Roy and I performed our AlgoComp composition at Diapason on Thursday night. I was pleased with the final outcome and the show was a big success. We figured most people would algorithmically compose a piece and just play it for the show, so we decided to compose music ourselves and then let an algorithm determine elements of the live perfromance. I composed the music and score, we both arranged it, and then Roy remixed it. For the performance, Roy used Chuck to randomly go through a scale when he sent Midi data in from his guitar, and I used a max/msp patch that would randomly trigger samples when midi data was recieved from my v-drum pads. Chuck had issues with midi on my computer, so I had to throw the max patch together at the last minute .

We made sweet Chuck t-shirts though. Mine was pink!

Roy is hosting the composition. Go to the “Academic Phase” and select “English was Spoken (Un-Chuck Mix)”.

The plan is to keep working on the piece so that our live performance algorithms are more solid and interesting. I especially want to build up a max patch to process my v-drums for future performances.

I’m exhausted. AND DONE WITH MY FIRST SEMESTER!!!!

So here’s the results of a semesters worth of coding. Special thanks and three cheers to Daniel Shiffman for being an amazing instructor and all round super guy. I’m taking Programming A to Z with him next semester. Programming was the not something I expected to enjoy at ITP, but after Shiffman’s ICM class I’m looking forward to getting closer to attaining pure command line functionality (just like Roy).

See my previous ICM posts for more background info on the project.

A low-res movie of my project in action:

Click To Play

Some photos of the completed project:

The arduous process of hollowing a book:

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For my last medititation Roy Vanegas and I choose to work with the Lorenz Attractor chaotic equation. We were supposed to take the Lorenz equations, compute them, and then map the data to something of our choice. I chose to take the data and use it to control the Lorenz Instrument in CSound.

Here’ s the final result, about 6 mins long: =>

Reginald Bain is a qualified individual creating interesting and beautiful sounds with these equations.

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Our PComp final project is now finished. We presented tonight and I feel very positive about our final outcome. FIrst off, we aren’t going to make the show since no projects from introduction classes are being accepted. We also had to make a few adjustments to the project, and the final outcome differs slightly from the initial description. We have two containers now , and within each 16 FSRs are loading two sets of samples, 4 nature sounds and 4 synthetic sounds, as well as controlling volume and panning. Also, there is no visual deprivation componant, which is fine since we aren’t going to be in the show.

We did, however, create a very functional and interesting way to sculpt sound. The final units used in the pans, lentils and peas, provided a wondeful tactile componant and the user feedback was very positive in this regard. I’m extremely satisified with what we accomplished and learned, and I definately feel like I made progress in terms of getting closer to one day creating interactive sound art, whether in the form of an installation or performance.

Here’s a link to the final presentation slides, just click ‘em: =>

A video of the presentation is available here (it’s big and takes a min to load): =>

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