Jambo
The world's first rideable instrument
Jambo started from asking an unconventional question: can skateboarding be musical? We created the answer - a working, spatial music instrument that enables riders to express their skating through sound.
Collaboration with Jiaqi Wang
Collaboration with Jiaqi Wang
Timeline
5 months
Role
Design Technologist
Type
Audiospatial • Physical Prototyping
Overview
Jambo is a spatially-based music instrument inspired by longboard dancing - a niche, rhythmic style of skateboarding. When ridden, a suite of sensors embedded within the board record the behavior of a rider and transmit the signal to a device running DAW audio software, creating music with the imprint of a rider’s style.
This is what longboard dancing looks like - carving left and right while precisely stepping up and down a moving longboard.
Here’s what Jambo sounds like. The rider’s dancing style is captured by the board and transformed into sound.
Jambo measures how it’s being ridden through embedded sensors…
...converts those inputs via a microcontroller into MIDI signals...
... and when connected wirelessly to an audio device, turns dancing into music.
How can longboard dancing be augmented?
We started with an open-ended concept - augmenting longboard dancing. This yielded a broad range of ideas, including using AR to visualize dancing, rhythm games to teach dancing, and music creation through dancing. Our ideas could be broken down into two philosophies:
Creating a behavior change
Designing interactions to guide or direct a user towards specific behaviors of longboard dancing. Example - a rhythm game do teach beginners basic dancing steps.
Augmenting existing behavior
Giving a new dimension to the current ways longboard dancers are using their boards, without guiding them towards a specific behavior. Example - creating sound out of the board’s motion.
In the end, we decided to design for augmenting existing behavior. Forcing users towards specific interactions would detract from the freeform expression and imperfection that makes this style of dancing so unique.
Taking inspiration from Imogen Heap’s mi.mu gloves, we realized that music instruments could use human motion to produce organically transformed sounds. However, in the case of Jambo, we would add another dimension to music creation - the ability to create sound while traveling through spaces.
User intersectionality
Jambo intrigued us as a multidisciplinary tool - one where members of the longboard dancing and music production communities bring their respective backgrounds to create a new genre of expression. In other words, dancers create a dance-forward style of music, while musicians create a music-forward style of dancing.
A growth-based user journey
Jambo is likely the first time that users are introduced to either longboard dancing, music production, or both. Therefore, making Jambo easy to use for beginners yet versatile enough for maestros was important when developing its interactions. Seymour Papert’s model of low floors, high ceiling, and wide walls model was a guiding principle behind Jambo’s design.
Concept to prototype...
Our first working Jambo was built in a month, using an ESP-32 microcontroller, homemade pressure sensors, and plenty of impromptu testing.
...prototype to product
A few months later, we secured a studio grant and used the funds to build a heavily refined successor. With more time, we overhauled Jambo’s sensors, strengthened all components, and improved ergonomics when dancing on the board. This version was exhibited in Carnegie Mellon’s Miller ICA gallery space for a month - fully working for live demos by visitors!
