The Drumtron 46,000 (DRT-46K) is an interactive electronic percussion exhibit developed for the Music behind the Magic exhibition at Vancouver’s Telus World of Science.
Check out this video of the Drumtron 46000 in action.
I think there’s a mysterious aspect to the work of design. Design involves the manipulation of image and symbol to effect change in the physical world, which to me sounds like pure magic. Magic was the theme of the exhibit, which explored the use of sound and music to create various effects in the films of Disney… and when it comes to manipulating image and symbol to effect change in the world, Disney is Warlock Supreme.
The Disney exhibit had a couple very interactive elements, but a lot of it was more information based so Science World wanted to have some additional interactive pieces adjacent to the main exhibit that would allow visitors to play with the themes of mystery and music.
Enter the Drumtron 46,000.
The intent behind the Drumtron was to give visitors a way to play with music. By making it a percussion based piece, it allowed people of all ages and musical skill levels to play. The percussive elements themselves are a snare, frying pans, a bell, hands and a bongobean. Each percussive element triggers a different sound from a sampler. The sounds have been designed to induce a sense of synesthesia. For example, hitting the bell, which is a re-used firebell, triggers the sound of a siren. While the siren and the fire bell both evoke a sense of emergency, there is also a clear disconnect between the sound and its apparent source. Similarly, the frying pans sound hi-hats made of frying eggs, the snare like a bass drum, etc.
I’m always making weird contraptions, but the Drumtron project was a great opportunity to make a product that wasn’t just stuck together with spit and string. The fact that large numbers of children were going to be playing on the piece meant that it had to be incredibly durable and easy to use. Despite my best efforts some of the elements I had originally designed turned out not to be able to withstand more than an hour of enthusiastic play. That’s called learning the hard way. After a couple trips back to the drawing board the final piece is virtually kid-proof. “Virtually” being the operative word.