tracer-module

part of the JPMorgan Chase Kids Digital Movement and Sound Project

(c)2002 douglas irving repetto and Jason Freeman

Introduction:

This is a simple module that uses disc positions to draw lines and play simple tones. For each disc, there is one point (or line) and one tone. The volume and frequency of each tone is determined by the position of the corresponding disc; up and down are frequency (i.e. pitch), left and right are volume. The color is the same as the corresponding disc.

Controls:

leave trails:
Click this box if you want the discs to leave trails as they move.

use disc size:
Click this box if you want the size of the drawing points to be the same size as the discs in disc-o-master.

clear screen every:
Use this menu to select how often the screen is automatically cleared.

clear screen now:
Press this button to clear the screen immediately.

sound waveform:
Select one of these waveforms to change the sound of the tones. Sine waves are the smoothest sounding, square waves are the harshest.

volume:
Use this slider to control the volume of the tones.

mute:
Use this button to turn the sound off and on.

Activities

• See if you can set up some walls and discs to automagically draw different figures. Drawing an "M" or a "W" is easy. Can you come up with a configuration that will draw an "A"? How about a "Q"? How about a face or a dog?
• Do these drawing sound anything like they look? Have one person set up a configuration that makes a letter. Have a second person try to guess what the letter is just by listening to the sound it's making.