TacTile

a tactile digital instrument that feels analogue.
Aranya Khurana

Project Description

This thesis project delves into the design, development and playing of an eTextile-based touch-sensitive digital musical instrument (DMI) called TacTile with a focus on sensory interaction, expressiveness, portability, responsiveness, and intuitiveness. Inspired by elements of the electric guitar and piano, this project is a tactile digital instrument that is intended to feel analogue.

This project follows a Research Through Design methodology and uses Iterative Prototyping. The instrument’s performance is evaluated through specific musical tasks by playing, practicing and performing with it. This culminates in a discussion about the unique properties of this instrument and the types of gestural and musical interactions it enables.

This thesis is trying to investigate the meeting between the human and the instrument and explore that relationship — how the modification of the instrument leads to changes in the self and therefore the created thing; and how the modification of actions carried out by the self along with the instrument change the created thing.

BIO

Aranya Khurana is an interdisciplinary designer, artist and musician based in Toronto. He has a background in architectural design and music production which deeply influences his current work. His research focuses on the intersections between music, design and technology.

Aranya's work explores multisensory stimuli such as sound, touch and sight; interactivity, human-computer interaction, human-human interaction and facilitating creative processes and practices. His work spans the disciplines of new interfaces for musical expression, eTextiles, wearable electronics, physical computing, audiovisual installations, mixed media experiences and tangible user interface design.

He is fascinated by all things design and digital experiences, carrying an innate drive to try and understand what makes or breaks them and how one can go about improving them. He loves taking things apart and putting them back together, finding patterns and cross-pollinating ideas between disciplines to see what emerges.