Tag: electronic music

Posted on

Web Audio Playground Max, Osc, and WebSockets

updated 5/17/2014

overview

This fork adds the following features to Chris Wilson’s Web Audio Playground:

  • basic patch load/save capability
  • clipboard copy/paste to get patches in and out of browser
  • OSC control of all parameters using web sockets and a ruby server.

Try it out at: http:zerokidz.com/wap/index.html

For optimum results try Chrome on Mac OS. But it does work in other browsers.

Patch file format is JSON. Patches are reloaded by firing gesture events which created them.

download

Source code: https://github.com/tkzic/WebAudio

files

sub-folder: osctest

Instructions for Osc, Websockets Max/MSP example

Note: You can either run a local web server, using nodeserver.js and index.html – in the WebAudio folder – or use the online version of WAP as described here.

1.  Load WAP in a Google Chrome browser using the following URL: http:zerokidz.com/wap/index.html

2. In WAP, load a patch called: delay-thing.

Note: If the patch doesn’t exist you can paste it in by opening the file osctest/delay-thing.json in a text editor and copying the text. Then click paste in WAP and paste in the text. Then make sure to save it in WAP by typing in the name “delay-thing” and clicking the save-as: button

3. In a terminal window, go to the osctest/ folder and start the server by typing:

ruby ./wapOSCserver.rb

4. In WAP, Press the OSC button – the ruby server should acknowledge with the message: “WebSocket connection open”

5. Open the Max patch: wapOSCtester.maxpat

6. In WAP press the play button on the Oscillator module (you should hear sounds)

7. In the Max patch drag the slider on the left to control the oscillator pitch. You should hear the sound change and see the sliders move in WAP.

Notes on Web Sockets connection:

The html side of the connection is done in js/socketsOSC.js

look at the function: connectOSC() – which gets triggered by the OSC button in index.html

Incoming messages from Max (via Ruby server) are parsed in parseOSCMessage() which figures out how to set appropriate values for the audio objects in the DOM.

There are currently no acknowledgement or error messages being returned (at least I don’t remember doing this)

Posted on

The sound of a new machine

Using internet ping data to control a synthesizer in Max

This project uses ‘ping’ times to about 40 Google domains, like google.ca, google.de, etc., to control pitch and amplitude of a 20 voice droning synthesizer.

Imagine working in a Google control center. A soothing low pitched drone fills the room. Then Suddenly you hear a slowly rising pitch. You check the monitors – Google Paraguay is experiencing network failure. You light a cigarette and wait for things to calm down.

update 2/6/2021

Not using ruby to ping – due to API shutting down. The new version uses the Max [shell] external to ping from the command line.

download

https://github.com/tkzic/internet-sensors

folder: ping

files

main Max patch
  • sound-of-a-new-machine3.maxpat
abstractions and other files

instructions

  • Open the Max patch: sound-of-a-new-machine3.maxpat
  • Turn on audio. Turn up the gain.
  • In the Max patch, click the toggle box to start polling. It may take a minute to hear any sounds, while the oscillators are loading. Increase polling speed to 400 or so if you can’t wait.
  • Another reason you might not hear anything interesting is if the clip threshold is too low. Watch the incoming ping times and set the clip threshold above the average level.
  • Adjust the pitch multiplier to your desired pitch range. It will take some time for all of the oscillators to adjust after a pitch change.
  • If you hear clicks or pops, try reducing the sample rate to 44.1 KHz, or increasing the IO vector size (in Options | Audio Status).

note: Occasionally the server program will time-out when its launched. Try launching again, or edit it and increase the timeout value in [p shellping].

deprecated information for previous version using ruby

The server is a ruby script which handles the http: requests using the Mashape ping-uin API and sends messages to Max using OSC

The synth has a weird clustering drone like effect like some kind of alien life force.

The patch design is kind of embarrassing. Its obvious I forgot how to use [poly~]. Maybe by the time you read this, we’ll have addressed this.  Hey billions of patch cords look cool.

