MBTA API in Max

Sonification of Mass Ave buses, from Nubian to Harvard.

Updated for Max8 and Catalina

This patch requests data from MBTA API to get the current location of buses – using the Max js object. Latitude and Longitude data is mapped to oscillator pitch. Data is polled every 10 seconds, but it seems like the results might be more interesting to poll at a slower rate, because the updates don’t seem that frequent. And buses tend to stop a lot.

Original project link from 2014: https://reactivemusic.net/?p=17524

MBTA developer website: https://www.mbta.com/developers

This project uses version 3 of the API. There are quality issues with the realtime data. For example, there are bus stops not associated with the route. The direction_id and stop_sequence data from the buses is often wrong. Also, buses that are not in service are not removed from the vehicle list or indicated as such.

The patch uses a [multislider] object to graph the position of the buses along the route – but due to the data problems described above, the positions don’t always reflect the current latitude/longitude coordinates or the bus stop name.

download

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

folder: mbta

patches:

  • mbta.maxpat
  • mbta.js
  • poly-oscillator.maxpat
authentication

You will need  to replace the API key in the message object at the top of the patch with your own key. Or you can probably just remove it. The key distributed with the patch is fake. You can request your own developer API key from MBTA. It’s free.

instructions
  • Open mbta.maxpat
  • Open the Max console window so you can see what’s happening with the data
  • click on the yellow [getstops] message to get the current bus stop data
  • Toggle the metro (at the top of the patch) to start polling
  • Turn on the audio (click speaker icon) and turn up the gain

Note: there will be more buses running during rush hours in Boston.  Try experimenting with the polling rate and ramp length in the poly-oscillator patch. Also, you can experiment with the pitch range.

Soundcloud API in Max8

updated version of  https://reactivemusic.net/?p=5413

This project is part of the internet-sensors project: https://reactivemusic.net/?p=5859

In this patch, Max uses the Soundcloud API to search tracks and then select a result to download and play. It uses the node.js soundcloud-api-client https://github.com/iammordaty/soundcloud-api-client

For information on the soundcloud API http://developers.soundcloud.com/docs/api/reference

download

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

folder: soundcloud

files

main Max patch
  • sc.maxpat
node.js files
  • scnode.js

authorization

  • The Soundcloud client-id is embedded in scnode.js – you will need to edit this file to replace the worthless client-id with your own. To get a client ID you will first need a Soundcloud account. Then register an app at: http://soundcloud.com/you/apps

first time instructions

  • Open the Max patch: sc.maxpat
  • In the green panel, click on [script npm init]
  • In the green panel , click on [script install soundcloud-api-client]

instructions

  • Open the Max patch sc.maxpat
  • open the max.console window so you can see the API data
  • click [script start]
  • click the speaker icon to start audio
  • type something into the search box and press <enter> or click the button to the left to search for what is already in the box.
  • select a track from the result menu, wait for it to download and start playing

Spotify segment analysis player in Max

Echo Nest API audio analysis data is now provided by Spotify. This project is part of the internet-sensors project: https://reactivemusic.net/?p=5859  and updates the 2013 Echo Nest project described here: https://reactivemusic.net/?p=6296

 

The original analyzer document by Tristan Jehan can be found here (for the time being):  https://web.archive.org/web/20160528174915/http://developer.echonest.com/docs/v4/_static/AnalyzeDocumentation.pdf

This implementation uses node.js for Max instead of Ruby to access the API. You will need set up a developer account with Spotify and request API credentials. See below.

Other than that, the synthesis code in Max has not changed.  Some of the following background information and video is from the original version. ..

What if you used that data to reconstruct music by driving a sequencer in Max? The analysis is a series of time based quanta called segments. Each segment provides information about timing, timbre, and pitch – roughly corresponding to rhythm, harmony, and melody.

spotify-synth1.maxpat

download

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

folder: spotify2

files

main Max patch
  • spotify-synth1.maxpat
abstractions and other files
  • polyvoice-sine.maxpat
  • polyvoice2.maxpat
node.js code
  • spot1.js
node folders and infrastructure
  • /node_modules
  • package-lock.json
  • package.json
dependencies:
  • You will need to install node.js
  • the node package manager will do the rest – see below.

Note: Your best bet is to just download the repository, leave everything in place, and run it from the existing folder

authentication

You will need to sign up for a developer account at Spotify and get an API key. https://developer.spotify.com/documentation/general/guides/authorization-guide/

Edit spot1.js replacing the cliendID and clientSecret with your spotify credentials

node for max install instructions (first time only)

  •  Open the Max patch: spotify-synth1.maxpat
  •  Scroll the patch over to the far right side until you see this green panel:

  • Click the [script npm init] message – this initializes the node infrastructure in the current folder
  • Then click each of the 2 script npm install messages –  this installs the necessary libraries

