Wacom tablets

Here's a video of two australian academics in their research/rehearsal space discussing and demonstrating their use of wacom graphics tablets to control digital audio.

Getting one of these tablets working within maxmsp is pretty straightforward and you can use it in a variety of different ways...



link

wii-theremin

speaking of taking yourself too seriously...

Here's a video where the maker of a wii-mote based theremin explains how it works. He's using the infra-red sensor of the wii-mote to determine the position of two markers (one on each hand). He then maps the position of one marker to pitch, the other to volume to create a theremin type instrument.
It doesn't have to stop there - the mapping could be done so that the two markers control any parameter of the sound - giving you expressive control over any sound.

Grainface laptop performance

Here's a video of a german laptop ensemble giving a performance.
The music is quite 'ambient' with long sustained tones and then short percussive elements introduced throughtout - there's also some vocoding going on.
Musically, it's not everyone's cup of tea and the performers do look like they're taking themselves a little too seriously at times. But they use wii-motes as gestural input devices to control the sound and the link between their actions and the sounds being generated is pretty obvious - so worth a look...

wii-mote controlled guitar fx

via synthtopia
This guitarist has produced a patch in maxmsp that takes his guitar signal and processes it in various ways. He uses the accelerometer and button press data from the wii-mote to control the parameters of his fx processes.
Sounds quite good, and adds a performative element to the whole process.

Guitar Processing with MaxMSP

This article over at cycling74 is a few months old now, but is a pretty good intro to using MaxMSP apps to process "real" instruments (a guitar in this case).

It starts off with an overview of the hardware required - guitar (obviously), input device, mixer/pre-amp, etc...

It then takes you through the creation of simple, stomp-box like, effects. The first one is a chorus effect which you basically create by using the existing help files (just a bit of copy and paste).
Other effects created are an "auto-stutter" which samples small snippets of an incoming audio signal and an envelope follower which is used to control the settings for a filter depending upon the level of the audio signal.

the new yorker has quite a nice introductory article on the use of laptops as performance instruments.
the journalist describes the approach a few different acts use including radiohead, battles, bjork amongst others.

here's a vid of battles live on jools...

johnny greenwood using maxmsp

a short little video of radiohead's johnny greenwood being all "crazy" and using maxmsp to process his guitar playing in a live performance.
It sounds like the software is sampling the signal from his guitar and chopping it into sections and then jumping around within these samples and repeating some of them to produce a kind of stuttering effect. Its obviously kept in time with the drums (drummer may be playing to a click track) to ensure that the loops and slices are in time.

The principles of the patch are not that complex, but to create a patch that can be used easily and reliably takes quite a bit of thought.

An Interview with Hans Tammen - Endangered Guitar

There's a good interview here on the cycling74 website with Hans Tammen who is an experimental guitarist who has been using MaxMSP for a number of years to process his guitar in live performances.
In the interview he discusses his early forays into processing using stomp boxes and how he moved into the world of Max.
Hans also works at the non-profit educational facility "Harvestworks" in New York where he teaches the use of Max for a variety of performance and installation purposes.

Worth a quick read to see how "professional performers" are using MaxMSP in their live setups.

jamie lidell

Jamie Lidell uses a custom maxmsp program to manipulate his vocals when performing live as you can see in the above video.
I like the video as it's pretty easy to see and hear what he is doing to his voice.

You can find plenty of videos of Jamie performing live on youtube.

There's a video interview of Jamie on the cycling74 website in which he discusses his use of maxmsp.

atomswarm

atomswarm is

"a framework for performance and composition, based on swarming behaviours similar to those seen in flocks of social animals. It can be thought of as a self-organising ecosystem, whose structure is internally regulated by limited resource availability and each agent's pursuit of internal homeostasis.

Sonic behaviours are determined by each agent's genetic disposition, the relationships between agents, and the population's continued evolution over time."

I saw a performance/demo of this software at a conference and was impressed. Whilst it can sometimes be hard to associate the onscreen movements with the generated sound, the majority of the time things do make sense. The output of the system looks and sounds very impressive.
At the website you can find links to video and audio as well as a description of the project along with examples of the code used.
The site also contains info on the developers other projects

wiiloop machine v2.0

This is hardly a new video (originally from January) but I thought I'd stick it up as its a pretty good demo of live performance software which utilise gestural control.
The wiiloop software allows you to record up to 4 tracks into the software and then turn these on and off as you loop through. You can use the wii-mote to control sample playback, effects processing, pitch control, etc...


