Soniphorm Optical Sequencer / Live demo @ AutoDesk Meet the Maker night January 2019. An Arduino powered music sequencer that uses optical sensing of a rotating paper disc to translate user-generated markings into note triggers. For this demonstration at AutoDesk's headquarters in Windmill Lane Dublin, the four part sequencer triggered drum sounds from a small drum machine I also designed. The intention with this instrument is to provide a visual counterpart to a rhythmic auditory pattern and to provide an alternative way of understanding sound sequencing and music. I founded Soniphorm in 2017 as a commercial outlet for my instrument designs and workshops. www.soniphorm.com

Various Printed Circuit Boards / Soniphorm SoundSniffer

Electronics have been key to my practice as an instrument designer since the beginning. Having used various DIY methods of creating circuit boards, in 2017 I began using professional PCB manufacturers in China for my prototypes. Pictured above are just some of the boards I have designed, using AutoDesk's EagleCAD and Fusion 360. 
The SoundSniffer is the first product I have made commercially available. It's a preamplifier - a battery powered electronic circuit that conditions the low-level signals from three common types of sound sensors for use with recording equipment. To date I've sold approximately 100, mostly to sound designers and field recordists. The coil sensor pictured is made with a coil winding machine I built on a PCB and 3D printed bobbin and enclosure, using a FormLabs Form 2 SLA printer.

Future Artist Maker exhibition, 2016-2017. A joint between FabLab Limerick, Derry Nervecentre, and UltraLab Madrid project funded by the EU's Creative Europe Project. In a two week residency in FabLab Limerick I led a multidisciplinary team of designers and craftspeople to assist me in creating two new instruments, one of which is displayed above in its various iterations. The project explored the potential of digital fabrication in instrument design. A resin-hardened cloth skin formed a monocoque over a lightweight laser cut plywood frame. The instrument is a single stringed drone zither with a motorised bowing wheel. Subsequently the pieces were exhibited in Nerve Visual Derry, MediaLab Prado Madrid and FabLab Limerick.