System for

4 voices

Colpersys 4 is an interactive art system that allows audiences to control a 4 channlel surround soundscape through their mobile phone. They simply join the Colpersys4 wifi and then try to access their homepage, or say

There are two interfaces and sound types that audiences can use the NotePlayer and the ScorePlayer. The whole experience is based upon visual scores and linguistics to make an exploratory and playful environment.  The interfaces are design so that they are fun to play alone but become a lot more engaging when others join in. 

I have been exporing systems that make noise that either engage more than one user at a time, or enable a performance alongside the audience, for sometime. The success of using the Gigzine server structures to facillitate user interaction via mobile phones and images naturally led to thinking about how I can create a collaborative musical environment, Colerpsys4 was the outcome.

Users use their mobile phones to play one of two (expandable in the future) instruments:-


NotePlayer: short notes of up to 5 seconds long

ScoreletPlayer: longer compositions of up to 20 seconds.


The graphics and orchestration is based on linguistics which coupled with the interface creates an engaging sense of play, with users typically spending from 20 to over 60 minutes with the work.

The work is minimal in terms of physical presence in a space, a 4 channel PA system and a 'power cube' that contains the amps, server and wifi unit; it can be deployed in a space very quickly and was engineered for a festival setting where it was uninstalled each night.  Future iteractions will explore the use of different speaker configurations, for example in trees or on cieling or even audience moveable.

Colpersys4 was originally commissioned by the Full Of Noises Festival and shown in Barrow Park and later at Wray Castle.