Voice Lessons (2011) by John Keston is an electronic, audio device that interrogates the popular myth that every musical instrument imitates the human voice. Touching the screen allows the participant to manipulate the visuals and vocalizations of the “voice teacher” as he recites vocal warm up exercises.

John describes the piece “in the space between a musical instrument and voice lesson”. Developed using MaxMSP, the installation allows you to move the touch point left, right, up, and down to explore both visual and auditory possibilities. Rapid high pitched loops occur while touching near the top of the screen while lower pitched longer loops are heard near the bottom.

Continue reading.... Voice Lessons [MaxMSP]

‘Ground’ is the new audiovisual installation by Ryoichi Kurokawa. Full screen recommended.

2011, 3 HD displays | 3.1ch multi sound, Duration: 12’00″ Loop.

Continue reading.... Ground [MaxMSP, Sound]

The Infinite Adventure Machine by David Benqué is a computer program which generates fairy-tale plots. Based on the work of Vladimir Propp, who reduced the structure of russian folk-tales to 31 basic functions, the project addresses the difficulties of automatic story generation which David explains remain an unsolved problem for computer science.

The Infinite Adventure Machine questions these limitations as well as implications of programming language and narrative by exploring links between imagination and computation. The software invites users to improvise, filling the gaps of the story by making up for the technology’s shortcomings.

“Stories are the way we grasp information and integrate it within the context of our lives. In a world where science is progressing at an exponential pace, my practice of design aims to craft subtle and engaging scenarios at the intersection between science and society. Using a wide variety of media from three dimensional models to illustrations and video, and by collaborating with other disciplines, scientific and artistic, I aim to encourage the public to question and re-assess their relationships to science and technology.”

Prototype created with MaxMSP.

The project will be showcased at the Cité de la Mode et du Design in Paris, as part of a specific program called GLITCHFICTION for Paris Design Week.

Videos after the jump.

Continue reading.... The Infinite Adventure Machine [MaxMSP, iPad]

Created by David Bowen, Tele-Present Water installation draws information from the intensity and movement of the water in a remote location. Wave data is collected in real-time from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) data buoy station 46075 Shumagin Islands Alaska. The wave intensity and frequency is scaled and transferred to the mechanical grid structure resulting in a simulation of the physical effects caused by the movement of water from this distant location. The installation uses MAX/MSP to drive an Arduino mega running servo firmata. It uses 11 x 24volt dc motors with drivers for the movement.

In May this year Tele-Present Water received one of three ex aequo awards in Alternative Now: The 14th Media Art Biennale WRO 2011, Wroclaw, Poland.

//thanks for the tip Joost

11 x 24volt dc motors

Photo by Alicja Kołodziejczyk - source

Photo by Ewa Wójtowicz - source

On Fifth Avenue, a listening wall has jacks built in, so passersby can plug in earphones and listen to street activity translated into music. Sensors built into the wall detect movement, proximity, temperature, weather, cell phone activity, noise, color and light. Online and at night, a data visualizer translates the street activity and plays along with the music. The music, and the corresponding visuals and video, are available in near real-time through the browser or on your phone. The composition is  navigable using the timeline, which is marked with the “experiments” scheduled throughout the week.

What would we learn if we changed the way we looked at our cities? What if, instead of just looking at them, we could listen to them? SoundAffects was an experiential project by Parsons The New School for Design. It turned everyday things, from weather and traffic to color and motion, into their own musical sounds.

The team has also made the data available to the public. Go here to download their CSV file if you would like to create your own compositions. The project was created using HTML5, JavaScript, Max/MSP/Jitter and Ableton Live. On the hardware side, Tellart rigged industrial sensors to an Arduino micro-controller and will be capturing live video throughout the ten days.

soundaffectsnyc.com + more videos here.

SoundAffects is a collaboration between Parsons The New School for Design, Tellart and mono.

If you liked the ‘Extending the Touchscreen’ project by Michael Knuepfel here are a few experiments by Benjamin Gaulon using displays to convert light to sound waves. He writes:

Research and recent innovations have led to an amazing increase of types and uses of visual displays and screens; indeed, in our predominantly visual culture, they are everywhere. A typical person carries at least one device with a screen, is presented with them in public places, uses them at work and in many leisure activities. They are so ingrained in our everyday acts and habits that we don’t even notice them anymore. L.S.D invites its users to engage in a new perception of their daily environment. In ecology this class of relationship is called commensalism.

L.S.D feeds on light via two LDR (light depending resistor) mounted on a suction cup, allowing the sensors to be mounted on any screen surface. An analogue synthesizer converts the light input to sound waves. This device can be used in many different configurations and feeds from any light sources. Even if L.S.D can be controlled by any light source, its design is aimed at screen reading/listening. More videos on Ben’s vimeo.

