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The Roots and Branches sculpture by Trimpin (click image for larger view).

The “Cross Jam” feature in the musical instrument platforms function via MIDI, as well. Three instruments are routed through a Yamaha O1V controllable mixer, allowing visitors to hear the other instruments in their area, and enabling them to play together as a “band.” A touchscreen sends MIDI information via the PC to the mixer so that visitors can adjust the levels of the other instruments at will.

Each kiosk is equipped with four JBL Control 1s connected to a Spatializer to create a surround sound effect. This includes a Bass Shaker instead of a subwoofer—a technology that actually shakes the floor so the user feels the bass instead of projecting it audibly. A problem with acoustic isolation was solved by placing the monitors within 12 inches of the listener’s ears and using the Bass Shaker system to control the overall volume within the Sound Lab. Each kiosk is surrounded by several tall, acoustic panels, which aid in overall sound isolation.

If a visitor wants a more in-depth look at a particular instrument, a practice room awaits them on the perimeter of the Sound Lab. Wenger Corporation provided sound-isolated practice rooms equipped with the Lexicon Acoustic Reinforcement and Enhancement System (LARES). Wenger’s system—a technology developed in association with the LARES group at Lexicon—includes microphones and speakers, which are embedded

The Hendrix Gallery showing his Fender Stratocaster played at Woodstock in addition to his Electric Ladyland lyric notebook from 1968 and kimono worn at Newport Pop Festival, 1969
(click image for larger view).

in the surrounding walls. Acoustical events within the room are fed into the LARES processor, driven by patented algorithms, and returned to the room as ambient sound energy. The net result is that patrons hear all the sounds they make, as if within a much larger room—an auditorium or arena, perhaps. But the real wonder of the Wenger/LARES system is the total lack of audio feedback. Normally, putting an amplified microphone by a speaker and adding a good dose of reverb is a recipe for pain. One of this technology’s patents deals with the way feedback is eliminated before it happens without audibly changing the pitch characteristics of the source or ambient signals. This is accomplished by what LARES calls “Time-Variant Gain Before Feedback”—delaying the outputs randomly and independently over microseconds without changing the pitch, which interacts with the speakers, thus providing changeable acoustics in the room (i.e., reverb).

Each booth is acoustically isolated, with turned, low-force air conditioning attached to each room, S-shaped conduit and junction boxes for wiring, and 4-inch walls with steel plates on either side lined with sheet rock and heavy, acoustical fiberglass. This allows users to do whatever they want, as loud as they want within the booth (perfect for any energetic 13-year-old with flames in their eyes).

Reprinted with permission from

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