Max for Live & Max 7

So what exactly is Max? Well, it's a programming language. It's a visual programming language, that allows users to connect together elements of code and processing in a modular way. 

"Max - Visual programming language for media" is how the creators, Cycling 74, descriptively open their product page. I suppose their focus is on clarity and ease of use....

Taken from their product page, above we see the key features that Max offers, with details of the updated capabilities of the platform. The beauty of using this platform is the way it integrates with one of the most commonly used studio DAW's, the one I use, Ableton Live

Because Ableton Live was built within Max, Cycling 74 worked with Ableton's creators in order to create something truly innovative - a DAW that allows the user to edit it's capabilities, it's instruments, it' routing, directly from within the UI. It is safe to say that the Max/Ableton relationship is a game changer; the number of unique and fascinating projects that are being born from the abilities it has allowed users is large. Very large.

Although not fully relevant to this project, this project shows its power in the extreme. It does actually user an amazing graphical interface to show what is actually happening - Ableton 4D

That's enough for today, tomorrow I shall go more in depth into devices and projects directly relevant to this one.

Platforms that use Colour to Describe Sound

I have already been over the theory behind colour and sound and showed how they are in fact naturally related.

It is important at this stage to say that just because we can prove certain frequencies are related to certain colours, doesn't mean we have to stick firmly to this structure every time that we choose to describe sound with colour. It is also important to state that from now on, any readers can assume that we are using FFT analysis and processing as the underlying means for everything being generated ie waveforms, spectral images, metering, colour etc.

A platform I use regularly called Traktor (DJ Software) has four different choices for colouring the audio waveform that it displays, obviously they feel that certain people will prefer different colour scemes from others.

I am going to assume that anyone reading this uses DAW software, again these commonly allow the user to change the colour of tracks and groups within the software, in order to visually keep track of where you are. 

Image-Lines FL Studio takes this to the next level, with some fantastic plugins that show the user with graphics and colour exactly what is going on with the device.

First off tis the "Z Game Imager", which allows you to visualize in a creative and intuitive way what is happening in the music. Other than simple velocity mapping to the size scale (X, Y, Z planes) of the image and a frequency analyser there doesn't seem to much controlled by the music itself; there is a certain amount of predefined graphical movement regardless of music. However it is still enough to add something to the experience in my opinion.

This is a fairly new feature, the are plugins that use other graphcal feedback.In this tutorial by "Seemless" on YouTube, we see how their most powerful sythesiser is actually capable of taking any image and turning it in to sound. It can then in turn display that info on the right hand side as a spectral image.

In this next one, we can see it again uses a spectral image in a pinky/orange hue to show the harmonic content of the audio the equaliser is editing. The actual content of the tutorial has no meaning for this project, it just shows the EQ nicely.

In the next post I will look at Max for Live, the programming language that Ableton Live is built upon.This allows for far more interesting and detailed analysis and graphical reconstruction of audio signals.

Concept Development

So for the next two weeks the focus is on concept development. First off I think it would be useful to outline here what I identified in my research proposal as the main area's I need to focus on for completion.

Max 7 and Resolume are the platforms I have chosen for primary development of the system. There are a number of reasons for this:

• I own a projector that I can use in my room for development. 
• I own Ableton, Max & Resolume
• Max & Resolume haave better online learning resources than the other platforms identified in research.
• The LED system requires many more parts, making for a more cumbersome end product.
• LED's do not allow for complex graphical output except in extremely expensive cutting-edge systems.
• You can emulate the effect of LED's within Max for Live.

During this whole time I have been playing about with pre-existing projects and devices within Max for Live & Max in general, in order to try and familiarize myself with the layout and how it works.

I have found a number of projects on the Max for Live website that display similar characteristics to the ones I have previously identified as needed within this project, which is a great start. In the next weeks I will outline the different devices that generate graphics from audio.

The main issue I have found so far is no-one seems to have scaled the colour wheel to audio parameters yet, within Max. As my research identified this is easily achievable (with some clever maths). When it comes to said clever maths I might not be the man to implement it in Max, hopefully once I know who my project supervisor is they can help or point me in the right direction. I have already started to make contact with certain practioners within the scene, with little response luck to date, however I have started early so I am confident that I will have success there.

During the next few weeks I will also be putting together post detailing case studies and similar systems from youtube, vimeo etc. This is in order to identify ideas that I like and ideas I don't; this will aid me in the process of developing the most effective wasy of implementing the system in a room i.e. would projections mapping the generative graphics onto the speakers be more effective than a tradition 2D screen? 

So in summary, for the next two weeks, expect posts on the following topics.

• Generative graphic devices withing Max for Live and Ableton
• Projection mapping examples using Resolume Arena
• Music that has been created with the visuals being considered as an integral part of the production and performance
• Studio scenarios where the aesthetic has been strongly considered 

 

So Max 7 is out and this is going to be the focus of my ongoing project dev.

I keep upto date with a lot of what is going on in the world of music tech, and funnily this new device developed by Francesco Grani popped up today on my newsfeed. Though I have had no part to play up to date, he does mention on the DL page for the M4L device that he is interested in working with people and mentions students in particular. So I have contacted him to ask if he is comfortable with my use of his model for development of my own.

Here is a link to the page for the device


http://www.maxforlive.com/library/device.php?id=2665#LastComments








I have yet to have a chance to play with it, that is my plan for tonight, I shall make a post after a few hours of play and hopefully get a video out if I can find some nice free cam software.

It's great taht so many things seem to be happening in the world of generative graphics from audio just now, as the year moves on hopefully I can become an active member of the community of builders.

Powering LED's from a modular synth?

Something that had crossed my mind a while ago, but did little more, was the idea of using the control voltages of analogue modular synthesizers to power LED lights. They both work around a 5volt architecture, so it seemed logical that the numerous ways of mangling electrical waveforms in modular synths, could be applied to the colour of LED's.














Caspers Light Synth

Above is the incarnation of my idea before I had it. Strange how this keeps happening, but anyways...

Though having a very "mod-synth-geek" look about it, in the setting of a darkened bedroom, it is nothing short of mesmerizing.

I'm sure you will agree these are both quite fascinating videos. I certainly feel more confident that the idea of using evolving light colours that correspond to sound will be something very appealing to the bedroom producer. Baring in mind my strong feeling is that this will improve the creative process, this is a great step in the right direction in terms of research and opens up a whole new avenue of possibility and reference for my project.

Update

So it's been a while since my last post, and within a few days I will be back in earnest, however I thought I should post an update of some developments.

I have been working hard on my research proposal, which has consisted of a lot of the information detailed in other posts here, I will be sending a draft to Kenny in the near future.

Fortunately for me, there have been some technical developments which I previously mentioned I was not sure of the time scale on, namely Max 7. November 10th was a happy day for audiovisual programmers worldwide!

For now, all I need say is there have been some massive technical upgrades made to Max and its interface, basically making use of any other programming platform, for me, redundant.

Once I have finished my research proposal, I shall be doing a series of posts on Max 7 and the reasons behind why it has suddenly become the most suitable platform by far.

I should say that Resolume, another platform affore mentioned, will still be used as this can be controlled from within Max and Ableton.