Soundbeam – Help, Support, Questions
At the Music Gym we’ve been using Soundbeam on an almost-daily basis for over seven years, as well as supplying Soundbeams and Soundbeam training to wide range of organisations and individuals. We have extensive experience using both Soundbeam 2 (the stand alone version) and desktop Soundbeam with a laptop (this one for changing images rather than sounds). Our work focuses on engaging individuals with profound disabilities and we’ve found Soundbeam a great way to do that as it opens the realms of creativity to anyone who uses it and can even offer someone their first experience of effecting change by themselves.
We find Soundbeam amazing for the way it can bring about changes in different sorts of people, especially when the person doesn’t have a great deal of muscle control or can only move certain parts of the body.
It’s non-invasive and it’s a tool which crucially enables someone to make choices:
- Whether to move or not: for some who move all the time the choice may be to stop for long periods of time and sit in complete quiet.
- How far or fast to move.
We agree with Phil Ellis that what’s happening at the point where someone is obviously involved is worthy of the description “composing”.
The Soundbeam isn’t a cure-all and not everyone takes to it, but where someone does engage with it then its use can be taken further. If the person is enjoying using the Soundbeam to make music why not use it at other times to enable them to express a choice?
Questions
These are some of the questions we’ve been asked about using Soundbeam.
Q: Can you use the Soundbeam to play a recognisable tune?
A: Yes – there are two ways
- By playing it into the Soundbeam on a midi keyboard, and saving it as a pitch sequence. This allows you to choose that and use it again.
- By writing it into the Soundbeam note by note.
Q: How do you set up the Soundbeam for someone who can only move their eyelids?
A: This is one instance where the sound is turned on as the sensors etc are adjusted so explain what you are doing all the time.
- It’s best to use short sounds, ie single notes, for instance the guitar or piano sounds.
- In arranging the sensor – it’s best to point it from an angle slightly behind and to one side of the person. This way you can catch the flicker of the eyelids but not movement of the nose.
- Adjust the maximum and minimum lengths so they’re as close together as possible. Set the number of divisions to 30 in that short space. This gives a good range of notes and pleasant musical results.
Q: I’ve been using soundbeam with adults with profound learning difficulties now for over a year. I’ve had some very rewarding results, but i find a couple of the people that come to my sessions become very distressed when i start to work with them using the soundbeam, often crying or wailing very loudly. Have you experienced this yourselves when working with hard to reach individuals? Have you any suggestions about how i might approach my work differently?
A: The distress can be caused by several factors: a new situation, other problems during the day or by the set-up you use and sensor positions.
Many people on the autistic spectrum react to new situations in the way you describe. I have used several approaches.
- Forget soundbeam for a while and concentrate on the person, gently mirroring their actions and sounds while avoiding prolonged eye contact
- I have a microphone plugged into my system and turn up the volume to make the wailing even louder, this has stopped several people in their tracks
- Minor pitch sequences can sometimes cause people to become emotional and they cry. I don’t necessarily class this as a bad thing but it’s best to ask staff before you continue
- You are usually advised to put sensors above, behind or to the side of the player however some prefer them directly in front (autistic spectrum again)
- I use vibration a lot, sending the sound through vibrating seats or cushions. This can help to give a sense of agency ( they know they are making this happen)
Q: Also I have increasingly been ‘jamming’ with the people I work with, playing along on my guitar to the sounds that are produced, in order to give a bit of musical coherence to what can sometimes be quite random music. I believe that I can connect with a person in this way at a level that goes beyond language and facial gestures. What do you guys think of this kind of approach? Is it something you would do?
A: I have also found this quite rewarding especially when the person is certain that they are making the music. This is communication at a fundamental level and can be extended using simple hand claps followed by “give me 5s” to develop a closer relationship.
Q: I live in Italy and I bought a desktop soundbeam with two sensor directly from Soundbeam UK three years ago. I have a question and I’m wondering if you could help me.
Is it possible to record for example a human voice or anything analogic through a mic, and through the Sonar (cakewalk) software or any other recording sofware transfer it to the soundbeam ? Especially I would like to do it with some elder patients, this is very important in therapy.
Is it possible to add other voices/instruments apart from the standard 128 midi used with soundbeam ? What do I need to do such operation ? I was already told it is possibile but I have no idea the soundbeam can recognize such new voices.
A: One way I’ve done this is using Reason to play samples triggered by midi notes from soundbeam. You save vocals as wav files and place them on the notes you use with soundbeam. I’m sure you could do it with plug in samplers in other software. Any other midi operated standalone software can be used for new voices. I use midiyoke to route midi to different software. Of course you can use the midi outs to play external keyboards.
If you have any further questions regarding Soundbeam, please contact us by phone on 01424 439192 or email us and we’ll try to answer the question here on the blog.