- NEWS -
New OMPC1 upgrade can now trigger images and videos as well as music and sounds.
New USB control box for 'plug & play'on PC or laptop.
New option: WI-FI user Button Box.
New beam content for interactive sessions and stories.
New monitoring progress templates for ongoing assessment.
Clients
A selection of OptiMusic's clients
- their installations and their feedback
on Leisure and Special Needs projects.
LEISURE
Science World Vancouver
Science World commissioned three exhibits, which allow 8-13 year-old visitors to experiment in an open-ended fashion with light, sound, rhythm and pattern.
Virtual Conductor: visitors break a single beam repeatedly to play consecutive notes of a familiar tune. Repeated rhythmic motions give the effect that the visitor is conducting an invisible orchestra.
Simon Says: visitors are challenged to break the beams in the same order that they come on. After each iteration, the pattern grows longer. The visitor is rewarded with a cheerful sound when the pattern is correctly repeated.
Sound Wave: visitors break a series of beams arranged in a gentle S-curve along a main pathway.
"All three exhibits inspire our visitors to experiment with sound and light, are aesthetically pleasing, and add an artistic element to subject matter that is often considered dry and mathematical.
The system is very flexible and lent itself well to three different experiences, all of which have been favourites with our visitors and staff since their installation in June 2003. The interaction is intuitive and accessible to visitors of all ages, from toddlers to grandparents.
The system allows staff to readily change tunes and sounds, so our exhibits continue to be interesting and fresh for our repeat visitors."
Sandra Eix PhD
Exhibit and programme development
Sensation Dundee - Dundee Science Centre
The Centre wanted to add a fully interactive exhibit aimed at younger and special needs visitors that delivered a real 'wow' factor, light and sound experience. The exhibit needed to be really flexible in terms of space utilisation as well as in terms of use, so it would be suitable for individuals and for group activities with or without a facilitator.
"The main benefit to us is that we have a unique exhibit that is flexible enough for us to use and be exploited at so many opportunities. We offer birthday parties at DSC, and we now include this as part of the package. We use the many different programmes with our group audience - so school groups, Birthday parties, special needs groups etc… get a tailored, explainer led session. This has a big impact with visitors who feel they have had a very special visit - tailored to their needs.
When we don't have a group in, we use it as an exhibit that public can just play with. The system more than "meets our needs". It has become as popular as our main iconic exhibits and in a very short space of time. Visitor feedback tells us that repeat visitors return just to use the OptiBeam System - especially those with children who have learning difficulties."
Louise Smith
Operations and Projects Manager
Madame Tussauds - New York
Press Release:
YEAH! YEAH!
"USHER" FIGURE BRINGS THE BLING TO
TIMES SQUARE
AS MADAME TUSSAUDS LAUNCHES NEW INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCE
Kids from Broadway Dance Center & Hoboken Theatre Arts Program Become "Baby
Blingers" as they Perform Usher's Hottest Dance Moves and Sing like the R&B
Star Children from the Broadway Dance Center and Hoboken Theatre Arts Program will get "blinged-out"
with Usher-like bling as they perform his hottest dance moves and sing his biggest hits
and join Madame Tussauds New York for the launch of the Usher figure and virtual music
experience, OptiMusic, on Thursday, March 24th at 11:00 AM at 234 West 42nd Street,
between 7th and 8th Avenues in Manhattan. The "baby blingers" with the best
Usher impressions will win prizes including a gift basket from Hershey's and movie tickets.
In this brand new experience, "Usher," positioned in a music studio-like environment,
will be part of a unique OptiMusic virtual music experience. As guests enter the experience,
they will encounter highly visual, multi-colored light beams projected from floor to
ceiling, creating moving cylindrical beams of light all throughout the environment.
As they walk, or dance, through the experience, they can use any body parts to intersect,
or "break" the lightbeams, triggering clips of Usher's most famous songs to
play.
PLACE: Madame Tussauds New York
234 West 42nd Street / between 7th and 8th Ave Manhattan
SPECIAL NEEDS
BBC News reports on OptiMusic - click to see BBC web page
"OptiMusic is a very successful and exciting way of presenting a sensory curriculum in different subject areas. …Easy to use - simple principle…Good use of technology."
Patrick Plunkett - Teacher at Fredrick Holmes School, Hull.
Working with children with Special Needs
"…A stimulating environment, providing motivation for exploration and experimentation. OptiMusic has proved to be more stimulating for some students than we could have ever hoped."
Debbie Foster - IT Teacher at Ravensbourne School, Romford, Essex.
Working with children with Special Needs
"It has suited our needs as a motivator, reward system, and aid to communication / social interaction. It is great fun for all ages and ability levels."
Jeanette Saunders - Senior Therapist at BIBIC (British Institute for Brain Injured Children), Somerset
Working with children with brain injuries.
"OptiMusic brings in a wider focus on drama, music, dance and everyday life experiences with the use of role-play and story telling. Children, young adults and the more experienced citizens can use this equipment. We use it with young adults with severe learning disabilities as well as the more able groups and each group get as much fun out of it because it is so flexible."
Chris Pasmore - Head of Day Services & Respite at Lambeth Social Services
Working with children & adults with learning disabilities
"Most pupils find OptiMusic great fun and, given proper management of sessions, they are able to maintain levels of concentration, which are unachievable in most other parts of their lives."
Mr David Gaukroger - Director of Music at Sunfield School, Stourbridge.
Working with children with severe and complex learning needs
"We use OptiMusic to develop literacy through touch, sound and light - using all the senses to bring a story to life. …OptiMusic is a brilliant and versatile tool that is fun, and can be used by children and adults of all ages and abilities."
Dianne Ryan - Senior Teacher at Greenfields School, Northampton.
Working with children with Severe Learning Difficulties, Autism & MSI.
"We use OptiMusic to retain and or regain cognitive memory, peer group support, musical phrasing and memory, numerical counting and confidence building."
Ms Shan Mills - Community Support Worker at The Ormonde Centre, Newbury.
Working with adults with physical disabilities
"It enabled me to express myself in music, as I have never done before"
Ray - Ormonde Centre Service User.
"When we first tried out the microphone and put the sounds on the beams, people were extremely surprised to hear their own sounds. We had individuals laughing, they kept going up to the beams and touching them with the bats to make the laughs it was brilliant. …A magical experience."
Carol Alderton - Day Centre Officer at Tennyson Lodge, March, Cambs.
Working with adults with Learning Disabilities