OS X

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.

OS X / Tools - Software — No Comments
26
Dec 08

I love Applescript. I adore the Automator.

If you do love Applescript and adore the Automator, then skip ahead down the internet. If not, please read:

After switching to Apple a year ago, my computer life has become easier as expected. Every mac user on this planet would say off course, every Windows user might say something like ok, but (…). But it is not the ease of OS X that astonishes me the most. It is that the ease of the OS has translated into some of the programming tools. I still have Windows running under VMware for programming electronics and for using Samplitude, but OS X will be my main platform for programming productivity tools, as long as the client accept an Apple among the Windows.

Two Apple tools that can save your day:

Applescript is a time saver. End of story. Another story about applescript that has to be told and retold is the semantic syntax….. If all computer languages was semantic, then programming would be something that everyone could do without having to spend a lot of time learning how to think cryptic to do something easy.

Automator is a familiar concept for anyone used to MaxMSP Jitter, Pd, Bidule, Quartz Composer and so on. Make a program in a few minutes, distribute as standalone and your computer has become a little more easy to use (maybe…). Plug and play a program.

Cheers
Arve

Guitar / Max5 / Music / OS X / Tools - Software — No Comments
25
Nov 08

Stompstock

So this is the Stompstock beta version.

It is intended for testing of the ….avols modules that I’ve written about before. Obviously I will write a longer text about this system when it is ready for intensive testing as a finished product, but for those who are interested I hope that these tiny posts about Stompstock is somewhat interesting and I will keep posting as new features gets implemented. On the list is preset morphing, mapping module for timed events, a granulation module and hardware. The hardware is on the drawing table, and will be there until I am sure it is flexible, scalable and has a splendid artwork.

Oh, and here is another module: The Playavols:

playavols_

The Playavols is a player for uncompressed audio files, and is as simple as it gets: You drop a file in the white region, hit the buttons to get it to play in a loop or just once. You can do pause and resume and off course play and stop. Playavols does not react to input signal but passes on the output from the module that is before it in the signal chain. The bypass switch mutes the audio file, but it keeps on playing in the background always ready to resound.

Cheers
Arve

General / Guitar / Max5 / Music / OS X / Samplitude / Tools - Software — 2 Comments
7
Aug 08

The Driveavols!

The “My Screen is My Repatcher”-thing is coming together and the Driveavols is almost done:

I really like this drive. It growls at the low end, smoothes the middles and tames the treble. It is basically what I have wanted in my signalchain for a very long time. I’ll post audio examples along with those other modules when everything is finished at version 1.0. It will not be long now.

Operation: The gain controller goes from zero to noise and the cutoff balances the trebles. The volume keeps everything at the right side of too loud. I like it and use it on vocals as well. I like singing through this thing as the drive is easily controlled by the loudness of the voice.

Cheers
Arve

Computers - general / OS X / Samplitude / Tools - Software — No Comments
25
Jul 08

Virtualization is the new loud in my host

I have hesitated the whole bootcamp thing because I did not want to reboot to get into Windows to find out that I have to reboot because I forgot something. Therefore, after Anders Tveit showed me his virtual world, I jumped on VirtualBox and took my Macbook with me. VirtualBox did not work with the CodeMeter dongle that Samplitude just have to have in its keyhole to get going.

Very well. There is no other reason than Samplitude and a few programming tools for the occasional MCU, for me to ever get into Windows nowadays so that was it for VirtualBox on my computer.

Then I installed VMware and everything was fine. VMware let me run Samplitude on Windows while checking email, skyping and surfing while programming Max/MSP tools for my Goldwasser on OS X. And performance seems to be good enough for me. Happy days until something comes up wrecking the horizon. Until then I enjoy my Samplitude and could not be less bothered. I really like this virtualization thing.

cheers
Arve

Max5 / OS X / Tools - Software — No Comments
8
Jul 08

Beta 0.3 of the Manual Grainer

The Manual Grainer has come one step closer to version 1.0:

Things added from 0.2 are:

  • Preset handling finished
  • Edit stored presets
  • Edit sound range (time) and normalize + store as new file
  • Listen to unprocessed sound when editing buffer content

Things to come (list will expand):

  • Build new track from selection
  • The “My Screen is My Re-patcher” system as a effect pool for each track
  • Open Sound Control

Cheers
Arve

Guitar / Max/MSP/Jitter / OS X — No Comments
5
Jul 08

Update on the “My screen is my re-patcher” thing

UPDATE:: Tremolo/Ringmodulator module added! The Tremavols is both a tremolo and a ringmodulator. Flip from one mode to the other with the button that says tremolo in the image. The Tremavols has separate frequency setting for the tremolo (tremolo rate) and the ringmodulator (modulation frequency).

So this is the expanded family in beta < 0.5:

Biggest change is that the re-patching of signals from input to output has been added and works as it is supposed to.

I have also added a meter out and bypass in each module. This is as true bypass as true bypass has ever been and when a module is bypassed it is toned down (as you can see in the Delavols).

Preset handling is separate from the modules and allows morphing between presets.

TODO:

  • Implement user interface for preset handling (selection and morphing and a system for mapping of hardware controllers to the preset system.
  • Make a ring modulator module (updated 07.06.2008)
  • Make an overdrive module
  • Make a reverb module.
  • Make a VST-host module

This system will be for sale. Pricing is TBA.

Cheers
Arve

Max/MSP/Jitter / OS X / Tools - Software — No Comments
23
Apr 08

New looks in max, new looks in my fauna

I am working on some modules for my guitar system. First of is a vibrato/tremolo with feedback through delay. And today I fiddled around with the presentation mode in a more or less finished patch to check out the new graphic objects. I frankly think that those new interface objects looks good. Well… I like it simple and here is the Vibravols module:

Computers - general / General / OS X / Tools - Software — No Comments
31
Mar 08

TextMate

It is kind of amazing that such a powerful text tool comes at this price. When I wrote my master thesis I struggled with Open Office because I wanted to find out for real how it compares to Microsoft Office. Now I have been a regular user of TextMate and Latex, writing various stuff (text (Latex), PHP, JavaScript, HTML, CSS) almost every day for the last 30 days. To put it simple: I am never going back unless I really, really have to.  TextMate is hereby recommended.

Computers - general / OS X — No Comments
1
Mar 08

Stuck in a mac superdrive

Got me a stucked dvd today, and one of the tricks that I found on the Internet was holding down the mousebutton while rebooting….. Tedious. But it worked.

I had me another go at the problematic disk. And it got stuck again. This time I tried to mouseclick and eject (button) at the same time, and lo and behold, the disk came out. Maybe this is a familiar trick not appearing in my Google, so I keep it here at my blog so that I will not forget it. Restarting is always tedious so I hope this mouseclick-eject routine was not another one timer……