If you have explored this blog at all in the past six months, you are probably aware that Gray Area Foundation is co-sponsoring a massive, music-making sculpture/installation at this year’s rapidly-approaching Burning Man, funded by Burning Man itself and Ableton Live. Swing by Gray Area this Friday to see the syzygryd instruments in action! Music Developers, bring your Ableton sets and try them out with a full set of users and touch screens.

Donations will be accepted towards the completion of this project. We’ll have a bar, munchies and Syzygryd schwag for sale. Free drink for everyone who submits a sound set for Syzygryd!

Syzygryd allows three non-musicians to collaborate by triggering instruments in an Ableton Live set written by you. As the day passes, syzygryd loads different sets. As night sets in, syzygryd becomes alive with lights and fire, visualizing the music being created.

So now you want to submit a set for syzygryd? Great! Here’s some more information to get you started:

How do participants create music with Syzygryd?

Syzygryd is an interactive musical sculpture. There are three distinct input stations for syzygryd, each with a 10X16 grid sequencer. Participants interact with syzygryd by inputting different patterns into these sequencers. The Y axis of the grid sequencer is pitch — so you have 10 pitches (or samples) to work with. The X axis is time — so you have 16 notes, or steps, in every pattern. There are four tabs on each grid sequencer, so participants can switch between four different patterns.

How do I write music?

We’ve published a musician developer kit (or MDK) for you to use when writing music for syzygryd. The MDK includes sample Ableton Live sets, sequencer, controller and MIDI mapper software. The sequencer, controller and MIDI mapper software let you simulate the user experience of interacting with syzygryd. So, download the MDK, install the software, open up the Ableton Live set and get to work.

How do I submit music for syzygryd?

We welcome your submission to the syzygryd music project. Submit an Ableton Live set and it could become part of this amazing interactive multisensory sculpture! Just send us an mp3 sample of your work and a set mapped out in Ableton Live using our published MDK. If we like what you send us, we’ll add it to the syzygryd library, and it will be available to all participants interacting with the syzygryd sculpture.

When writing music for syzygryd, please take these constraints into consideration:

– Try to keep your sets under 1GB as large sets may take a while to load.
– Set length is 20 minutes to an hour long.
– Design your set around the step sequencer as an input method.
– Remember, this is for a sculpture for Burning Man and possibly other international festivals. Make your music/set appealing to a wide variety of tastes, but also don’t be afraid to push the envelope. Although we do plan to deploy syzgryd at other festivals, we invite you to use the Burning Man theme “Metropolis” as inspiration for sets.
– When you’re done, upload your set. We’ll be reviewing your sets and we’ll include the most awesome ones in the final project.