HC Gilje's Wind-up birds

(Via http://hcgilje.wordpress.com)


wind-up bird(s) from hc gilje on Vimeo.

This is seriously one of the most beautiful (yet simple) sound art works I have come across recently. Mechanical tappers realised using networked Arduinos and wooden resonators, actual woodpeckers started communicating with them after awhile! Read about it here: http://hcgilje.wordpress.com/2008/09/04/wind-up-birds

HC Gilje's work always impresses me, I'm a big fan of the blog: http://hcgilje.wordpress.com

Controlling Max/MSP with Touch OSC

Today I finally got around to customising one of my patches so that its parameters can be controlled using the iPod app Touch OSC.

I wanted to find a suitable way of controlling the parameters of the old Sumimatic loop module patch. The parameters of each of the Sumimatic's four modules are controlled using the sliders and toggles on the Simple OSC template:

Vertical slider 1: Playback speed
Vertical slider 2: Pan
Vertical slider 3: Volume
Horizontal slider: Biquad frequency range (i.e 1500Hz)
Toggles 1-4: Select module to control



There's still plenty of refinement to do with this, especially sending data back to the iPod in order to keep values synched between the two devices. If there's one little gripe I have at the moment, it lies in the somewhat limited templates that come with OSC. You might have a patch with five parameters you want to control, but you've only four sliders on your interface, etc. It would be great to have a feature where you can customise your own templates.

Still, I shouldn't complain too much, it's already pretty good and this is new territory for me. I haven't really scratched the surface now that I think about it.

I'll post a video of this once I line up the OSC with some vinyl-ing on The Arouser.

Controlling Max/MSP with an iPod Touch

The other night at the Earpoke concert, Christian Haines got me onto a recent application for the iPhone/iPod Touch. TouchOSC is a touch interface that transmits data over a WIFI network (such as numerical values.) The application features dials, sliders, toggles and matrixes for controlling such values. After gettin hold of it last night, I decided I would spend my day off grappling with its exciting potential and my limited skills with Max/MSP. After some assistance from Christian and the OSC website, within a couple of hours I was controlling a simple oscillator patch with the lappy in the backroom and myself (with Touch) on the front porch.

Excitement he quoth!

The OSC Route MSP object can be downloaded at: http://cnmat.berkeley.edu/downloads



Now my attention's turning to the potential for existing patches of mine such as the Sumi_matic (loop module) and the Arouser. I'm also very excited about the possibilty of using this interface to test installations and site specific projects remotely.

Expect videos soon.

Arousing Bloom

A couple of weeks ago I invested in a new iPod. My mk1 Shuffle bit the dust whilst overseas so I figured it was time to upgrade. The nice thing about the Touch model (aside from the WIFI and iCal sync) is the hours of procrastination that can be spent fooling around with the many applications floating around on the net aether. Of particular note are the music making apps including a wonderful generative music making program by none other than Brian Eno and software developer Peter Chivers (read about it here.) As nice as it is on its own, I decided it was time to add my own bit of flavour to it by running it through the trusty Arouser. The results are so-so, but interesting nonetheless.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=EX69xnqJJjk

Faceless: Shoegazer

I have contributed a video/sound work for Jason Sweeney's Faceless project. Entitled 'Shoegazer' it examines concepts of self-examination, narcissism and loneliness. Cheerful themes we can all associate with an attempted (and failed) life on the Internet. The work is also an intentional stab at the 'nothing' videos that one comes across on YouTube (see: 'My Life As An Emo', 'Leave Britney Alone!!!', etc.) The video is taken from a walk by a river in Munich. The audio is an amalgam of the original audio capture, a bit of processing and mobile phone audio.

> Melbourne

Arrived back from Europe/Malaysia on Tuesday morning, the jet lag has been nasty. No matter though, I'm beating the body clock and heading to Melbs for a couple of days to check this sound art exhibition.

http://www.melbournefestival.com.au/program/production?id=3452

un/gather: sound design documentation

Some video documentation of Linda Lou Murphy's un/gather exhibition at EAF.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih767vr0j5o