‘_ch’in’ is the name given to my digital remake of the classical Chinese instrument, the Guqin. The instrument consists of a Hand-made touch-sensor board and custom software, programmed in Max/MSP.

The hardware portion of ‘_ch’in’ is built with the use of an Arduino ADC. Each ‘strip’ on the board consists of a combination of S-VHS tape and guitar strings. Passing a current through the resistive side of the S-VHS tape turns it into a resistor (albeit a fairly unreliable one), and the Guitar string is used as a ‘Wiper’, creating a Variable Resistor.

The software is created in Max/MSP. I wanted to create a performance tool that allowed the creation of Digital Minimalist music, in a way that reflected the aesthetics of the original Guqin. Another aim of the software was to create a flexible performance tool, in that the individual parts of the system can be combined and customised to suit the needs of each performance. Also, the system is dependant on user-inputted samples for some aspects of the sound creation. Therefore, by changing these samples, I can substantially alter the resultant sound.