Instructions

  •  Open the Max patch: spotify-synth1.maxpat
  •  Click the green [script start] message
  • Click the Speaker icon to start audio
  • Click the first dot in the preset object to set the mixer settings to something reasonable
  • open the Max Console window so you can see the Spotify API data
  • From the 2 menus at the top of the screen select an Artist and Title that match, for example: Albert Ayler and “Witches and Devils”
  • Click the [analyze] button – the console window should fill with interest data about your selection.
  • Click [play]
  • Note: if you hear a lot of clicks and pops, reduce the audio sample rate to 44.1 KHz.
Alternative search method:

Enter an Artist and Song title for analysis, in the text boxes. Then press the buttons for title and artist. Then press the /analyze button. If it works you will get prompts from the terminal window, the Max window, and you should see the time in seconds in upper right corner of the patch.

troubleshooting

If there are problems with the analysis, its most likely due to one of the following:

  • artist or title spelled incorrectly
  • song is not available
  • song is too long
  • API is busy
Mixer controls

The Mixer channels from Left to right are:

  • bass
  • synth (left)
  • synth (right)
  • random octave synth
  • timbre synth
  • master volume
  • gain trim
  • HPF cutoff frequency
You can also adjust the reverb decay time and the playback rate. Normal playback rate is 1.

programming notes

Best results happen with slow abstract material, like the Miles (Wayne Shorter) piece above. The bass is not really happening. Lines all sound pretty much the same. I’m thinking it might be possible to derive a bass line from the pitch data by doing a chordal analysis of the analysis.

Here are screenshots of the Max sub-patches (the main screen is in the video above)

Timbre (percussion synth) – plays filtered noise:

Random octave synth:

Here’s a Coltrane piece, using roughly the same configuration but with sine oscillators for everything:

There are issues with clicks on the envelopes and the patch is kind of a mess but it plays!

Several modules respond to the API data:

  • tone synthesiszer (pitch data)
  • harmonic (random octave) synthesizer (pitch data)
  • filtered noise (timbre data)
  • bass synthesizer (key and mode data)
  • envelope generator (loudness data)

Since the key/mode data is global for the track, bass notes are probable guesses. This method doesn’t work for material with strong root motion or a variety of harmonic content. It’s essentially the same approach I use when asked to play bass at an open mic night.

additional notes

Now that this project is running again. I plan to write additional synthesizers that follow more of the spirit of the data. For example, distinguishing strong pitches from noise.

Also would like to make use of  the [section] data as well as the rhythmic analysis. There is an amazing amount of potential here.

Updating Max/MSP internet sensor projects

Notes for updating from Max6 to Max8 in Mac OS Catalina

In general, 32 bit code will not work

Link to internetsensors project: https://reactivemusic.net/?p=5859

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

1. mxj object

Need to update, but the Oracle link leads to a dead end message. Go to the Oracle download link https://www.oracle.com/java/technologies/javase/javase-jdk8-downloads.html but instead of pressing the green download button, <ctrl> click and save the link as described in the instructions from intrepidOlivia in this link https://gist.github.com/wavezhang/ba8425f24a968ec9b2a8619d7c2d86a6

2. aka.objects

I have used aka.shell, and aka.speech – among others. These objects no longer work. Replace with Jeremy Bernstein’s shell object: https://github.com/jeremybernstein/shell/releases/tag/1.0b2

NOTE: There’s a problem with [shell] – it rejects input that is converted to a symbol using [tosymbol].

This can be fixed by using from symbol – or just eliminating [tosymbol] – it make affect the stderr-stdout redirection token, ie., “>” and other special characters but for now [shell] does not accept symbol input

aka.speech can be replaced using the “say” command in the shell.  more details to follow about voice parameters.

‘say’ has similar params to aka.speech, eg., voice name and rate. There are voices for specific languages. This feature could be used, for example, to match the language from a Tweet to an appropriate voice

3. Twitter streaming API

I revised the php code for the Twitter streaming project, to use the coordinates of a corner of the city polygon bounding box. That seems to be more reliable than the geo coordinates which are absent from most Tweets.

There is a new API in the works – but its difficult to decipher the Twitter API docs because they have so many products and the documentation is obtuse.

Also it would be interesting to extract the “language” field and use it to select which voice to use in the speech synthesizer. Or even have an english translation option.

4. Echonest API

Echonest was absorbed into Spotify. The API is gone. But the Spotify API does have some of the feature detection and analysis code. But it doesn’t allow you to submit your own audio clips. There are also some efforts to preserve some of the Echonest stuff like the blog by Paul Lamere, and the remix code. Here are a few links I found to get started.

Spotify API (features) https://developer.spotify.com/console/get-audio-features-track/?id=06AKEBrKUckW0KREUWRnvT

Echonest blog:  https://blog.echonest.com/

Amen – algorithmic remix project:  https://github.com/algorithmic-music-exploration/amen

5. Google speech to text

Several issues:

  • Replacing [aka.shell] with [shell] – instead of using [tosymbol], this workaround seems to help

  • Now have rewritten all of the recording code, and shell interactions with Google.
  • Still need to work on voice options for the ‘say’ command (text to speech)
  • pandorabots API problems turned out that the URL needed to be https instead of http

6. twitter curl project

Looks like xively.com is gone. Maybe purchased by google? Anyway – this project is toast

7. Twitter via Ruby

Got this working again.

