The SNAIL Reduces Cognitive Load to Put Its Player in a "Flow State" of Musical Bliss

Pseudonymous maker "alyssagsmi," hereafter simply "Alyssa," has built a guitar-shaped electronic instrument with a difference — taking inspiration from the nautilus shell and the concept of cognitive flow states: the Sensory Neurofeedback Acoustic Instrument, or SNAIL.

"Blending a sophisticated cello/guitar hybrid with as many otherworldly instrument designs as possible, I was inspired by logarithmic and nautilus spirals, snails, and the possibility to bring many concepts into a 'smart' instrument system," Alyssa explains. "Developed as a deep dive into embedded systems, mechanical torque, and cognitive flow states, my 'Cathedral Snail' features a rotating 'Picker Disc,' a 144-LED reactive light array, and an integrated 'musical flow states' system featuring different MIDI/MP3 sounds and effects."

While the body of the instrument looks like a translucent guitar, it's anything but. Instead, the Espressif ESP32-S3 driving the device — in module form, featuring 8MB of additional pseudo-static RAM (PSRAM) and 16MB of SPI flash — is linked to a touch-screen display, four-way directional pad, a trio of potentiometers, a piezo pickup module, parts from a scrapped Xbox One controller, 144 addressable LEDs for visual feedback, and a spinning "picker disc" that, inspired by the concept of a motorized "circle guitar," can strum at inhuman speeds.

"I went on a mission to research any and every kind of acoustic or electronic instrument —from the violin and cello to handmade MIDI instruments, my research sent me to far away lands and designs I didn't know existed," Alyssa says. "Research into the Hurdy-Gurdy and retro 'synth guitars' informed the 'Snail-Vox' and 'Synth' states — focusing on drone-based, haunting, and dissonant frequencies rather than standard musical scales."

Designed in Tinkercad, the instrument runs a firmware dubbed "Snail OS" — designed to encourage the player into a "flow state" by reducing cognitive load. "The 144-LED strip changes hue and 'flow speed' based on the selected instrument, giving the user an extrasensory cue of their current state without needing to look at the screen," Alyssa explains. "Haptics and tactile feedback through the vibration of the speaker and motor, whammy bar, joystick and lights that change color depending on what setting or instrument state you're using.

The full project write-up is available on Instructables.