Here’s an example of the Mashape API in curl

curl --include --request GET 'https://igor-zachetly-ping-uin.p.mashape.com/pinguin.php?address=google.ca' \
  --header 'X-Mashape-Authorization: YOUR-MASHAPE-API-KEY'

Here’s a list of Google domains

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_domains

download

https://github.com/tkzic/internet-sensors

folder: ping

files

main Max patch
  • sound-of-a-new-machine2.maxpat
abstractions and other files
  • google.txt (list of domains for [coll] object
ruby
  • domain-ping.rb

ruby gems

install the following ruby gems using: sudo xcrun gem install <gem-name>

  • require ‘osc-ruby’
  • require ‘patron’
  • require ‘json’

authorization

  • Register with mashape http://mashape.com to get an API-key for ping-uin
  • Then edit domain-ping.rb to enter your mashape API-key.

instructions

  • Open the Max patch: sound-of-a-new-machine2.maxpat
  • Turn on audio. Turn up the gain.
  • From a terminal window type the following command
# ./domain-ping.rb






    

  •  In the Max patch, click the toggle box to start polling. It may take a minute to hear any sounds, while the oscillators are loading. Increase polling speed to 400 or so if you can’t wait.
    • 

  • Another reason you might not hear anything interesting is if the clip threshold is too low. Watch the incoming ping times and set the clip threshold above the average level.
    • 

  • Adjust the pitch multiplier to your desired pitch range.
    • 

  • When you’ve had enough, type <ctrl-c> in the terminal window to stop the server.
    • 



note: Occasionally the server program will time-out when its launched. Try launching again, or edit it and increase the timeout value.


 

	


	







		

		
Posted on 
Raspberry-Pi Osc synthesizer
	


	
	

		
A variation on the Midi synthesizer from this post: https://reactivemusic.net/?p=4960




The synthesizer was built in PureData (Pd extended) using the visual interface on a MacBook. Then the pd file was run in command line mode on the r-pi. The sound card is a Griffin i-Mic, running at 22.5 Khz sample rate. Although there’s no reason why you couldn’t use the builtin DAC on the r-pi.


The r-pi is connected via the ethernet port to a wi-fi network which receives Osc (Open Sound Control) messages from an iPod running touch-Osc. The network connection could have been made using a USB wifi adapter.


All together the cost of this arrangement (less the iPod) would be less than $50. The software is all open source.  The huge financial barriers to working with music synthesis and signal processing, that have been associated with these fields for years, simply don’t exist anymore.


Alternative ways of controlling the synth – if a wiFi router is not available, include:


    

  • USB keyboard (usually free)
    • 

  • USB Midi Keyboard ($25)
    • 

  • switches or dials via the GPIO pins (spare parts)
    • 

  • direct ethernet connection to another device.
    • 



Here is a screenshot of the Pd Patch.




Notes:


Pd file: tkzic/rpi/pd/piSynth1_OSC.pd


recieve port is 8000 – and it uses page 1 of the simple touchOSC template


pd-extended -nogui -noadc  piSynth1_Osc.pd


Note: there is some special code to prevent seg faults when you go from page 2 to page 1 of the touchOSC template


Here’s a great tutorial on using OSC with Pure Data


http://en.flossmanuals.net/pure-data/network-data/osc/


 


 


 

	


	





		

		
Posted on 
RTTY with Arduino
	


	
	

		
Transmitting on 434.650 MHz.


Successfully ran the configuration described in this article


By Anthony Stirk at UKHAS


http://ukhas.org.uk/guides:linkingarduinotontx2


Have only tried 50 baud – but the beacon ran for over an hour without errors. The receiving   setup was done on a Windows 7 computer:


    

  • Funcube (software defined radio)
    • 

  • FCHID (software to tune the Funcube)
    • 

  • Spectraview (demodulate signal from Funcube to SSB)
    • 

  • FLDigi (decode RTTY using custom setup)
    • 



The bandwidth of the RTTY signal was close to 900 instead of something more reasonable like 50. This can be adjusted by trying various resistor values in the voltage divider circuit.


Next steps include building antennas and increasing the baud rate.


 

	


	





		

		
Posted on 
FM Midi Synthesizer with Pd on Raspberry Pi
	


	
	

		
Here’s a simple FM Midi synthesizer developed in pd running on a Raspberry Pi. The patch was written and tested on a Macbook, then the patch file is uploaded to RPi and run using pd-extended from the command line. For example the command to run this patch is:


pd-extended -nogui -noadc -midiindev 1 piSynth1.pd




[todo: upload patch to this site. Currently in tkzic/rpi/pd/piSynth1.pd]


[udpate]: when trying this again, a few problems came up:


    

  1. R-Pi didn’t recognize sound card/midi: Solution was to connect the sound card directly to the R-Pi USB port and connect the Midi controller via powered USB hub
    2. 

  2. Sometimes pd-extended errors out with a device busy message. Seems to run ok if you press ctrl-c and repeat the pd-extended command line. I think this problem may be due to a previous process hanging – and not exiting cleanly
    3. 



 


 


 

	


	





		

		
Posted on 
Pd synth examples
	


	
	

		
notes


A collection of Pd synth patches that might run on Raspberry Pi.