Author Archives
11
Dec 09
New Stompstock 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.
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!
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- Kind of granulation
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- Ringmodulator – a smooth one
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- This is my kind of overdrive!
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![Vibrato and tremolo [sinus & saw with sag]](http://avols.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/vibravols-2-150x150.jpg "vibravols 2")
- Vibrato and tremolo [sinus & saw with sag]
![Vibrato and tremolo [sinus & saw with sag]](http://avols.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/vibravols-2.jpg "vibravols 2")
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- Analog flavour on this one
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- New, easier version coming up
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- Play wav or aif files through the Stompstock
Cheers
Arve
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
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
Cheers
Arve.
20
Oct 09
Soundscapes in everyday life
I have started working on sonification in human machine interaction, and yesterday a video was published over at Ted’s place.
I like this short and informative video, as it succeeds in showing the impact sound can have in an environment.
For me, who is researching how sound can be used as part of a user interface, it is very useful to be reminded about how sound pollution affects us.
Cheers
Arve.
27
Sep 09
Active speakers
I have set up a pair of active speakers and a subwoofer in my rehearsal studio: Two dB (dB Technologies) Opera Live 402 fullrange speakers, and one dB Sub15.
This is a setup that is sufficient for small gigs in clubs and such. The 402 speakers are rated at 500+100 watts, the Sub15 is rated 800 watts.
Point is: I sell this stuff, and want you to know about it. If you need speakers, microphones, cables or anything related to this, please contact. I have tested a lot of this for years, and I am confident that the products I sell is high quality, reliable and reasonably priced.
So why buy from Avols? Because Avols is about custom software and hardware. This means that you can buy speakers (and related stuff) and get software and/or hardware made for you and your needs.
You can save a lot of money if we set up a complete system running advanced, good sounding custom software creations for audio processing.
Please contact if you want more info. I will post more about projects that Avols has done in the past to illustrate how we do things.
cheers
Arve
23
Sep 09
Inspiring engineering
I do tend to look around for inspiring engineering stories. This is definitely such an inspiring story. It kind of sums up what I think engineering should be all about from early schooldays to higher education: It is all about making things that you need, without being stopped by lack of money, materials or what other people think about what you are making.
I also like this example beacause it is a striking parallel to the everyday concern about not having enough electricity/power in the industrialized parts of the world.
cheers
Arve
29
Jun 09
Mathematics
When I studied engineering (electronics) during my Masters thesis in Musicology, it took about one week to figure out that Calculus was not what I was going to use my time on. This was discussed with my lecturers in electronics and programming, and to my surprise they agreed.
Thanks to the people in the administration of that particular university college (Høgskolen i Vestfold) I could quit those topics that was looked upon (by me that is) as not so very relevant, and go for those topics that I needed, and still need.
I do indeed need math and physics, but books and links are more efficient than hours of irrelevant math-lectures. To me it seems like some math professionals love the fact that their topic is hard for students, in fact so hard that many students can’t get through exams. Ego. Many students, me being one of them, has to put more effort into irrelevant math than any other topic, only to get through a c(o)urse that we do not need. This is not because we are stupid, but because logic strikes hard when time is spent on something we do not need…. This is, in my opinion, not right.
I am almost out on a rant here, so I’ll keep it simple: Those who teach mathematics in the irrelevant manner, should know better. Keep it relevant!
Now I have found someone who can speak out with authority and put things where they belong: Please – if you find math interesting that is – have a look at this presentation over at Ted’s.
Cheers
Arve.
5
Apr 09
Fuzzy Logic
While I wrote my master thesis I became a fuzzy logic user.addict.admirer. In my head fuzzy logic is a runner up for a lot of different tasks. If you do not know anything about fuzzy logic I suppose the website of Lotfi A. Zadeh, the man who introduced fuzzy logic, is a good place to start.
Point is that if you are already interested in fuzzy logic, some researchers at MIT got news for you and me.