Michel Waisvisz is a composer/performer of electronic music which is created by using the human body and the actions of touch to generate sound. Much of his work relies on elements of improvisation and chance group interaction. The sound generated through his various contraptions are thus direct products of their environment and conductor’s whims. He has done a whole slew of interesting work, making him one of the most comprehensive electronic music based artists I have yet to encounter. He is known for creating the Crackle Box (http://www.crackle.org/CrackleBox.htm) which was was “probably the first commercially available portable self-powered alternative ‘keyboard’ analog audio synthesizer with inbuilt loudspeaker.” This device essentially allows a person to be “variable electronic conductor/resistor” changing the circuitry to produce variable sound. Waisvisz describes the process as being able to grab sound out of the air and manipulate it. Using this device, he created several interesting projects. In the 70’s he exhibited various Cracko objects in a gallery in Southern France.
Here is a succinct list of such objects: “phones that distorts your voice according to the strength you use to squeeze the receiver; a musical bike which generator was connected to speakers instead of the lights; a series of connected crackle boxes that makes melodies when you pour some tea in the cups; a cuckoo clock producing scratchiy sounds, etc.”