Wii Loop Machine 2.0 :: Sampling! from The Amazing Rolo on Vimeo.

controllerism

been cleaning out some of my bookmarks...

If you're into using software like ableton live or other pieces of software such as maxmsp for live performances then this website may be of interest to you.
It has a bunch of resources related to the art of "controllerism"

"Controllerism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating music live using computer controllers and software.
This website is a collection of information and resources for the controllerist community."

You can find videos where artists discuss their approach to using software and controllers in a live situation, as well as links to a great deal of related websites.

Interview with Phil Durrant on his use of Reaktor and laptops for performance

On the Kore spinoff pages of Create Digital Music there is an interesting interview with one of the most prolific people on the Reaktor user forum - Phil Durrant (aka "sowari"). In the interview he discusses his approaches to building within Reaktor, his use of the laptop in a performance context and some of his influences.
He makes a pretty strong case for trying to get a smuch interactivity out of the standard laptop (QWERTY keys and trackpad) as possible.

Below is a video of Phil's Trio Sowari.

TRIO SOWARI
by Ornitoto

Moldover - controllerism

matrixsynth has a collection of youtube videos from Moldover discussing controllerism.

Moldover is a performance artist who uses custom modified MIDI controllers and audio software like Reaktor and Ableton Live to create his own music live.

In the videos he shows and discusses his approach to customising controllers, selecting and organising audio clips and performance concepts. His methods are all about keeping things as simple as possible in order to make his performances as smooth as possible.

Live Looper

Livid Instruments have released the Livid Looper, a freeware open source audio looping tool.
The Looper has been created in Max5 so it is possible to adapt and modify the original software to suit your exact needs.

taken from the website:

"Designed to emphasize simplicity and hands-on control, short loops of audio can be sliced, diced, scrambled, and transformed with built-in and VST effects. Gesture and Segment sequencers record synchronized loops of knob and button presses, locking effect changes to the loop. Quantized actions and automatic pitch shifting ensure all your loops stay in tempo. Interact directly with the waveform to sculpt your sound, or use the auto-segmenting feature to break it up into equal chunks. MIDI learn is available for any control, and simple knobs provide complete control over the sound of any loop.
Key Features
• Up to six files loaded in each looper for quick recall and playback
• Loop is automatically pitch shifted to match the BPM
• Automatic segmenting for slicing up a loop
• Interactive waveform display for arbitrary loop selections
• Assignable to crossfader
• Record live audio and instantly loop it
• Multiple audio effects, including a VST effect
• Granulator for scramble or time-shift effects
• Record up to 8 synced sequences of knob turns and effect changes
• Record up to 8 synced sequences of segment and file changes
• All actions are quantized to the master BPM
• Easy MIDI learn function
• Tight integration with Livid's Ohm controller
• Free of charge and open source (developed in Cycling 74's Max/MSP)"

Daedelus interview ---- monome

XLR8R TV has posted a video interview with electronic musician Deadelus.
In the video he talks about his influences and his approach to playing live which includes the use of his monome (check the link for more info and videos of this open-source hardware controller in use).


XLR8R TV Episode 71: Daedelus from XLR8RTV on Vimeo.

Guitar processing in MaxMSP

There is the first in a series of articles over at cycling74 which take you through the creation of what the author calls a "guitar processor". The first artcile takes you through setting up the input and output stages and a compressor. Further articles will deal with distortion, EQ, delay and reverb.

Whilst the article is targetted towards guitarists there's nothing to stop you using the same (or slightly modified) patches to process any instrument (including vocals).


edit:
part 2 of this series is available here. The article takes you through the creation of an overdrive effect and a reasonable filter/EQ section.
The article also covers some of the strategies used in the programming and use of MaxMSP and the created modules.



edit:
part 3 is now available here. This addition takes you through the creation of a phaser effect, a modulating delay and also the organisation of the front panel.

Build your own force-sensitive resistor

There is a pretty short tutorial on Instructables which takes you through in small steps how to build your own force sensitive resistor (FSR).

An FSR could then be used to control almost any aspect of a project - volume, filter, FX, etc...

Worth a look if you're into creating your own interfaces.

Bowed Piano Ensemble

A pretty cool performance of a composition realised solely through sounds made by a grand piano.
The piano is struck, played, bowed, plucked, etc...
The performers get some very nice tones.