Drum Machine + Melodizer + Sound Spatialization

so, i realize that using these 8ohm speakers and an arduino, will not be yielding any types of award winning sound.  however, i am quite passionate about sound in general, so i want to focus on an aspect that is often overlooked: spatialization.

i have devised to different ways to approach surrounding one's head with speakers.  the first is, of course, a hat.  here are some sketches i drew up.

Surroundsoundhat
  
the hat is nice because it is wearable. you don't need hands, you can walk around all day long enjoying some sweet sounds. oh, and of course there will be LEDs involved, you just don't see any there.

Here is my other idea.
Surroundsoundumbrella

i really don't know which one i should do. so please, if you think one is effing dumb, then tell me. or if you think one is definitely better than the other, please say something. otherwise i will spend my weekend making both. and that would suck.

anyway, the technology/implementation of both is the same, so i went ahead and prototyped that. I found a guy who i will post about later, who has developed a system for making rhythmic sounds. pretty sweet, i had to adapt it for this application, but here's one PHATTIE beat.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=3983412&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

IR range control of lo-fi Arduino drum machine from j saavedra on Vimeo.

and here is a beat with a harmonized melody playing along.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=3984956&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1
IR controlled drum machine + melody from j saavedra on Vimeo.

 —
you'll notice what is being affected, currently is the speed of the track being played. i also want to affect the spatialization (having instruments move around from speaker to speaker, around the participant's head). also, volume would be interesting, having instruments fade in and out altogether based on how close you are to objects/walls in front of you or behind you.  just some ideas, we'll see what actually ends up materializing (probably none of it).

current version of code is HERE