Through software, two designers show how a contact microphone can detect particular sounds and trigger certain events. Bruno Zamborlin and Norbert Schnell designed the system around two ideas: convert vibration in direct sound, and certain sets of sounds triggering pre-determined audio tracks.
The project, dubbed Mogees, is developed in the Max/MSP environment with MuBu, a "multi-track container for sound description and motion capture data." Mogees has acted like an experiment demonstrating the team's goal of real-time interactive audio processing with MuBu. Both designers are key developers behind the MuBu project, as well. Be sure to take a look at their site.
I can already sense the legions of musical artists yearing to use Mogees in future projects. For those who think this will make for a new type of touchscreen, keep in mind that this technique can only sense sound and not position directly. Although, a different interpretation of the sound data could be used in a similar way to "surface acoustic wave" (SAW) touchscreens. Like in SAW tech, if the acoustic wave amplitude traveling along the surface of a material could be measured, position could be determined... But now I am getting ahead of Mogees purpose.
Cabe