Jonathan Sparks is a New York based artist and musician. He has created ‘Nomis' which makes loop-based music both an expressive and visual experience.
Jonathan combined Arduino, Max/MSP, and Ableton Live to allow the musical instrument to loop and display MIDI sounds across two light towers and a polyphonic octagonal interface.
The light towers and polyphonic octagonal interface respond to gestures played on the device to create different layered melodies.
Sparks wrote “Loop based music is a powerful way for an individual musician to create a complex, multi-voiced composition by looping and layering melodies in real time. The devices that make it possible to achieve this are powerful, but often lack the expressiveness and clarity that make for compelling live performances. Nomis is an attempt to get that looping capability up off of the floor, out from behind the Laptop, and feature it in an instructive and stimulating way.”
