Joué Play is a modular, tactile music controller designed to make digital music creation feel intuitive, expressive, and physical. It challenges the rigid, grid-based structure of digital music production by reintroducing fluidity and playfulness. By shifting control from menu- driven interfaces to physical gesture, it interrogates the disconnect between touch and sound in contemporary music-making tools.
I worked on the Audio Pad, which introduced recording and live sound manipulation to the JPlay App. My role was to design and implement effects that transformed recordings into dynamic, palpable textures, encouraging spontaneous sonic exploration.
Rather than overwhelming users with technical controls, the focus was on designing effects that felt immediate and playful. This led to the creation of a flower-inspired interface, where each petal represents an effect. The radial design allowed users to layer and modulate effects seamlessly, making sound design feel like a fluid, organic process rather than a series of adjustments.
Each effect was designed to invite curiosity and surprise, making audio manipulation feel tactile and engaging:
- Harmonizer – Encouraged melodic experimentation by layering shifted vocal tones. Texture – Introduced digital artifacts, giving sounds a raw, noisy character.
- Reverb – Added depth and spatial movement.
- Filter – Allowed for shaping timbre dynamically.
- Transposer – Inspired by classic samplers, shifting recordings up/down by intervals to encourage playful harmonic shifts.
- Live Effects – Beat Repeater, Stutter Gate, Overdrive, and Delay enabled momentary performance-based transformations.