Guest Workshop
Reflection Room, Avneesh Sarwate and Yo-Yo Lin. Image from Sarwate’s portfolio.
This week, we’re beginning Cybernetics of Live Input with a guest workshop by Avneesh Sarwate. All three Technology Studio A sections will meet in Pratt’s immersive space in the ARC building. We’ll experience some of Avneesh’s work firsthand and explore how code can respond to sound and movement in a shared space.
Avneesh is an audiovisual artist, creative coder, musician, and researcher. He studied computer science at Princeton University and earned his master’s degree in music technology at Georgia Tech. His work brings together programming, experimental music, and interactive visuals. He has published research at international conferences such as New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME) and developed audiovisual systems for live performances, including projects for VICE.
Workshop Details
- Date: Tuesday, November 10, 2026
- Time: 5:30–6:30 PM
- Location: ARC F09, Pratt Brooklyn Campus
- Meeting point: Outside our regular classroom
Meet outside our regular classroom first. Prof. Matt Martin and Prof. Anna Fangan Xu will take you to the ARC and host the workshop while I’m away at a conference.
Recorded Lecture
Everyone is required to watch the Live Inputs recording this week. I’ll be away at a conference, so the recording will cover this week’s lecture. Watch it before starting the assignment. The password for the slides is pratt.
Assignment
Due: Nov 17, 2026
This week, start Project 3: Shared Signal Party with a small experiment. Choose one live input, such as a key press, a gesture, or a sound. Use p5.js, Hydra, or another tool from class to map that input to something an audience can see or hear. Try the interaction a few times and see what changes.
Submit a link to your sketch or a short recording of your experiment. In a few sentences, respond to the following questions.
- What does your input control? How can someone tell that their action changed something?
- What did you notice when you tried the interaction more than once?
- What would you try next if you could test the sketch in the ARC space?
Tutorials & Resources
- p5.sound for audio input and analysis
- ml5.js for machine learning models
- p5.webserial for serial communication with devices such as Arduino
- Beginner’s Guide to Machine Learning in JavaScript with ml5.js
- Sound Visualization: Frequency Analysis with FFT - p5.js Sound Tutorial
- Creative Coding Math: Linear Interpolation (Lerp Function) - Patt Vira
- frameRate(), frameCount, millis() - Xin Xin
- Mouse & Key Inputs - Xin Xin
- Connecting p5 & Arduino through the serial port - Quarduino
- Arduino is easy, actually