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Computers - general / Max5 / Music / Tools - Hardware / Tools - Software — No Comments
29
Jul 10

Compass, Gyro & Accelerometer device

I’ve got a new device for inertial sensing from eboy.no, and it’s multiple axes of sensor data are for sure a lot of fun to play with: It has a 3d accelerometer, a 3d gyroscope and a 3d compass.

Today I have made some software snippets that tilt compensates the compass, and translates gyro data and the z-axis of the accelerometer into positive/negative motion triggers: It is like having a drum stick that triggers when it is rotated, pitched, rolled and moved vertically. Triggerpoint is set by a simple threshold value, and could be updated dynamically if such behaviour is desired.

I will write more about this when I get time to map it to something that make sound, and that something might very well be aVoon.

cheers Arve

Art — No Comments
4
Jun 10

I link therefore I am.

I found this over at sparkfun, liked it and want to share what I found:

Four Letter Words from Rob Seward on Vimeo.

cheers Arve.

Javascript / Max/MSP/Jitter / Max5 / Tools - Software — No Comments
1
Jun 10

Max JavaScript for LCD-multislider

LCDSlider

LCDSlider

A couple of years ago I posted this, and I quite like how it came out back then. Now I have updated the LCDSlider a bit, made it scalable and added a rename function on slider names. I also think it looks a bit better as it has got a more structured look than the previous version.

The picture is grayscale, but it doesn’t have to be like that. It can be any color you want, and basically anything can be changed inside one JavaScript file. This approach also makes it easy to add new functions and make the LCDSlider something of your own.

Cheers Arve!

Art / OS X / Tools - Software — 1 Comment
29
May 10

aVoon

This post is about aVoon, a software interface for  artistic expression.

Background

The first thing that inspired me to make aVoon was mind maps. When I make mind maps I tend to rely on circles, squares and other basic geometric forms, connect them with lines and add words to explain something that isn’t obvious from symbolic meaning, i.e. being a certain geometric form, the forms position and connections.

In aVoon basic geometric forms, connections and movement resemble an animated version of those mind maps.

Another case that made me want to do aVoon is the traditional container approach to software development, e.g. in a DAW each track is self contained and has certain parameters that can be adjusted. Those parameters are often represented by a knobs position or a discrete number, which is totally fine for a lot of things, but now I want something more flexible and easy on the eyes.

I want something that convey more meaning about the overall state of the app, not limited to discrete info like track one has a gain setting of 1.2 and is panned -1.00001. I want info that in a glimpse tells me how everything relates to everything else without getting vague or blunt.

aVoon

In short aVoon is an attempt to make a generic interface for anything that fits. Like a pair of pants for work. It is not a suit, dress, shirt or whatever. It is work pants with circles, words and lines on it.

The prototype looks like this:

aVoon resembles a mind map with circles that are connected or not, and that move around by themselves or not. (The text at the bottom of the images are debug info, and will change appearance as aVoon matures.)

I want to keep aVoon as simple as possible, and allow users to bring their own semantics to the circles to help convey meaning about something specific. I will use aVoon as front end to granulation, as a spatial controller and as a map for Stompstock (look in the blog archives for more info about Stompstock [guitar effects on screen]).

Currently aVoon knows how to move the circles around, how to respond when circles collide with a window edge, how to connect the circles, how to let you drag circles around, how to send OSC-messages and bundles, how to add and remove circles, how to stop motion and get it going again. It also knows how to load a soundfile and chop it up, but that is just for debugging. It is written in C/C++ and is currently Mac-only.

Hope you like the looks of it. I do.

It will be out in a beta version soon.

cheers Arve.

Engineering / Tools - Hardware — No Comments
16
Apr 10

Short post: Just sharing some exiting MIT sensor news

This came in via the MIT-feed today:

“The CBA researchers’ device can do the work of at least six different micromechanical sensors. It can measure linear motion in three dimensions, which would ordinarily require three accelerometers. But it can also gauge its orientation — whether it’s tipped sideways or forward, or it’s been rotated — which would usually require an additional three gyroscopes.” (source: MIT)

Uncategorized — No Comments
20
Jan 10

Just for fun

Max5 / Tools - Software — No Comments
11
Dec 09

New Stompstock module

BlowStop module

BlowStop module

This is the BlowStop module. It is a simple gate, and the point is that when you put this in your signal chain it will attenuate signal below the threshold. So what is new? Nothing. But by using it after a long reverb or delay you will get a wonderful effect. Big complex sound while playing, and no decay when you stop playing. The old gate, still a tool for unusual noises and choices.

Guitar / Max5 / Tools - Software — No Comments
26
Nov 09

Stompstock is getting there!

I have tested Stompstock for a while now, and I am going to take it with me on stage. I really like the overall feel of it, but there are still some bits and pieces that has to go in before it reaches version 1.0.

For those of you who hasn’t seen Stompstock before it is basically stomp boxes on screen: You can move them around, put one before the other, and the sound always goes from left to right. This allows you to change your signal chain by clicking on a preset recall button of your choice.

First thing to be integrated is sync between modules. Then it will learn how to do some envelope tricks, attack decay and blow stop. Blow stop is simply a gate inserted anywhere in the signal chain that mutes output when input falls below a threshold. Like when a trumpet player stops blowing into the trumpet.

Sound examples coming soon!

Cheers
Arve

Art / Design / Max5 / Tools - Software — No Comments
22
Nov 09

Real Time Graphics

At Norsk Teknisk Museum during the final concert of the elektrOpus sound competition I served a tiny portion of live graphics. It was kept simple, doing pixelation, blur, blending and a few other tricks and treats. I think it came out as a beauty, and Drivhuset ordered more graphic software for image manipulation for their Minnepinne-project.

So to make this story shorter than it could have been: I want to give a preview of how this came out, because it will be developed further and sneak on to stage with Goldwasser. Eventually. The images below are screenshots taken during testing of the software that I made for Drivhuset.

Source material are two videos: One of my son looking at fish at the aquarium and one video of a Norwegian coast guard ship going out from a dock in the local harbour. A Wiimote interfaces the manipulation presets too any kind of hands.

Cheers
Arve

Design / Engineering / Music / Tools - Hardware — No Comments
30
Oct 09

Contact microphones

Sensors are often a requisite for a successful end product when making a new interface for human-machine interaction. Contact microphones are one of my favourite sensors, and now we have a new batch of them in the workshop.

Contact mics are designed to pick up sound transmitted through hard materials: A contact mic glued to a table will pick up sounds that are made when things hit the table, but not what those around the table talk about.

Glue it on your floor, and make your computer aware of feet, toys, parts hitting your floor. By using a grid of contact mics you can even get a rough approximation on the position of things that are moving around!

Contact mic on my MacBook touch plate

Contact mic on my MacBook touch plate

Cheers
Arve.

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