Creative Computing – Week 6 – “Synthesiser Definitions” 10/04/08
It was fast when I bought it man...
I started this week with a frustratingly close attempt at creating a “SmokeOnTheWaterAtor” which is a SynthDef that plays the tune upon the pressing of any MIDI key. I got the core structure working via use of the Routine object but despite success during the process, I had to give up on installing it in a SynthDef as it threw many errors. The bulk of these have something to do with trying to embed an environment variable function that uses the num.wait method (how I programmed a pitch sequence) inside the Out function of a SynthDef .
Instead, I created an alteration of this week’s planner SynthDef. The main source of sonic variety comes from the Saw in the car (carrier freq) variable. This has a multitude of SinOsc and XLine modulation going on, most of which corresponds in some way to the incoming MIDI keyboard pitch and velocity (duration will have to wait for now). This is passed through the existing RLPF with its output values doubled to add intensity to the waveform. The rest is altered in minor ways to suit the new data. The mod wheel Ctl in didn’t agree with this patch for unknown reasons.
Click here to link to online folder containing this week’s code and MP3 example.
Reference:
Haines, Christian. “Creative Computing – Week 6 – Synthesiser Definitions.” Lecture presented at Tutorial Room 408, Level 4, Schultz Building, University of Adelaide, 10th of April 2008.
Audio Arts - Week 6 – “Production: Outside the Square Pt 3” – 08/04/08
Before monster compression and after...not quite a square wave, but getting there.First up this week I have recreated the ‘one sample triggering the output of another’ scenario, adding a little effects automation. This gives a Lo-Fi audio effect similar to a distant motor vehicle with a loud stereo moving gradually closer. After a failed attempt to have the bussed audio triggering stabs from a 60 Hz signal hum (even after recording the hum to a track and using the playback file) I have duplicated the audio file to be output via the opening gate, and pitch-shifted it down instead.
Secondly I have taken a bass heavy drum loop and attempted to make a musically pleasing but less bottom heavy version. The original is in the first four bars of the file. To reduce the bass dominance I have combined use of the Lo and Hi frequency filters in the Pro-Tools Gate and Std Compressor. The finished product was then duplicated and used to trigger itself with sharper attack to make up for some of the lost ‘stabbing’ effect.
Lastly is an example of extreme compression of a dynamically diverse file. The image in this post shows the before and after effect of five compressors utilising sequentially diminishing threshold values.
Click here to link to online folder containing Mp3 examples.Reference:
Grice, David. Audio Arts - Week 6 – “Production: Outside the Square Pt 3.” Lecture presented at Studio 1, Level 5, Schultz Building, University of Adelaide, 8th of April 2008.
Forum – Week 6 – “Vicki Bennett and the Art of Sound Collage” – 10/04/08
My head is actually a collage of two giant half eaten eggs - sometimes they come apart...
Beginning classes with a touch of classic Sabbath should happen here more often, it lifted my mood immediately. I think I prefer the visual side of Vicki’s work when all is said and done though. Sound collage is an interesting way of meandering through many different styles and ideas (although Vicki chooses to focus mostly on Pop), but as I expressed in Forum today, it leaves me indifferent after the novelty factor has worn off.
I found a potentially valid point in David’s idea that she may be interested in shifting people’s unquenchable thirst for all things new by recycling music. Stephen reinforced this in pointing out the ecological benefits of such a shift in cultural attitude. What strikes me as odd about this view is that music is slowly moving away from environmentally damaging forms of distribution anyway. It’s a solid message at heart, and one worth putting out there, but to apply it to music is possibly of little benefit, and strikes me as arrogant. After all, who is Vicki to say (if indeed this is her intended projection) that all music has been done, so lets use what’s there for all eternity…hmm, food for thought.
Reference:
Forum – Week 6 – “Vicki Bennett and the Art of Sound Collage.” Workshop presented at EMU Space, Level 5 Schultz building, University of Adelaide, 10th of April 2008.
