felix hardmood beck + simon schiessl + andrea bassi: soxels

rendering by andrea bassi

‘soxels’ is an accoustic media facade developed by that transforms visuals into auditory images. the key components are the sound pixels, or soxels, a scaleable array of speakers, and a feed-in point for streaming an endless number of audio-channels to provide each speaker with an individual sound. DSP technology opens the spectrum from processing natural sounds, transforming them, or generating artificial sounds. the developed software is able to mix all integrated sound layers on any speaker anywhere on the wall.

rendering by andrea bassi

the ‘soxels’ project was developed and prototyped with a matrix of approximately 1000 speakers by simon schießl and felix hardmood beck. it was presented with the italian soundartist andrea bassi during the DMY international design festival berlin 2010.

visualized demonstration of ‘soxels’

‘soxels’ speaker system prototype image © designboom

‘soxels’ speaker system prototype

back view of speakers image © designboom

‘soxels’ hardware connected to speakers image © designboom

the ‘soxels’ hardware works seamlessly together with software like MaxMSP, processing,VVVV and many more.

‘maxMSP’ interface

‘processing scripts’ image © designboom

floating colored box layers programmed using processing scripts dictate the sounds produced by speakers image © designboom

production process

wood panel with drilled holes for speaker installation

panel base for speakers

soxels hardware

speaker assembly

speaker installation

soxel hardware connected to speakers

speaker panels

two of the three creators of ‘soxels’: andrea bassi and felix hardmood beck portrait © designboom