+ MIDI control

.cc - week eight.

Had some fun adding some controllers to the granular synth patch. Basically, I had the idea of creating pseudo-MIDI controllers using only the keyboard and mouse. The way I have implemented these is to use the mouse to control the grain density using the mouse. While the caps lock key is switched on the value rolls forwards and backward depending on how the mouse has been moved. While the shift key is held down, the mouse acts more like a pitch-bend wheel, moving back and fourth, then snapping back to its previous value once the shift key is released.

The grain density is parameter of the synth patch that I have chosen to modify, however the controller patch is encapsulated in a sub-patch and easily be added to other parameters. Here's where the magic happens:

jam.keyUI.pat.zip (4 kB)

Get it? You can see it used in the synth patch itself, which is shown below.

jam.gransynth~II.zip (8 kB)

The mp3 result that I have put together this week is a sort of sound design extract that I imagine accompanying space ships flying around the cinema. Say, like this:

ccweek8.mp3 (1.6 mB)

Ignore the clicks. Sitting ironing out the bugs.

.sources.

Haines, Christian 13.09.07, "MIDI and MSP," EMU, Adelaide University.

Star Wars IV intro on YouTube

active noise reduction

Today I was 'ploguing around', trying to test out the phenomena of wave cancellation. I really wanted to find out whether 'noise cancellation' can occur binaurally. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the cancellation working through headphones, nor even speakers. I could not get phase cancellation happening in the physical world - the only way the signals canceled out was if I ran them through the same channel inside Bidule. Thinking that perhaps the latency created by using the phase-invert unary operator was offsetting the waveform enough to ruin the cancellation effect, I recorded a sine wave, then inverted it in Peak. I placed both these sound files in a 'dual mono' sound document but to still no avail. It seemed however that there was some reduction in the sound, like maybe the fundamental had been lost/changed.

Any thoughts?
Maybe I need an anechoic chamber for this.

.forum - week five.

Tying up loose ends before the mid-semester break - here's the week five blog that never got posted. To kick-off this weeks electrobitz bonanza, Ben and I adventured to Toys R' Us. Alas, we again bought a toy that did not work!



Anyway, we ended just using the phone toy again. This circuit was welded together, as you can see here:



This circuit was built with a potentiometer to control pitch.

video evidence

.sources.

Haines, Christian; Tomczak, Sebastian 23.07.07, "Physical Computing (1)," EMU, Adelaide University.

.making peace with satan.

.forum - instrument proposal.

name :
additive / granular synthesis guitar

statement :
The basic idea is to use an electronic guitar as an input device into a computer, more specifically the music coding environment Max/MSP. Firstly, I would like to be able to play the guitar quite naturally, but manipulate the timbrel content of the sound via a Max/MSP interface (additive synthesis). Also, I would like to incorporate the concept of granular synthesis, a method oftentimes suited to making complicated sonic textures - drones which can float gently amid improvisatory performances. It would be desirable to be able to manipulate the aesthetic of these textures from firstly the 'grained' samples from the guitar, but primarily then the Max/MSP interface.

sketch :

physical computing II

.forum - week seven.

After a trip to Toys R' Us and a second dud toy later, Ben and I were left using the 'opewator' telephone toy again this week. Our first operation was to set it up with both the Arduino and Breadboard, so that we control the power through the computer and Max/MSP. After doing this we decided to add a 'metro' object to the patch, turning the power on and off every 50 milliseconds. Having added a potentiometer to control the pitch of the circuit too, the parameters of the device reminded somewhat of a crude granular synthesizer.

After completing this, the next circuit on the agenda was called some like "the generative moley decepticon" (or something like that). I was pretty excited by the title, and too the fact that all of the legs of the chip were being used by 33kΩ resistors. But alas, the circuit did not do anything for some reason or another, and I am sure it was not because any of the resistors legs were touching! At this point Seb, Ben and I had to part ways so I suppose you win some and you lose some.

video evidence

.sources.

