The Microtonal Beep Master 9000

Posted on September 21, 2009 by John C.S. Keston

beep_master_9000 One of my recent class assignments led me to create a patch that automates the playback of a pair of microtonal tones with a frequency range of 200Hz to 1200Hz. I call it the Beep Master 9000 (press tongue firmly against cheek). The large toggles in the upper left turn on and off each of the sine waves individually. The large bangs to the right randomize the frequency when clicked. Below the bangs are a couple of smaller toggles that turn on metronomes that automate the randomization of the frequency for each cycle~ object. The number boxes allow the user to adjust how often the pitches are randomized in milliseconds. The encapsulated sub-patch (“p rightMetro” amd “p leftMetro”) multiplies the frequency of each metro by 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, or 1 randomly. This causes the beats to change by divisions (i.e. 4 times faster when multiplied by 0.25, twice as fast by 0.50, and so on). Here’s a sequence I created using the Beep Master 9000.

Beep Master 9000

Simple Wavetable Oscillation with Max/MSP

Posted on September 20, 2009 by John C.S. Keston

wavetable_oscillator For my second entry in the One Max Patch Per Week category I’ve created a very simple, monophonic, wavetable oscillator.

Although it hasn’t been a week since my last patch, I’m going to allow myself to produce more than one example per week, if I happen to have the time available. To create output from the patch I loaded a rim shot sample using the read button into the buffer object. After that I turned on the dac and dragged the mouse around on the keyboard, known as the kslider object in Max.

The kslider sends velocity data from the bottom right outlet. The velocity values are determined by the vertical position of the mouse on each key. I scaled the velocities to 100 through 127 so that I wouldn’t get very quiet notes while dragging near the bottom of the keyboard. View the comments to copy the compressed patcher.

Simple Wavetable Oscillator

Mapping Pitch and Amplitude to the Track Pad with Max/MSP

Posted on September 17, 2009 by John C.S. Keston

trackpad_to_pitch_and_amplitude Currently I’m taking a graduate class in Max/MSP/Jitter at the University of Minnesota with Ali Momeni. Recent experiences including a night class in July at CNMAT (the Center for New Music and Audio Technology, UC Berkeley), and this current class at the U are really opening up my eyes (and ears) to the possibilities of Max 5. As a result I’m becoming more and more convinced that this is the ideal platform for the kind of projects I’m currently interested in.

The workload in the class is intense, but I have decided to punish myself even further by committing to post the audio output of at least one Max patch per week on Audio Cookbook in a new category called One Max Patch Per Week. It’s not quite as ambitious as my One Sound Every Day project, but with my busy schedule I should be able to keep up the pace.

Here’s my first entry into this new category. It is a simple way to map the input from the track pad or a mouse to the pitch and amplitude of a sinusoidal sound wave. For the patch I used the “pictslider” object, which outputs the x and y coordinates as scaled values.

I mapped the x coordinate to pitch with a range of values between 200 and 800 Hertz, and the Y to the amplitude with the typical MIDI based values of 0 to 127. I’ve included a screen grab of the patch so you can see how simple it was to do this.

Track Pad to Pitch and Amplitude

Ostraka with Dial System and Keston and Westdal Performances

Posted on September 16, 2009 by John C.S. Keston

I have a few performances coming up. One at the end of the month and two at the begining of October. Here’s the official word from Unearthed Music on the upcoming events:

Unearthed Music has a few upcoming events we thought you’d like to know about. On Monday, September 28, John Keston is celebrating his birthday by performing with Graham O’Brien on drums as, Ostraka with Dial System at the Kitty Cat Klub. The duet combines the stochastic, angular melodies produced by Keston’s custom music software with live drumming. Gestural video input is simultaneously projected onto a screen and processed into musical phrases. The results are live looped and molded into spontaneous compositions. Expert, veteran turntablist, DJ Zenrock, completes the bill.

Keston and Wedstdal with Graham O’Brien on drums are performing back-to-back events at Sauce with House Luna and Honey Stick (Thursday, October 1, 2009, $5.00) and the Dakota late night (Friday, October 2, 2009, $5.00). Sauce is located in Uptown on Lake and Lyndale and the Dakota is on Nicolet Mall in Downtown Minneapolis.

More Information:
http://www.unearthedmusic.com/?source=shows.php

Recent Releases on UEM:
http://www.unearthedmusic.com/?source=releases.php

Excerpt from Solo Set at MAW Party

Posted on September 11, 2009 by John C.S. Keston

beat_box_insides Recently I was invited to perform during a rare indoors Minneapolis Art on Wheels event at the West Bank Social Club, a new media artist space above the Nomad in Minneapolis. The space contained a newer (1970s) Hammond organ, sans tone wheels and drawbars, with an after market analog beat box including buttons for “Rock 1”, “Rock 2”, “Rumba”, and more. The idea was to do a bit of improvising on the organ while various projections went on inside and outside the space.

I brought my laptop with Ableton and started by sampling all the patterns on the analog beat box. I also brought along my iPod Touch running Bebot to make some live loops to go along with the beats. Here’s an excerpt from the set. The only sound sources used were Bebot and and the Hammond analog beat box.

MAW Party Ostraka Set Excerpt