Listen to the Music of the Polygons?

[John Miller]

What if the side of a polygon played a musical note whenever a bouncing ball hits it?

See and Hear the results on http://PolygonJazz.com

No iPad? You don't need access to an iPad to watch the 99-second PolygonJazz Demo YouTube video.

iPad? I have some "promotional" codes for anyone who needs to save 99 cents!  :^)

All: There is some supplemental info on the Jazz site, and the parent app, polygonflux, has a fair collection of references and "classroom" material on Polygon Billiards.

Comments and feedback welcome!

John Miller

timehavenmedia.com

[Linda Fahlberg-Stojanovska]

Hiya John

i like the tones and the colors-they were pleasing, but did get a bit bored. does it do unequal sides? with different notes? is it mostly for listening? will look at the website with classroom materials ...

p.s. i dont know how much i would value my thots. I dont know if i consider myself musically inclined (although i played in marching band for 7years - for those of you non-US, that means i got to march around a football field every saturday in fac weather at halftime playing mostly sousa on a piccolo - i still walk 8 to 5 :) - probably didnt add to my music appreciation.)

Sent from my iPad

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[Linda Fahlberg-Stojanovska]

Excuse me, I didn't mean to sound so negative and perhaps it was the way i viewed the demo - not really understanding the interactivity of it because it seemed to go from one repeated pattern of sounds to the next as it went from one shape to the next. 

John, I don't know how difficult or useful this is, but perhaps a demo showing a hand playing around within a single or couple of shapes with gestures so that a potential use gets a feel for the composition he can make as he interacts with the app?

Linda

Sent from my iPad

On Jan 31, 2014, at 6:17 AM, John Miller <park...@gmail.com> wrote:

[John Miller]

Linda,

Thanks for watching the 99 second video, and responding here.

You are right that the video does not show the gestures (except it looks like something is manipulating things in the Triangle).  I could have filmed me handling the app, but would not have gotten the same audio quality, or the STEREO sound!

I'd love to make a longer in-depth video with longer samples of more complex sequences. (And I may do that.)  But trying to get people to watch more than 90 seconds is a stretch these days.  The patterns I chose were all "orbits" or regular repeating loops because I wanted people to get a sense of the rhythm it can produce. (At the risk of appearing simple and repetitive.) All the "waiting" polygons had settings in them from previous play.  I just went from one polygon button to the next, and literally recorded the video in one take without any editing.

I think if you look at the material on polygonjazz.com you'll get more of an idea how simple this is, and yet how complex the sequences can be.  Each polygon has a number (infinite actually) of characteristic orbits due to geometry, and "in between" those orbits are transitions that have amazing structure and variety.  Consider, for example, what will happen at 61º in a pentagon?

When I first published Geom-e-Tree, it was going great till some kid posted a review that he had seen everything the app could do after three minutes and got bored.  Then the sales tanked!  So you work for a year and some kid wipes you out in an instant. :^(  And he probably didn't take the time to figure out what all the app could do.

These things take time.  I have spent hours with the app and am still fascinated  You hear different patterns at different tempos even though it's the same sequence.

I'd gladly send you or any others on MathFutures a "promo code" that covers the download cost of 99 cents!  Just pop me a note!

John

[John Miller]

Hi All,

I took Linda's advice and added some useful captioning to the YouTube video.  It really helps.  Unfortunately, captioning depends on Flash, so it doesn't show up iPads or iPhones and other mobile devices, etc, but they will show up in your desktop browser no matter what.

I may remedy that by editing the video (with iMovie) before uploading it to YouTube, that way I can control the captions for sure.  (Or maybe optionally present an HTML5 viewer via JavaScript in the web page.  !? I will get help with that.)

Thanks to Linda for her constructive criticism!

John

[Maria Droujkova]

On Fri, Jan 31, 2014 at 1:19 PM, John Miller <park...@gmail.com> wrote:

When I first published Geom-e-Tree, it was going great till some kid posted a review that he had seen everything the app could do after three minutes and got bored.  Then the sales tanked!  So you work for a year and some kid wipes you out in an instant. :^(  And he probably didn't take the time to figure out what all the app could do.

Which reminded me, so I just submitted a five-start review for that excellent toy! I've been using it for a while now, and sharing with friends and their kids. Yes, I usually use it for a few minutes at a time, maybe 5-10, but I come back to it. I always thought it's nice to have these minutes of beauty in my life.

It's scary what you say about one bad review affecting sales that strongly. How many positive reviews did you have by then? What a fragile market!

Cheers,
Dr. Maria Droujkova

moebiusnoodles.com
919-388-1721
~~~*~~~*~~~*
 

[John Miller]

Thanks for the review Maria!  Looking back to April 2011 when Tree first came out, people either hated it or loved it.  I see six very negative (hostile even) reviews, not just one.

I will never know, but it could also be that the initial buzz created by media journalists had just run its course when the negative users piled on for the kill.  Those batch of negative reviews stayed on iTunes until I submitted a new version.  It was very disappointing... I couldn't even address the nasty reviews directly, so I put some statements in the iTunes description and blogged about it.  Fortunately some other fans posted positive reviews.  It could be that the original $1.99 cost caused  those males to go postal when their expectations weren't met.  (Now 99 cents.) Some people even complain about a free app -- "when are you going to add more themes?"

Geom-e-Tree and my other apps could have been structured as regimented teaching tools, but I want them to be entertaining and freeform so people could explore and discover.  That's too subtle for american culture.  An app "PolygonRage" would sell better where the only goal was to smash each polygon that appears into smithereens, with an explosion and violent sound.  Or how about Tree Ninja where you lop off as many branches as you can quickly?  This is not too different from the current state of affairs, in my opinion.

I am wondering how many educators will look at PolygonJazz and have simply no idea what to say about it or do with it.  I'm trying to leave stuff unsaid and unwritten about it - mainly because I think it would be wasted.  I feel like the general population is too impatient to read or think any more.

Anyway, I'm hoping that with Jazz the sound will create some buzz that will be more engaging than my silent apps.  It gives the eyes ears and brain something to do.  Hopefully people will experiment and think of Jazz as a Toy or puzzle.  Some will walk away, skeptically thinking it's all just repetition.  But true skepticism requires thoughtful analysis before rendering negative comments.

Sorry for the rants! :^)  Just trying to provoke some discussion.

John

[Linda Fahlberg-Stojanovska]

Sorry to be so slow. hopefully this weekend I will install and test. Linda

[Maria Droujkova]

I just wanted to say that I played with the toy, and left a review on iTunes. It's pleasant, and it makes you think nonverbally - perfect for a little break from some sequential task. 

For feedback, I wish I could save my creations and send them, like Geom-e-Tree. Maybe I missed the button, but I could not find how to save. And I wanted to play with multiple balls to make a melody, or somehow overlap polygons - ? I am not even sure. I like the simplicity of the current design, too! It's neat.

Cheers,
Dr. Maria Droujkova

moebiusnoodles.com
919-388-1721
=~~~~~~=