Haines, Christian; Tomczak, Sebastian 6.09.07, "Physical Computing (2)," EMU, Adelaide University.

starcraft gameplay trailer

.aa - week seven.

physical computing

.forum - week six.

This week we got introduced to 'physical computing' via the Arduino board. I am extremely pleased by this new topic, physical computing is something that has more or less been on the back of my mind, the end of tongue for awhile now, and now we are getting into it. Having said that, I do find that the 'step-by-step' tasks dampen the exciting prospects of creative outlet that physical computing provides. However, and I guess as always, you need to learn to walk before you can run.

These introductory exercises had Ben and I creating square-waves pretty quickly. Initially we play the oscillator with the Ptah Max/MSP patch, then through just a potentiometer. All of this is shown in video evidence on this page.

.sources.

Haines, Christian; Tomczak, Sebastian 30.07.07, "Physical Computing (1)," EMU, Adelaide University.

i invented the granular synth not Ben nor Xenakis

.cc - week seven.

I worked together with Ben Probert to create this patch. Currently he is creating a new interface for the patch, so keep your eyes out on his blog.

As usual I have spent all of my time making the patch and left none to simply using it - however, I can see how this granular synthesis concept could have great outcomes. If you happen to download the patch, clicking on the load button will prompt you to open the sample (noise) twice. Just select the same sample both times. I tried to get around this but loading the file for both the buffer~ and sfinfo~ was a necessary evil. If there a way you can load it into both through a single pop-up window please let me know.

version 1.0 (as of 11.09.07)

gransynth.mp3 (1 mB)

version 1.1 (as of 12.09.07)

jam.gransynth~1.1.zip (4 kB)

I created the mp3 example using version 1.0, however the improved 1.1 contains an envelope feature (inside the poly~ object) which removes the clicks. Also, there is a CPU usage display, a new colour scheme and "no more frills" inside the patch.

The slight change of delivery of this weeks class was greatly appreciated, particularly the flowchart diagrams that provided a broad sketch of what the Max/MSP patch required. You could almost say that it provided 'a point of departure' which I was able to build from considerably.

.sources.

Everything.

Haines, Christian 6.09.07, "Sampling (2)," EMU, Adelaide University.

Nothing.

buff man

.cc - week six.

jam.scratch.zip

jamscratch.mp3 (660 kB)

This week I've put the time in and struggled quite a bit with the task. After playing round with the buffer~ record~ index~ count~ play~ groove~ wave~ and selector~ objects, the whole "buffer" concept really was not all that clear - the different things that these objects (must) offer is not all that obvious. As far as I can tell, incorporating these objecs into making your own objects is a 'finicky' task at the least. In what I have uploaded above I think I have atleast achieved something; my idea was to make an object which could record from your DPS input, and then playback at different speeds (and 'scrub') that soundfile.

.sources

Haines, Christian 30.08.07, "Sampling (1)," EMU, Adelaide University.

club and mace?

.cc - week five.

This week our given task was to make a FM synthesis object with all the usual features (user interface, polyphonic version, help files and so on). In doing the task however I got a side tracked and ended up just playing around with all the sounds that you can make using FM. Here's the result:

hard.mp3 (1.9 mB)

This track was taken straight from Max/MSP - has had no post production. I'm not trying to boast this point, I just need more time for such things.

.sources.

Haines, Christian 23.08.07, "Vibrato, FM and Waveshaping," EMU, Adelaide University.

machine gun design

.aa - week six.

This week I had a go at the 'cycle event' tutorial using FMod and created a machine gun sound effect loop. Here's a screenshot:




machinegun.mp3 (208 kB)


In this audio example I let the sample (originally taken from freesound) I let the loop run for a few seconds before hitting the 'key off' button.

.sources.

FMOD 2007, "FMod Designer," accessed 30.08.07.

Haines, Christian 30.08.07, "Sound Asset Design," EMU, Adelaide University.