Jesse Austin-Stewart’s Music for PlayStation project uses the sense of touch to approach music in an original way. The music is designed not to be heard, but only felt, using the vibrations of the DualSense wireless controller’s innovative haptic feedback features.
With the goal of making spatial music more accessible in sound art, after receiving his PhD, Jesse developed spatial audio interfaces such as a board on which one can place one’s arm to feel different vibration points.
By chance, he came across an article about using the DualSense wireless controller as an audio interface. By playing music through the controller, he discovered that you could significantly stimulate the vibration motors if you hit the right frequencies.
“The kind of work I do has been made more accessible to people, whether they’re composers or users, through a simple piece of technology. The initial prototype was limited, but the DualSense wireless controller is plug-and-play.”
Jesse Austin-Stewart
In order to be able to represent different sound palettes, he experimented with different approaches. This led to the development of his current project, a collection of musical vibration pieces that were developed in conscious collaboration with deaf and hard of hearing artists.
