Particle System Jam Number Three

Posted on May 28, 2009 by John C.S. Keston

toponwood As I mentioned in a previous entry, I’ve been planning on using the GMS in an ensemble setting. I finally had the chance to do this as a duet with Graham O’Brien on drums. Things went fairly well, although I managed to discover another bug my application handling the external sync. Rather than trying to fix it during the session, I just used an old version and tiptoed around the difficulties by not using an external controller as I had wanted to. Nevertheless we were able to produce some nice studies for our first attempt. Here’s an excerpt from our third jam of the evening.

Particle System Jam #3

External MIDI Control via XML

Posted on May 27, 2009 by John C.S. Keston

After a few performances live looping with Ableton and the GMS, I have found it cumbersome and frustrating to have to repeatedly swap between the two applications. To solve this, I have added he ability to control the GMS with an external MIDI device. I achieved this by creating an XML document with the parameters included as tags with a CC attribute to designate what control change value to use for each setting here’s a few lines out of the XML document.

<GMSMidiController>
    <MIDIControllerName>Korg MS2000</MIDIControllerName>
    <MidiChannel CC="31" type="knob" />
    <TopOctaveIncrement CC="82" type="button" />
    <BottomOctaveIncrement CC="78" type="button" />
    <Preset useProgramChange="true" />
    <ToggleFreeMode CC="77" type="button" />
    <StartStop CC="89" type="button" />
    <Sustain CC="64" invert="false" type="pedal" />
    <SetDuration CC="30" type="knob" />
    <ToggleDotted CC="92" type="button" />
    <SetScale CC="29" type="knob" />
    <ToggleMirroring CC="86" type="button" />
</GMSMidiController>

As you can see I’m using knobs to adjust some settings and buttons to adjust others. It’s really fun to turn a knob on my Korg MS2000 and see the sliders in my software start to move in response. Program change for presets and note on for transposition will work from any old controller, but the rest of the parameters need to be mapped to knobs, sliders or buttons. In total I have around thirty-six specific parameters that are now adjustable with a controller.

GMS Performance Excerpt #4

YAGMSMT

Posted on May 26, 2009 by John C.S. Keston

gmsdata1 Translation: Yet Another GMS Micro Track. Many of these experiments are all starting to sound very similar. The reason why is that I’ve been doing all my testing with the same GMS preset file and the same set of virtual instruments in Ableton Live.

Soon, after I’ve slowed down on tailoring the code, I’ll start creating some new versions of things to see what sort of variety is possible. I also have plans for using these techniques in an ensemble.

GMS Microtrack 2

Foot Falls Breaking Sticks in Wooded Area

Posted on May 25, 2009 by John C.S. Keston

Here’s a set of crunchy footsteps recorded in a wooded area. There’s a bit of wind noise, but it otherwise represents the sound of trailblazing through a thick, young forest.

Foot Falls in Woods

Horse Whinnies and Snorts

Posted on May 24, 2009 by John C.S. Keston

I recently had the opportunity to gather some horse neighs, whinnies and snorts at an equestrian event. Apparently, when separating a horse from other horses it identifies as part of it’s herd, it will neigh or whinny more frequently. I was holding Tennessee while his friend Ginger was competing in a dressage competition.

I switched on my recorder to capture his vocalized separation anxiety. He wasn’t too anxious because most of the time he spent eating grass. However, every so often he’d take a break from grazing to protest his situation with a whinny or snort. I edited them all close together, but each sound was recorded at a different level, so be prepared for some volume changes.

Tennessee Winnies and Snorts