kailondo

[kailondo]

Blogg post #7 - Creating my Final Instrument

As part of our upcoming "Best of Booth" event on June 7th, I’ve started a unique final project that showcases everything I’ve learned in Max MSP over the past six months. The project revolves around creating a distinctive musical instrument for my performance, using live recordings of the djembe drum.

The core idea is to develop a patch that can sort these recordings into sample files and then play them back in polyrhythmic forms, essentially mimicking a djembe player. My djembe, a solo model, will be used for playing fills over the percussion sequences, triggering laser lights to enhance the visual aspect of the performance.

One of the main challenges is ensuring the patch isn’t too large to prevent my computer from crashing. With numerous processes running simultaneously, I’m considering using two computers to manage the load effectively. Another challenge is devising a way to change up the lighting show so it feels both natural and unexpected.

Here’s a breakdown of my current progress and plans:

Objective:

Initially, my goal was to trigger the venue's unique lights with a drum for our event. However, I’ve decided to complicate things slightly to simplify the drumming aspect for myself, as I’m not a seasoned djembe player.

Current Progress:

Inspired by a tutorial from UMUT Hearing Glass—a channel I highly recommend—I’ve developed a polyrhythmic generator. This system allows you to input a sample into one or more boxes, where a clock (which you can adjust) plays the sample in varying lengths. Currently, the system randomizes the sample length with each trigger, creating dynamic polyrhythms.

Lighting Patch:

The patch for controlling the lights is a bit more complex. It’s still under development, but the plan is to integrateing the Polyrymic patch with the Lighthing Patch. This will give me three weeks to practice and fine-tune the system, ensuring it’s engaging and reliable.

Potential of the Patch:

This project could fill several important gaps in the market if i would like to further develop it.

It eliminates the need for a lighting specialist/VDJ to control lighting, as the artist can manage this through triggers like MIDI, automation, or sound transients.

It enhances the artistic experience by directly linking the music and lighting, allowing for a more immersive atmosphere.

It simplifies the control interface, making it more adaptable and user-friendly.

Future Steps:

Before considering a public release, I need to:

Test the system extensively to ensure reliability, which involves accessing enough DMX lights to fill a DMX universe (512 channels).

Develop a user-friendly interface.

Find an affordable yet functional DMX unit.

Add lighting fixtures to the library, explaining each DMX channel's function.

I’m excited about the potential of this project and look forward to seeing how it evolves in the coming weeks.

[kailondo]

Blogg Post #6 - Decoration of Best of Both

It's now May 7th, exactly one month from the event. After wrapping up the Plesen Collective event over the weekend, I can now fully focus on our Best of Both event. As everything is coming together, I can really see where I can shine in our group: decoration and lighting. After successfully decorating the event, I've asked my friend Nellie to help with the decorations.

We've already come up with a lot of great ideas and have already started the process of designing sets, figuring out how to create a space that changes for every act we're presenting.

After discussing with Shelly's piece, we decided to keep it simple with stage lights focusing on her and highlighting her, however, my friend Nellie is going to make a glass chandelier that we'll also shine light upon to create unique reflections around the room. Mike had in mind red sprites as inspiration, therefore we found out that flashing red strobe lights would fit for his performance. For my performance, I will include the unique lasers that they have at Studio DB.

I've collected nine mattresses that we'll lay around the room using colored sheets.

I find it both fun and interesting to be part of set design and decoration. I also think it will bring me value in thinking about how to create a nice space, especially when it comes to my focus on spatial music.

[kailondo]

Blogg Post #5 - Decoration & Installation

During the last year i joined a music collective focusing on playing live music with hardware synthesizers and instruments. Its a great group with diverse music also with a following base that is inclusive. For our next event, i have taken the task to decorate and to make a light installation. This will be a great exercise and try out ground for testing out different ideas before the Best of booth event 7.jun.

Its now 6 of may, a few days after our event. It was really sucessful, Following a youtube turturial of UMUT Hearing glass i made a projetion using MAX msp, the second image was projected inside the speaker on the first, giving moving. i connected the output of the Club mixer into my sound card, to then make the eye pulsate with the music.

I also set up the laser i have been working on, this i prepared several preset that would automate it self and also being controlled by the music.

What i learned from this experience was that setting up takes much more time as expected i, when adapting the laser to the room i found it did not appaer as i prepared it this was preety frusterating since i spent the last 3 night programming a max patch that would run by it self. During the event i found my self trying to fix this, with changing the settings in the code but i realesed after a few hours that it only consumed me and stressed me out from connecting with people, so that last 3 hours i decided to turn the laser of and only controll the club lighing and the pulsating eye.

[kailondo]

Djembe Drum - Blogg post 4

For as long as I can remember, Djembe drums have held a special place in my heart. Growing up, my father would often play the djembe drum in different gatherings where people often would move and dance. A few days ago I decided I wanted to learn the djembe drum my self, I therefor acquired a djembe drum.

