investigator
Marguerite Witvoet: research assistant, performer
Meryn Cadell: librettist
Helene Day-Fraser: design and costuming

Bob Pritchard writes —
“DIVAs are portable speech/song/facial synthesis systems that allow the user to move about and perform on stage and communicate within the community. Currently the speech synthesis makes use of a formant synthesizer.”