The Chessboard Music Synthesizer transforms every chess move into sound, creating a playful bridge between tactical gameplay and real-time musical expression. This in-progress project explores how physical interaction can drive generative audio and visual performance.

Each coordinate on the board is mapped to a unique sound, allowing users to generate music by playing chess; turning every move into a sonic event. Through real-time feedback, visualizations, and tactile interaction, the project explores new possibilities in interactive composition, creative coding, and performative play.

This project merges game mechanics with sound synthesis, inviting players to engage in spatial storytelling through sound, blurring the boundaries between strategy, improvisation, and performance.  

This project is currently in active development. Hardware prototyping, sound mapping system, and interface logic are being iterated through rapid testing and coding.

Traditional music interfaces are often linear, screen-based, or gesture-based, leaving little room for playful or strategic interaction. This project aims to reimagine musical creation as a tactile, collaborative, and game-based experience, accessible to both musicians and non-musicians.

Map chess moves to musical events in real-time

Create a tangible instrument that feels playful but intentional

Design a system that combines analog input with digital synthesis + visualization

Build a low-latency experience that rewards experimentation, rhythm, and spatial strategy

Concept Development:

• Explored precedents in music-generative systems, synesthetic game design, and grid-based sound mapping
• Sketched conceptual models where chess becomes a sequencer: positions = pitches, movements = triggers

Hardware Design:

• Designed a custom 8x8 chessboard with embedded pressure sensors / magnetic switches
• Prototyped with Arduino UNO + multiplexer setup to detect piece placement and movement

Sound System Integration:

• Mapped chess notation (e.g., E4, G6) to specific sound banks
• Developed a P5.js interface to visualize and sonify moves in real-time
• Designed basic sound triggers (tones, percussive samples, ambient loops) mapped by position and type

Software Logic:

Improve hardware stability and input sensitivity

Add dynamic tempo/sound variation logic

Build a prototype performance mode (e.g., duets, battles, ambient mode)

Explore sound layering and save/load session states

Finalize hardware iteration (sensors, board design)

Build full P5.js-based interface with layered visualization modes

Compose sample performance demos (recorded or live)

Explore future modular expansion: MIDI output, DAW integration, live looping

This project is an exploration of how familiar systems, like chess, can be hacked, reimagined, and sonified. It challenges the notion of what an instrument is, while blending strategy, rhythm, and interaction design into a playful but deeply expressive tool. Even as development continues, the Chessboard Music Synthesizer represents a shift toward creative performance as a spatial, embodied act.