Snyderphonics Manta

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Recently I read an article in Future Music on the Snyderphonics Manta OSC controller. I’m getting more and more into OSC (Open Sound Control), so this is a really fascinating device that I can see replacing and expanding upon what I’m building for the iPod Touch. The Manta has forty-eight touch sensors on a six by eight pad. Each sensor can handle note on/off and velocity information, which you can’t do on the iPod Touch. It also has two touch sliders and four touch buttons, all assignable via OSC, or MIDI with a free application that’s available on synderphonics.com. The device also accepts input in order to provide feedback via LEDs that back light the controls. I have been researching and experimenting with multitouch devices to do music and sound design for a while now, and the Manta seems to solve a lot of shortcomings of other devices. Congratulations to Jeff Snyder for designing a unique and intriguing instrument.

Pomplamoose

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I’m sure that everyone else in the world knows about this group, but for some reason I didn’t until stumbling across their cover of Beat It by Michael Jackson last night. After hearing that and watching the video I was hooked and ended up staying up until three in the morning watching their videos. Here’s one of my favorite covers by Pomplmoose so far. September by Earth Wind and Fire.

Ostraka with Dial System Performance

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ostraka_at_kckMy new experimental music project with Graham O’Brien, Ostraka with Dial System, will be performing on December 20, 2009. Originally I had written that we were performing on December 8, 2009 as well, but that performance has been canceled due to a prior engagement.

Ostraka with Dial System is myself on laptop using my custom developed application, the Gestural Music Sequencer (GMS), and Graham O’Brien on drums. For more details, including audio examples and video produced using the GMS, checkout the GMS category. There’s also a Gestural Music Sequencer Documentary Short produced by Josh Clos, that does a good job of illustrating what the software does.

Creating an OSC Network Instrument with MaxMSP

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networked_instrumentRecently in my class with Ali Momeni, we had an exercise surrounding the idea of a networked ensemble of computers. It turns out to be a fairly easy and effective technique. In a couple of hours we had fifteen computers all talking to each other by sending OSC messages over a wireless network. The messages could trigger a sinusoid at a specified volume and frequency, noise at a specified volume and duration, or one of five samples played at a specified volume and rate. The samples were selected and loaded locally, so only the OSC messages were being transmitted over the network.

By the end of the experiment all fifteen computers were producing chaotic mash-ups of randomly pitched sine waves, random white noise, and an eclectic collection of pitch shifted and/or reversed sampled sounds. Unfortunately I didn’t have a portable recorder on hand, but what I did do was capture the audio that was being generated from the messages that were being received on my laptop. Here’s an excerpt of what that sounded like. Now try to imagine that times fifteen. I’m also attaching the patch in case anyone would like have have a look. Just be aware that it was made quickly (I did clean it up a bit before uploading) and there’s a dependency on an external called ali.samplor that can be found here.

network_instrument.maxpat
Network Instrument Example

Audio Technology Research Funding

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After nearly two years free of advertising, I have decided to include sponsorships on AudioCookbook. This was not a decision that came easily, but I concluded that advertising was not bothering me on other sites, similar to ACB that I visit regularly, so perhaps it won’t bother me here. In any case, all the funds that are collected from sponsors and donations will go into an account that will be used exclusively for research projects that will be featured on ACB. The cost of the equipment and software that I purchase for these projects will surely exceed any income by these means, but perhaps it will help offset the expense.

What helped lead me down this path was an offer from TuneCore to participate in their affiliate program. I am one of the partners of Unearthed Music and we have used TuneCore for digital distribution since September, 2006. We have used other distribution and licensing agencies before, and still do (until we can get out of our contracts), but what makes TuneCore unique is that they do not take a percentage of your royalties. Instead they charge a one-time delivery fee, followed by affordable yearly storage fees. Our label has had much better returns with TuneCore than other services, so I feel comfortable endorsing them.

I hope the advertising on ACB does not turn anyone away. I plan to keep the ads discreet and the content of the same nature as it has been for the last year and ten months. No reviews, just continued experimentation and research into whatever weird and wonderful sound discoveries we make or find along the way. If you have thought on this, please share them. Reader feedback, comments and opinions are one of the main reasons why I continue to create content for ACB.