Wacom Guitar

The “Wacom Rock Guitar” a.k.a (Speech Guitar) is a USB powered pseudo rock guitar. It is a device that is made from an extensively modified 1999 Wacom intuos graphics tablet combined with an appropriated hand held game console that becomes a wearable interface for the control of an application suite made with Cycling 74’s graphical programming environment MaxMSP. The applications take control of the Apple MacInTalk 3 speech synthesiser making it sing, chant, and drone multiple layers of improvisational synthesised emotionally expressed speech vis-à-vis an aggressive STK Electric Guitar Synthesis.

Control can be obtained with or without the modified graphics tablet and console, with the performer sitting or standing over a laptop at a table. However the physical interface for controlling the speech synthesis software (the Wacom tablet) evolved into a visual pun that was inspired simply from the way the tablet was held, similar to that of a guitar. The USB game console was added later for an additional control input to switch between Max patchers and to also change processes without interrupting the input from the tablet. This was placed to the left of the tablet onto a strip of plywood with the other end attached to the Wacom tablet. This assemblage visually resembled something similar to a guitar’s Soundboard, Neck and Machine head which gave way to the idea of building something more elaborate and visual from this initial setup.

The “Wacom Rock Guitar” instrument was built, guitar shaped, complete with ornament styling with two dampers for the neck reclaimed from an existing sculpture that in tern was from a broken photocopier. With the idea of performance of improvisational digital speech synthesis in mind, it’s look and name suggested perhaps more toward a heavy metal genre. With this the performer appears as a guitarist juxtaposed between the Aesthetics of Rock and that of digital music performance.

To put the new instrument as well as the performer to the test the Wacom Guitar was taken into the streets and used to Busk in impromptu street performances and placed on the performance schedules of Media and Sonic Arts events. The first attempts to play in these contexts publicly was pretty difficult as it quickly became clear it was necessary to learn to play the instrument and begin to develop a level of skill and confidence in performing.

First Public performance with the Wacom Guitar 2/09/04 at the

KunstRaum Goethestrasse Linz

Also to be in keeping with the performative aesthetic Rock there was an effort to do away with having to rely on looking at the laptop screen and MaxMSP code. In which case it was important to continually refine the design when it came to mapping the tablet’s surface area to the given software parameters to experience what worked and what did not, with each public performance there has been a redevelopment towards making it more intuitive to play.