Ever since i got the Djembe drum, i have been trying to practice a little every day. this has been really inspiring in a way of how i see my self including different rythmical instrument in my production. In the future i would like to travel to Sierra Leone, the home country of my father, to then learn Djembe drum for a full year, and learn more about the importance of the instrument.

In conclusion, my decision to embrace Djembe drums for the Best of Booth event represents not just a musical choice, but a exploration of rhythm and the link between sound and visual ecstatics. I see it as opportunity to challenge my self to get a better understanding of rythm, but also giving a different perspective of how a drum can be used to give powerful musical effects combinding it with visuals.

[kailondo]

Blogg Post #3 - Spatial Sound Festival

With the Spatial Sound Festival - From all Sides just around the corner, anticipation is building. Initially, I was drawn by the idea of synchronising lights to the patterns of sound within the spatial sound system. Armed with a new DMX light controller earlier this year, I set out to bring this vision to life. However, creating a functioning patch proved to be difficult.

As I sat down to write this blog post, a simple coding idea turned into a intense hours of experimentation and mainly troubleshooting. Along the way, I encountered a annoying issue with my DMX controller, causing the lights to flicker erratically. But perseverance paid off as I stumbled upon a forum thread addressing a similar problem.

Finally, after overcoming numerous hurdles, and doing adjustments on the patch, last minuit before the performance. I had developed a patch that utilised the spatial transient tracker to send signals to the DMX controller, effectively triggering lights in sync with the spatial audio.

The performance went well, for being a prototype of the project and with no time to rehers/plan out how the light was activated with the different sound, it gave a insight the potential using a Audio Reactive Patch within a spatial sound system.

[kailondo]

Blogg post #2 - Max Msp and Visual FX

Since soon 2 years ago when first starting out with Spatial audio in a Octaphonic system, I thought of different ways of making the sound in a system be unique. When upgrading to the Full version of Max MSP, my creative journey took a bit of a natural but yet unexpected turn into this world of Audio Reactive Visuals.

Being influenced by Robert Henke and his work with Lasers, I Made the decision to get my own laser. Why? I have always been fascinated with the Concept of light from a scientific perspective. I find It interesting that using mathematically equations trough max msp to then create a specific pattern using a fast moving laser.

However, as I made the decistion of acquiring a laser, I was quicly reminded of its potential dangers. Reading through the manual, I gained a new respect for the power of lasers and the importance of safety precautions. The realisation dawned on me that operating a laser in public spaces requires a Laser Officer license, a costly endeavour. Despite the cost, I keep in mind the chance of getting this license before the upcoming Best of Booth show, to perhaps doing more shows or actually working as a laser operator/officer for other.

Despite the regulatory hurdles, my experience with the laser thus far has been thriling. Experimenting with different Max patches, I've discovered the endless possibilities for creating diverse and captivating visual effects. By combining various patches, I've unlocked a realm of creativity where each try creates a unique result.

As I continue to push the boundaries of Max MSP and delve deeper into the world of Visual FX, I'm reminded of the inherent connection between sound and visuals. What began as a simple fascination with programming has evolved into a multifaceted exploration of artistic expression. With each patch im doing in the realm, I'm being propelled further along a path of innovation and creativity, also seeing how it can benefit future music performances but also how i can adapt the coding skills to futher my music production skills.

In the end, it's not just about creating visually stunning effects but about transcending boundaries and pushing the limits of what's possible.

[kailondo]

Blogg Post #1 - Introduction, Max Msp and Spatial Transient Tracker 2.0

Hello, my name is Joachim Goba. I am a musician based in Berlin. Working towards my first Public event which will be held the 7.jun 2024, i wish to document some of my artistic work and path towards this date. Currently, I'm deeply exploring Max MSP as my preferred tool for experimentation for its versatility and potential for creating complete new. 

At the start of 2024, my friend Mike and I developed a Max patch tailored for spatial audio, aiming to simplify the integration of sound materials into spatial audio systems. It took considerable experimentation to refine the patch into a functional and practical tool. Only now, months later, as I work on a musical piece for the Spatial Sound Festival, do I fully appreciate its utility. Consequently, I've decided to embark on a version 2 of the patch.

Having a novice understanding of Max it can be hard to know where to start patching whatever you are trying to create. Luckily we live in the age where almost all information is accessible trough the internet which is wonderful. Max Msp has a great community, in my opinion one of the most helpful communities that i have come across over the internet, seeing many people taking the effort of making patches that can explain whatever people is wondering of on forum, also offering diffrent sollution.

Inspired by a tutorial from ersatz_ben on shaping transients of incoming audio, I've successfully integrated this feature into the transient tracker of the patch. Before releasing it to the Max community, I aim to enhance it further with additional features. One such feature is the ability to select distinct routing patterns for the sounds, a concept I have been working on since the initial release.

With the integration of the gen patch to the left, i am able to shape the transient sound making the spatial output more interesting.

Thank you Ersatz_Ben

Link to Transient designer : https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=bX42g_E88Ak&ab_channel=ersatz_ben

Link to Transient Tracker 1.0: https://maxforlive.com/library/device/9909/spatial-transient-tracker