Performance technology ideashttp://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ndfLrc3hsrU/S7M_rGHpuvI/AAAAAAAAAAM/yof_aU057T8/s1600/abstract-hd-wallpaper-69.png

For my Performance technology project I am making a max msp patch which creates sounds based on colour. To do this, I require several very high definition images which will probably be abstract but all related. These images will gradually merge as the patch plays. I have included some potential images within this post.

Steampunk in music

Steampunk, within the confines of music is a unique aesthetic that attempts to make music of sorts out of vintage styled items. These items typically use vintage antique hardware examples full of elegance and tasteful design. In this sense, Steampunk is appealing both visually and also takes a unique perspective in creating sound. An interesting example I found was of the lego sequencer by Yoshi Akai. In this, arranging the lego blocks at different points on the board creates a wide variety of sounds. The lego blocks are instantly familiar. Many people will remember playing with lego as a child. The lego blocks are also colour coded and you can form many different layouts on the board. They effectively represent "blocks of sequenced time" When watching this, the viewer can recognize, how the layout is affecting the sound. The user in the video starts of with a basic arrangement of the lego blocks and the viewer can recognize the new sounds as more lego blocks are added. This way the relationship between what you can see and what you can see is completely clear. This seems to be crucial as with steampunk it has to appeal visually.





http://createdigitalmusic.com/2010/03/03/a-lego-sequencer-imaginary-electronic-antiques-and-other-yoshi-akai-creations/#comme

I have found a second example of the steampunk genre. This example is by the same artist and is named "Wireless Catcher". It produces fairly simple sounds and works by scanning the radio waves around the area and sounds are generated by these radio waves. Different sounds can therefore be produced by pointing the device to different angles. What is most significant about this creation is that wireless interference is normally undesirable. However this device completely relies on it which is unique. It is also been styled very effectively in a victorian style. This is a very crucial part of this device and so also makes it successful under the category Steampunk in which it has been placed. I do think however it would be better still if the sounds that it produced were more musical.
Overall Steampunk takes an interesting and unique view which will appeal to some people more than others.

The use of physical space

Upon research I found a sound installation which I found particularly interesting. It is called "infanite mass" by Gwen Stevenson and is a work which explores the nature of human experience. The creator states that people live in both a physical and metaphysical world and these are experienced very differently. It contains 7 suspended spheres which are placed at different heights in the room and each have speakers hidden in them, which allows for each one to be a separate sound source. All of the spheres are connected by audio cables and are coated in polystyrene which resembles stone and the participant has space to walk between these spheres and experience the movement of sound between them. In the creation of sound, the dopplar effect is used which effectively makes the movement of sound more apparant as the frequency of the sound wave to the participant increases and decreases depending on their position in the room. Also panning is used which allows for exact focusing of sound in the space.
There are five sources of sound used. One is computer generated sound from the low to the high end of the frequency spectrum and the other four are white noise. White noise covers all of the frequency spectrum which suggests the creator could have been relating to many aspects of the human experience. The title of the work is "Infanite mass" and the creator is highly successful in conveying this. The Spheres convey the physical domain that humans live in as these can be seen and touched. The sounds that move between the spheres represent the metaphysical domain and so these are not tangible and therefore very different. These two aspects suggest infanite. Also, the space in which the work is set in works well. It is very minimal and so adds to the effect of experiencing just the spheres and the sound moving between them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW-aOlb2Xjw

My Planned MAX MSP Project

For this I will have a patch that responds to colour it will use a colour wheel and when the user scrolls over the colours it will respond by playing different chord tones and bright colours will play bright sounds and dark colours, dark sounds. It is very much based on a previous blog posting "max patch that responds to colours". Also I would like to make use of a smart board and a projector so that the entire board represents the colour wheel.

Max MSP Patch I made

Here is an example of a patch I built. It takes in MIDI information from a midi controller and outputs sounds using a midi to frequency convertor. The user can also manually click on the sliders to change the sounds. There is a set
range of numbers that it responds to and these are between 0 and 127, which is what is required for midi. There is a description of what each object does in the video.

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Granulator patch in Max Msp

1. In this video the user shows how interesting ambient sounds can be created using grains of sound picked at random. The sounds can be between 15ms and 3000ms and these sounds are layered together. The patch selects a region in the audio files and plays that grain back with a volume envelope added to it which fades the sound and then brings it back to full volume straight away. There can be many sounds grains playing at the same time and these overlap to create the textures heard. The pitch and length of each sound grain is determined by the user. There is a random number algorithm which generates a random number within a set range which the user can control. This way, the patch allows for differing sounds to be created as if you set a wide pitch range then the patch will sound dissonant and chaotic. If there is a narrow pitch bend selected then it will be much more in tune. Due to the amount of control that the user has over the patch, the sound outputted does not sound anything like the original sound. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80P8xAXpbuM&feature=related
   

Max Patch soundscape

This Max Patch is a soundscape that responds to colour.
The mouse is dragged over a colour wheel and this allows for sounds to combine together as the colours change. There are 12 colours which have got separate volume faders assigned to them. These respond to where the mouse is on the colour wheel.

This is then combined with 3 other volume faders which are dark, bright and light soundscapes. So if the colours that the mouse is hovering over is dark then dark sounds will be produced. This patch shows the extent that colour can be used in creating music. It would probably have the potential for creating complex chords and could be used to create a composiotion by colour.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grdSaHUkofE