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All of my previous projects have come to a dramatic halt these days while I spend more time educating myself with some real programming skills.

Not having a lot to show for the past couple months, I thought I’d simply share my opinions on some of what I believe are the best book/tutorials available for those looking to dive headfirst into computer programming, creative code, and/or interactive media installations.

First off, the book that is essentially responsible for allowing me to think that I have any business whatsoever writing any kind of code:

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Tags: Interactivity, iphone, jitter, Max/Msp, oF, Open Frameworks, Processing, processing.org, Pure Data, SuperCollider, tutorials

After too long a delay I finally finished my first version of a TouchOSC based transport for Ardour. One of the most difficult aspects of this project was the sheer number of Ardour’s functions that can be controlled via OSC. Deciding what to incorporate into the layout and what to leave out took hours of consideration and experimentation. I tried to keep everything as streamlined as possible only using using functions in my layout that I thought would be of the most use.

As I discussed in my previous post, you will need to run Max5 patch in the background to allow better communication between TouchOSC and Ardour. Please go ahead and download the .zip file which contains the TouchOSC layout, .maxpat file, and a .mxf file as well.  Even if you don’t own Max/Msp/Jitter, the patch should work fine using the Max/Msp runtime version, which is free to download.

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Tags: ardour, cycling 74, daw, digital media, free, jack os, linux, mac, Max/Msp, max5, Music, open source, osc, Software, TouchOSC, transport

Ardour is a very inexpensive open source DAW software that runs on Mac OS and Linux though the use of the Jack Audio Connections Kit. It is essentially free, however a small donation will give Mac users the ability to save AU settings with a project. In addition to it being open source, many of its functions can also be controlled through OSC.

Considering the high price tag on most DAW software I was a little skeptical of the stability and usefulness of something that was basically being given away for free. No rewire support and its dependency on Jack also made me wonder if it was worth the time exploring.

After using Ardour for a few weeks I have to say I was wrong to ever doubt it. I have found it to be a very stable program that is fully capable for most applications, and the use of Jack to route audio has worked flawlessly on my MacBook Pro so far. In fact, being free from the constraints of what is rewire-able has actually opened up some creative possibilities that I though wouldn’t have been possible before. (more…)

After my previous post, Jitter Kaleidoscope and other Cool Effects, I decided to spend some more time with the Peter Elsea Tutorials and see how else I could mashup my photos. His tutorials on the [jit.repos] object gave me a lot to work with, and for those who are more mathematically inclined, I’m sure these simple examples could be taken much further.

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Tags: cycling 74, effect, Japan, jitter, kaleidoscope, Mashups, photography, pixel, trigonometry, tutorial

During what free time I have, I usually devote my energy to music, or all things audible for that matter, but recently I have begun experimenting with creating visual effects as well.

Original Image

Kaleidoscope Effect

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Tags: cycling 74, effect, ES-135, fireworks, gibson, guitar, jitter, kaleidoscope, math, mirror, photography, spiral, trigonometry, tutorial, wave

Now that the TouchOSC editor has arrived the first thing I did was sit down and create a more appropriate layout for the drawbar control application I made for my Nord Electro 2.

Download the .maxpat version here.

or the Runtime version here.

You can view the original post here if you want.

What’s New?

As you can see in the picture, the layout now has 9 faders to match each of the Nord Electro Drawbars. I also inverted the direction of the sliders to match the direction of the Drawbar LEDs.

There are two pages, the first page (green) controls the upper drawbars, and the second page (red) controls the lower drawbars. The custom GUI now makes it less confusing with no funny workarounds for only having 8 faders.

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Tags: Drawbars, Max/Msp, MIDI, Nord Electro 2, Nord Electro 3, TouchOSC

After hearing some subtle yet effective use of the wah-wah pedal on Yusef Lateef’s album, Yusef Lateef’s Detroit Latitude 42º 30º Longitude 83º, I was compelled to attempt writing my own “wah” effect patch in Max/MSP.

I’ve been tinkering with this patch for a few days now, and even though I know it’s surely not perfect, I think it sounds reasonably cool. Also, I’m tired of messing with it, so I figured I just post it here for anyone interested, or anyone who can provide some advice on how to make it better. Here is a short sample.

Bear in mind this sample is to display the sound of the effect not my guitar playing. I didn’t spend much time focussing on “getting guitar part right” if you know what I mean.

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Tags: cycling 74, DSP, effect, guitar, Max/Msp, wah-wah effect, yusef lateef

After some time of procrastination and a brief period of inspiration I finally got around to further developing the project that I started in my previous post on MIDI Generating LFOs. There are two big additions included in the second version of this patch. The first is that I borrowed some aspects of Gregory Taylor’s excellent new tutorial on the Cycling 74 website, and the second is that I added TouchOSC support to create cooler ways of controlling the new parameters. Here is a short example of what it sounds like through one of my favorite synths.

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Tags: LFO, Max/Msp, MIDI, TouchOSC

This is an early rough draft of a composition I started working on recently. It utilizes the Max/Msp patch that I wrote about in my first post on Midi Generating LFOs. At the end of that earlier post I listed four things that I wanted to work on for the next step in this project. I haven’t done any of it. Except to sync up the LFOs in my patch to a musical composition. So far the piece has an electronic drum track, keyboard, and the Max/Msp patch – as well as a handful of other effects. Hope you like it!

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Tags: composition, delay, keyboard, LFO, MIDI, Music, reverb, synthesizer

A few weeks ago, I finally got around to thoroughly reading a very dense tutorial on the Max/Msp website about using LFOs as semi-Random number generators. I’m always looking for newer and hipper ways of adding an amount of randomness to computer music – so why not use MIDI generating LFOs?

The tutorial by Greg Taylor starts here, and in its three parts contains a wealth of know-how on MAX.

I agree with his statement that,

Max is really just about messages, numbers, and lists and how you move them about;

As a newcomer to Max/Msp this article answered many of my questions. It also did a good job of plugging some of the advantages of MAX 5 at the same time. Specifically, the ability to link different elements to MAX’s global transport, and the new presentation view, which although it is cool, I usually put off spending time on.

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Tags: LFO, Max/Msp, MIDI

This Post has been updated. Please click *HERE* to view the new post

Many people have written about how awesome the TouchOSC application is for iPhone/iPod Touch, and I also agree. I’ve been having tons of fun with it on my iPod in combination with Max/Msp creating little custom control apps for various projects.

Get TouchOSC Here

One of the geeky fun things that I did was create MAX patch that allows me to control the Hammond Organ drawbar settings on my Nord Electro 2 via my iPod Touch. Of course, the buttons that control the drawbars work well enough, but I thought it would be nice to be able to see all of the settings for both the upper and lower drawbars at the same time — and be able to manipulate them both simutaneously!

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Tags: Max/Msp, MIDI, Nord Electro 2, TouchOSC