Synthesist and Berklee Associate Professor Matthew Davidson (aka stretta) shared this video performance with the ROLI Lumi, hacked to display a list of active pitches as toggles for a Risset Rhythm trigger mechanism.

Risset Rhythms are a type of audio illusion, similar to Shepard Tones. While Shepard Tones give the illusion of infinitely rising or falling, Risset Rhythms give the illusion of infinitely speeding or slowing.

The performance is starkly minimal, but also reveals rhythmic relationships between the notes that are constantly changing.

Davidson makes interesting use of the Lumi, which is a consumer-focused device that he’s repurposed as an interesting MIDI controller. Here’s what he has to say out it:

“The Lumi by Roli is a small keyboard controller with LED feedback. The Lumi is a product designed to teach you how to play piano by lighting up what keys to play. To take full advantage of the Lumi experience, customers are encouraged to sign up to a ongoing subscription service of lesson content.

I’m not interested in using this product for the purpose it is designed for, but I feel there is a lot of potential for controllers with LED feedback. I purchased the Lumi so i could use it for applications such as displaying a histogram of pitches, to control transposition of a polyphonic granular process or to visualize and edit a set of pitches used by a procedural generation process.”

Davidson has documented his experiences with the ROLI Lumi at his site.