Pixelboop x PJCE
Bridging Sound and Sight in Contemporary Jazz
The Partnership
We are proud to partner with the Portland Jazz Composers’ Ensemble (PJCE), a 12-piece jazz chamber orchestra dedicated to commissioning and performing original works.
In collaboration with CymaSpace and with support from the Elizabeth Taylor Read Foundation, we are exploring new frontiers in accessible musical performance.
This project integrates Deaf and hearing composers and musicians, using Pixelboop as a compositional and performance tool that bridges the sensory gap between audio and visual experiences.
Intelligent Visual Music
Compositional Tool
Pixelboop isn't just a synth; it's a translator. By mapping complex music theory to a consistent color theory, it allows composers to "paint" their arrangements. Harmonies become visible gradients, and dissonance becomes visual contrast.
Real-Time Improvisation
In an ensemble setting, Pixelboop acts as a visual conductor. It intelligently supports real-time improvisation, providing visual cues that keep the ensemble in sync harmonically, regardless of auditory ability.
Hear the Compositions
Here are the jam song files from the project: a modal jazz piece built entirely on Pixelboop's visual grid. Watch a short preview, then open the full arrangement in the app to play it, re-voice it, or take it into your own writing.
Modal Jazz, “Dorian Vamp”
The file carries the notes. On load, set the sounds: Rhodes for chords, Flute for melody, Electric Bass for bass.
How the Music Is Made
Pixelboop is a grid you play by sight. Every cell is a note, and pitch is mapped to color, so a melody has a shape and a chord has a hue. A playhead sweeps across the grid and lights each note as it sounds: the music is something you watch as much as hear.
Four voices, one grid
Melody, chords, bass and rhythm each hold their own rows. The grid is locked to a key and scale, so every note placed lands in harmony. You can compose by ear, by eye, or both.
Frameworks, not luck
Scales and modes, diatonic chord voicings that cycle through the key, and interval sets that widen or tighten the harmony are the writing tools. They make staying in key a guarantee, and let structure emerge visually.
Built for Deaf musicians
Led by a Deaf composer, the project treats sight as a first-class musical sense. You can write, arrange and perform a whole piece without relying on hearing a single note.
These compositions started from a single mode, Dorian, and grew by working inside those frameworks: rootless jazz voicings on a Rhodes, a walking bass line, a flute stating the head, arranged across eight banks. The result is real modal jazz, written on a screen you can read.
Education & Integration
The technology powering this collaboration extends into the classroom. jam.audiolux.app is our web-based integration and education module.
Currently, PJCE musicians and Portland Public School Students are using this platform for a Deaf-led music education curriculum. It democratizes music learning by making the invisible logic of harmony visible and interactive.
"Making music visually allows us to invite everyone to the conversation, creating a shared language beyond sound."