Creative Computing – Week 5 – Sound Generation Pt2 – 03/04/08
Boy got rhythm..This week has been quite difficult. I seem fresh out of ideas and keep running into annoying brick walls, such as misplacing commas that take an hour to find. The concepts presented seem so fluid in classroom discussion. It is not until one attempts to go it alone that the pain begins.
After many unsuccessful attempts to get something interesting out of the Blip Ugen, I settled for an RLPF and some Saw and Sin Osc’s for the first patch. MouseX and Y are used to control frequency and ‘rq’ (of the RLPF) respectively.
Patch 2 is an exploration of Tri wave arpeggios using an EnvGen envelope generator in conjunction with the .round method to create continuous arpeggios with the handy .circle method that can be called on EnvGen’s internal ‘Env’ object.
Patch 3 looks at the dual power of SyncSaw, modulating its frequency with an LFPulse that in turn has its own frequency and pulse width modulated by individual SyncSaw Ugens.
Patch 4 is my nod to the awe-inspiring clout of the Mix.fill method. Using the sine wave combiner ‘Klang’ I have created some terrifying cluster chords.
Click here to link to online folder containing Mp3 examples and .rtf SC files.Reference:
Haines, Christian. “Creative Computing – Week 5 – Sound Generation Pt2.” Lecture presented at Tutorial Room 408, Level 4, Schultz Building, University of Adelaide, 3rd of April 2008.
Forum – Week 5 – “Pierre Henry” – 03/04/06
Dont mess with my EQ settings man..
One of the two famous
Pierre’s of the Music Technology world graced our projector screen with his unique brand of French eccentricity. Opening the documentary with some tools for serious sound capture (one of which was either an employee or his wife, or both), it was clear from the outset that this is a man obsessed with audio. Despite feeling a little alienated by some of his music I couldn’t help but like Pierre, as his quirky style and manner, although potentially construed as harsh, were immediately endearing.
His attention to detail derived via his obsessive nature has enabled him to manufacture works of gargantuan proportions in the isolated world of contemporary art music. I was particularly taken with his idea to place speakers on a stage in much the same fashion as an orchestra would present themselves. Is this his little jab to the ribs of Europe’s classical dinosaurs? Letting them know they’re being replaced by a superior tool of sonic delivery perhaps? We’ll see soon enough I’m sure.
Reference:
Whittington, Stephen. “Forum – Week 5 – “Pierre Henry.” Workshop presented at EMU space, Level 5, Schultz building, University of Adelaide, 3rd of April 2008.
Audio Arts – Week 5 – “Outside the square” Pt 2" - 01/04/08
Just a touch out with the Zeppelin..
First this week I have vaguely attempted to sing a major arpeggio into Pro-Tools and had the plug-in correct my appalling intonation. The result sounded better when rounded up to a major 6th and the trademark Auto-Tune sonification can be heard in all its glory.
Next I took a sample of myself singing Led Zeppelin’s “Black Dog”. The intonation was awful and I graphically corrected some of the painful spots. There were two points in which the pitch slides up or down to a note that I didn’t make. Finite use of the line tool was the key. The correction is an improvement but Auto-Tune can’t make me sound like a singer.
Lastly I tried something abstract with a line from a righteous brothers song, once again sung terribly by me. I saturated it with multiple processes of Auto-Tune in the Audio Suite domain, harshly correcting all notes to a single Bb. I then duplicated the track, duplicated the two again, and reversed the last two waveforms. Then I graphically drew exaggerated ramps in opposite directions in separate Auto-Tune plug-ins for both pairs resulting in a Grand Prix racing type sample.
Click here to link to online folder containing MP3 examlples.Reference:
Grice, David. “Outside the square” Pt 2. Lecture presented at Studio One, Level 5, Schultz Building, University of Adelaide, 1st of April 2008.
It was fast when I bought it man...
