January 08, 2008
Composing, by brain waves:
Mick Grierson has been hacking some applications for a brain-computer interface that uses EEG to convert the brain's electrical signals into a thought-driven synthesizer control mechanism.
The kit is just in a test stage at the moment, but there's a YouTube video of him being able to trigger specific notes from his EEG signals.
OK. So I’ve had my EEG for about a month now. Within a few days, I’d successfully run a project that allowed me to spell words with my thoughts. This took some practice, and the algorithms are really elementary at the moment. However, it’s nice to be on the edge of what is possible. I’ve just spent a few days integrating a fairly obvious matching algorithm - basically an algorithm that detects unconscious responses to stimuli on a simple level - into a synthesiser built in max/msp. This took quite a lot of effort. Anyhow, this system is a variation of those which you may have been hearing about on and off….my system now allows me (with a bit of work) to control the pitch of the synthesiser with my thoughts in real-time. This reliably allows me to play tunes - slowly. I often ‘hit’ wrong notes, but it sort of works. Has anyone else done this yet?
Can't wait to see how the project advances. The first jam session will be quite a sight (and sound!), I'm sure.
Link to video of BCI synthesiser (via DevIntel).
Link to Grierson's blog.
