LeaponTheremotion

Inspiration

Theremins, similar to LeapMotion controllers, spark curiosity and a magical illusion of control by combining hand motions and that blank, spaced, expression with mouth agape that everyone seems to get when focusing on playing an instrument.

What it does

LeaponTheremotion begins as two simple programs, a low-level sound generation program written in c, and a higher level hand tracker written using the leapmotion cpp API. The simplicity in design allows you to generate sound using only the magical wizard-like flailing of your meaty paws.

How I built it

I pressed some buttons on a keyboard. The keyboard that I looked upon as a father looks upon their first-born: effective and useful, but I'm saving my bets for when the LeapMotion replaces all user input devices. On that day, I will simply sit at my desk whirling my hands in circles as code writes itself on my LeapMotion hover monitor.

Challenges I ran into

Surprisingly, I had no trouble staying interested. The biggest letdown was when I realized my secret desire to create a theremin using a LeapMotion controller was shared by apparently everyone else who has laid eyes on a LeapMotion controller. As I set my mind to create essentially the "helloworld" of LeapMotion applications, I was not fazed, and instead was confident that I would do it differently, for better or worse, than others before me. Are Unix pipes the one true expression of individuality that we as skin covered, carpal inflaming humans can use to distinguish ourselves from those without skin? Perhaps...perhaps..

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

Generating sound without having to pull megabytes of dependencies. As much as I poke fun, I'm still tickled by the use of the LeapMotion, and I look forward to gesticulation-driven development with them in the future.

What I learned

C portaudio API, and LeapMotion's cpp API. To a certain extent, LeapMotion's javascript API as well. How weird one looks when using a LeapMotion, and the only indicator that you're not simply waving at someone is the sounds playing through your headphones.

What's next for LeaponTheremotion

Filters to put in the unix pipeline that affect the signal. I'd also like to add different sound output effects like specials attacks and fall-offs corresponding to different gestures. I really appreciate the options available, and I look forward to chances to work with the LeapMotion controller again.

Built With

• c
• hardware
• health-of-iceland
• leap-motion
• portaudio
• unix-pipes