This DJ crafted a unique set of music incorporating the heartbeats of people on the dancefloor, using custom 3D printed bracelets.

Polish DJ Piotr Bejnar is using 3D printed bracelets to capture fans heartbeats, and then using them as bass beats for his live set. The inspiration, explains Bejnar, came from working at a small venue.

“There was this show with so little space on the stage that I had to play surrounded by the dancing crowd, ” says Bejnar. “I felt how their pulse affected the music I was playing, and then I thought to go even further. To create music together with the audience. Live.”

Bejnar believes there is a musical instrument within all of us – the heart. He explored how to create music from this natural drum, and came up with the idea of using it as a bass beat for his live set by accelerating and slowing the rhythm.

His experiment involved friends whose heartbeats he could add his own sounds to in order to create music. He said: “I only needed a technology which allowed me to play with the audience’s heartbeats during the concert in a club.”

From this idea, Bejnar’s friend was able to create 3D printed bracelets which could measure people’s heartbeats and send the information wirelessly to the DJ’s console.

How was 3D printing involved in the Heartbeats project?

The key element for connecting the music with people’s heartbeats was the heart rate monitor attached to each person’s body. A secondary component colorful LED lights that blinked in time to their heartbeat.

During the designing stage, it appeared that the most convenient way of mounting the device to a club-goers’ body was to use a custom 3D printed bracelet.

Each bracelet was fabricated on a Zortrax M200 3D printer. The 3D model was first prepared for printing using Z-SUITE, a dedicated application for all Zortrax machines. The next thing to do was to insert the SD card into the 3D printer and switch it on.

The bracelet was 3D printed using Z-ULTRAT in pure white color, and was designed in a way that the heart rate monitor and the colorful led lights could be easily sloted inside.

Bejnar was finally ready to present his project to the wider audience during the Ballantine’s Stay True Stories event in Niebo club in Warsaw, and the result was inspirational.

Bejnar said: “I fulfilled my dream. I played a concert on hearts. I hope it will inspire others to believe in themselves.”

(Source: Zortrax)