Project Page

Benjamin Gaulon is a researcher, artist with a broad experience of acting as art consultant, public and conference speaker, graphic designer and art college lecturer. Issues like e-waste, obsolescence and disposable society have been the focus of his practice and theoretical research. ‘Recyclism’ research seek to establish an inter-disciplinary practice and collaborations by creating bridges between art, science and activism, and by doing so, shifting the boundaries between art, engineering and sustainable strategies.

Projektil, a Zurich based collective, created augmented reality installation which includes an architectural model in scale 1:200 with 5 projectors mapping various information affecting the proposal.

On the model can be shown various simulations (nightlife, sun and shadow, etc.), and also information (use zones, green areas, transport etc.) . Not only this installation is controlled interactivly by an ipad, but the whole space, which includes 44 dimmable dali lamps, 6 DMX lamps, 9 beamers, a touchscreen and the audio system.”

MaxMSP/Jitter was used for video together with iPad app which controls the max app over OSC. MeshWarpServer was used for realtime-meshwarping and all of the modeling, animation and rendering was made with Blender.

Elements of the installation include: architecture model scale 1 : 200, 1 ipad, 9 full HD beamers, 6 macminis, 5000 vertices to set, 40+ different animations and stills, 44 dimmable dali lamps, 6 DMX lamps and 1 touchscreen.

Project Page

illucia is a OSC based codebending instrument by Chris Novello aka paperkettle. It is a USB device with physical jacks that correspond to software patch points, which can be connected and disconnected using patch cables. It is also a console for routing information between computer programs, and strives to create relationships across systems that don’t usually interact. Chris has already designed a number of applications that interact with the console, some using Processing, others using MaxMSP. Whilst the applications themselves are quite simple they are nevertheless means to raise questions how controlling a particular application via a specific interface can change the experience of it.

For now, there are four applications Chris intends to release as downloadables. Even though they still require the Illucia console to experience fully, they are OSC based to they can be controlled via any OSC interface including a number of iPhone/iPad/Android applications already available.

The four existing applications for illucia are (see video):
·PCO (Paddle Controlled Oscillator): a classic ball and paddle game. When pushed, it morphs into a function generator and spills abstract art.
·Soviet Life Sequencer: falling Tetromino pieces generate step sequencer patterns, all remixable by Conway’s Game of Life.
·War Machine: a crosshair blasts colorful explosions into a dense nest of shoots that approach from above
·Pile of Secrets: a codebendable text editor

More videos and deeper documentation is on the way… In the meantime you can follow on Twitter or FB for more information.

Project Page

(Thanks Chris)

Created by André Rangel and Anne-Kathrin Siegel, Syndyn is a physical game but also a visual environment where the players control all the audiovisual events that occur in the space/time of the game. They perform a live show and simultaneously produce a database of light drawn images.

The space where the event takes place is colored with light which is controlled by players movements. Their rackets and arms are decorated with electro luminescent wire and the shuttlecock (speeder) with a bright LED, providing vivid dynamic scenic effects.

In the beginning of each game, users choose on an iPod ™ touch device a soundscape associated with visuals and colors for the ambience lighting system. Syndyn rackets are equipped with sensors that detect each hit of the speeder. A radio transmitter system broadcasts the sensors data to the central processing unit (computer). The hits on the rackets are accompanied by synchronous real-time synthesized sounds, by an instant change in the ambience light color according to the previous players choices and by real time generated visuals.

In addition to this real-time audiovisual response, players can also take a visual memory of their game. A long exposure photographic camera covers the playing area. This camera registers the traces that represent the trajectories and movements of the lighting speeder, the lighting racquets and the lighting arms. The resulting drawings of light, can be automatically printed with photographic quality paper and offer to players. These images are automatically stored in a database that feeds a web photo gallery.

Literally the possibility of drawing with this game, gives Syndyn its original and innovative character: being simultaneously an artistic, sports, and entertainment event that merges aesthetics, physical activity, technology and entertainment.

via gamescenes.org

Created by David Dalmazzo, Dazzled Project is an attempt to compose a generative particle environment that could at the same time create structures and sounds. The application uses both MaxMSP and Cinder via OSC bridge allowing sounds generated from max be fed directly into Cinder app which generates the visuals.

I would like to program patterns and physics simulations with the aim to compose music structures that has a direct representation on a formal shape. One of the influences for this project was some examples that Robert Hodgin like Solar Rework. But in this case the idea is not to have a sound reactive visuals, but visuals that create a generative sound and music compositions.

David writes that the videos below are just the first part of the project. He is also planning to add rhythmic patterns based on constant rebounds or elastic connections between particles. Dazzled Project was supported by Generalitat de Catalunya.

Project Page

David Dalmazzo is a musician and digital visual artist oriented to interactive audiovisual composition. Focus on live performance and dedicated to the investigation on informatics tools that contribute narrative and composite elements to the scenic arts.

See also INSCT [vvvv] by @timpernagel and audionerve.de …