Tag: portfolio

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Converting car engine sounds from Pd to Max

From “Designing Sound” By Andy Farnell

Update 6/2014: This project is at: https://github.com/tkzic/automax

original post

Yesterday I converted Andy Farnell’s car engine patch into Max. Some general suggestions about Pd to Max conversion:

  • You can save the Pd patch as a .pat file and load it into Max
  • [pow] object inlets reversed
  • look at translations from previous post for common objects – more on this later
  • I wrote a translation for [vd~] – more on that later…
  • In Pd all numbers are floats – so any non-signal objects in Max need to be explicitly set to float.
  • I am working to come up with a set of diagnostic tools in Pd for reading for probing into signal path, when debugging conversions.
  • the Pd [inlet~] does an implicit conversion from float to signal. In Max, you need to use [sig~]

The patches are currently in my tkzic/Pd folder. Will be moving them into a specialized folder for Andy Farnell stuff.

 

 

 

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Ableton – special effects, slowing down the master track

notes

Essentially the process is to copy a section of the master track into sampler, then slow it down by applying a pitch bend envelope.

I made a Live set example of this with the chorus from Justin Bieber’s “baby”

Steps: (in arrangement view)

  1. record a section of the master track into a new audio track
  2. On a midi track, select the region you are working with and make a new midi clip (shift cmd M)
  3. drag the audio from your newly created track into the instrument area for your midi track. This creates a simpler instrument
  4. right click simpler and select “simpler to sampler”
  5. Make a one note midi clip using C3 (ie, playing Midi note C3 causes the entire audio clip to play)
  6. In sampler, increase pitch bend width to maximum
  7. Apply a pitch bend envelope to the midi clip

Some miscellaneous keyboard shortcuts:

Shift tab – alternates from instrument view to clip view

shift transpose – octaves

hold down option key to duplicate clip by dragging

 

 

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Max/MSP Using data streams as switches

Adapted from Max/MSP Data tutorials: 1, 2, and 3

I wrote a sample patch to demonstrate triggering two different sounds from a a stream of data using the high range and low range – with a neutral zone in the middle. This patch includes a sine cosine test wave generator.

local file: max teaching examples/tz examples/working with data streams.maxpat

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Max audio visualization

In Max examples under jitter-examples/audio, are examples of cool things you can do to make audio visualizations. The example patches can be used by just feeding in some audio from another patch.

The above and below pictures were made from jit.gl.nurbs-audiorender-tz and tz-synth-4.2-visual or something like that –

Note: Local files are in  the Max teaching examples/tz examples folder.

try the last presets… the presets in the jitter patch don’t restore the graphics that were happening when they are saved. I think because the settings need to be restored in a particular order – but you’ll get the idea anyway.

 

 

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Ableton Live multi-track looper

Notes

Have started updating the saxophone looper program to work with launchpad and a keyboard.

Ideally the keyboard would record MIDI so that you could use it for any kind of built in instrument. With this first pass I’ve set it up to record audio – so at any time you can either play the keys, or play into the mic.

Also have thrown in some new drum kits.

Have kept footpedal assignments the same for now, just so I can go back to the original setups without reprogramming.

It looks like the cue output was originally assigned to 3/4 so we could route the drums out separately. Need to work on making this happen.

Todo:

  • route drums to 3/4
  • setup launchpad
  • setup effects processing (to use with launchpad)

Looper wiring diagram and Notes

 

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Alphabet of connections

Another mindless project…

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AuWGRATV-Pp-dGtoVlB2VGhXRWRWaGk0Z1B6N05jVnc

analog (audio) (API) a
bluetooth b
conduction (conversation) (computers) c
digital d
electro-magnetic (electric) e
fluid (hydraulic) f
gear (mechanical) (game) g
human (animal) h
internet (ethernet) i
jamming (improvisation) j
konvection (convection) k
light l
MIDI (music) (magic) (mysticism) m
eNtropy n
OSC o
plant (picture) (parallel) (particles) p
quantum q
radio (radiation) r
serial s
thought (touch) (talking) t
USB u
video (camera) v
wireless (wifi) (waves) w
eXtraterrestrial x
gravitY y
zero-point z
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Ableton Live warping

notes

From recent warping experience…

  • You can drag the track while warp mark stay in place, by holding down SHIFT before dragging
  • Double click at the little blip markers (at strong transients) to create a yellow warp marker and drag it to gridline. If the song is reasonably in time you won’t need to do a lot, just make sure to check each section of the song
  • hold CTRL to move just one warp marker while leaving adjacent ones in place

An episode from Dubspot on how to warp. They suggest a slightly different method

Another method – which leaves autowarp on….

 

 

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Funcube with HSM upconverter

notes

After months away from this project I am at this moment listening to 40 meter cw signals via  the High Sierra Microwave (HSM) upconverter into the funcube via Max/MSP.

The Max funcube external doesn’t provide a way to turn on the bias tee current which powers the HSM device, so… I am using this version of the FCHid software to turn on bias tee, and set LNA to 0db, while using Max to tune the funcube. This is on windows and both programs can run at the same time.

http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/FCDevelopment/files/FCHID/

Prior versions of FCHid don’t have the checkbox for bias tee.

Next on the agenda will be to make this work in Mac OS.

First impressions: signals seem a bit weak, although it could be atmospheric conditions. Filtering isn’t great but its adequate – it just doesn’t have the ‘punch’ you get with a good selective receiver… Which is why nobody in their right might would actually design a shortwave receiver this way.

Update: got it working on mac os using version 3.2 of QtHid to toggle the bias-t – this version is the latest as of the time of this post and was bundled with the dmg.