Nomis is a musical instrument created with the aim of making loop based music more expressive and transparent through gesture and light.

Midi sounds are selected, played, and looped, being passed across the instrument as a way of illustrating how melodies are created and how they fit into a larger composition. Midi sounds are selected and displayed through the first light tower, each being represented by a different color. Those sounds are then available to be performed and displayed with the polyphonic octagonal interface in the middle. These performances are stored and looped by spinning the whole octagonal interface. The loops are then displayed through the last tower where they each can individually be turned off and on again to create a dynamic composition from the loops created live.

Bio: Jonathan Sparks is an artist living in Brooklyn, NY. His work lives at the intersection of sound, fabrication, design and technology. By combining computer programing, fabrication, electronics, and multimedia, he has created an eclectic body of work spilling over across medium and genre. His works have included original musical instruments, projection mapped installations, mobile applications, and what could loosely be categorized as weird physical objects which may or may not move or make noise.

He is a recent graduate from NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. He has been featured on The Creators Project, won People’s Choice at the Margaret Guthman Musical Instrument Competition, was named one of Cool Hunting’s 25, was a guest speaker at Brooklyn 1.0, and was featured on the The TODAY Show

Location: After Party Performance at Taos Mesa Brewery

A STEMartsLab@ThePaseo artist
School: Roots and Wings Community School
Workshop: LED apparel and loop based music with special performance of NOMIS at Taos Middle School.