8. Bird calls from xeno-canto.com

This patch has been completely re-written. The old API was obsolete. This version uses [dict] and [maxurl] to format and execute the initial query. Then it uses [jit.uldl] to download the mp3 file with the bird-call audio.  Interesting that [maxurl] would not download the file using the “download” URL. It only worked with a URL containing the actual file name.

9. ping

Needed to reinstall ruby gems using xcrun (see above)

seems to be a problem with mashape:

Could not resolve host: igor-zachetly-ping-uin.p.mashape.com (Patron::HostResolutionError)

[mashape was acquired by rapidapi.com – so will need to refactor the code in the ruby server.]

 

See yourself in Code

“Commissioned for the BBC’s make it digital event, the brief was ‘to get children into code’. My installation downloaded the event’s twitter feed in real time and displayed the page’s body text inside the bodies of passing people. Moving their hands around allowed people to scroll through the html/js/CSS.”

By Robin Price

http://robinprice.net/2015/03/do-you-see-yourself-in-code/

20150227-Robin-10-1024x683

 

This project uses:

  • maxurl
  • jit.gl.text2d
  • jit.openni
  • kinect

https://cycling74.com/project/do-you-see-yourself-in-code/

Uploading tracks for Echonest analysis

Get track analysis data for your music using the Echonest API.

The track analysis includes summary information about a track including tempo, key signature, time signature mode, danceability, loudness, liveness, speechinesss, acousticness and energy along with detailed information about the song structure (sections) beat structure (bars, beats tatums) and detailed info about timbre, pitch and loudness envelope (segment).

track API documentation: http://developer.echonest.com/docs/v4/track.html

Its a two (or three) step process. Here’s an example of how to upload your track and get an audio summary, using curl from the command line in Mac OS. Note, you will need to register with Echonest to get a developer API key here: http://developer.echonest.com/raw_tutorials/register.html

upload

Note that the path to the filename needs to be complete or relative to the working directory. Also, in this example there was no metadata identifying the title of the song. You may want to change this before uploading. Replace the API key with your key.

curl -F “api_key=TV2C30KWEJDKVIT9P” -F “filetype=mp3” -F “track=@/Users/tkzic/internetsensors/echo-nest/bowlingnight.mp3” “http://developer.echonest.com/api/v4/track/upload”

Here is the response returned:

{“response”: {“status”: {“version”: “4.2”, “code”: 0, “message”: “Success”}, “track”: {“status”: “pending”, “artist”: “Tom Zicarelli”, “title”: “”, “release”: “”, “audio_md5”: “7edc05a505c4aa4b8ff87ba40b8d7624”, “bitrate”: 128, “id”: “TRLFXWY14ACC02F24C”, “samplerate”: 44100, “md5”: “78ccac72a2b6c1aed1c8e059983ce7c7”}}}

track profile

Here’s the query to get the analysis – using the ID returned by the previous call.  Replace the API key with your key.

curl “http://developer.echonest.com/api/v4/track/profile?api_key=TV2C30KYGHTUVIT9P&format=json&id=TRLFXWY14ACC02F24C&bucket=audio_summary”

Here is the response – which also contains a URL that you can use to get more detailed segment based acoustic analysis of the track.

{

“response”: { “status”: { “code”: 0, “message”: “Success”, “version”: “4.2” }, “track”: { “analyzer_version”: “3.2.2”, “artist”: “Tom Zicarelli”, “audio_md5”: “7edc05a505c4aa4b8ff87ba40b8d7624”, “audio_summary”: { “acousticness”: 0.64550727753299, “analysis_url”: “http://echonest-analysis.s3.amazonaws.com/TR/TRLFXWY14ACC02F24C/3/full.json?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJRDFEY23UEVW42BQ&Expires=1420763215&Signature=OLqYwvuzVmAqp1xLTi5x4CsYJuE%3D”, “danceability”: 0.5680872294350238, “duration”: 245.91673, “energy”: 0.19974462311717034, “instrumentalness”: 0.8089125726216321, “key”: 11, “liveness”: 0.10906007889455183, “loudness”: -25.331, “mode”: 1, “speechiness”: 0.03294587631927559, “tempo”: 93.689, “time_signature”: 4, “valence”: 0.43565861274829504 }, “bitrate”: 128, “id”: “TRLFXWY14ACC02F24C”, “md5”: “78ccac72a2b6c1aed1c8e059983ce7c7”, “samplerate”: 44100, “status”: “complete” } } }

analysis

Use the analysis_url returned by the previous request. Note that it expires a few minutes after the request. But you can always re-run the audio_profile request to get a new analysis_url

curl “http://echonest-analysis.s3.amazonaws.com/TR/TRLFXWY14ACC02F24C/3/full.json?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIASVIFEY23UEGE42BQ&Expires=1420763215&Signature=OLqYwvuzVmAqp1xLTi5x4CsYJuE%3D”

The analysis result is too large to display here. For more information, get the Echonest Analyze Documentation: http://developer.echonest.com/docs/v4/_static/AnalyzeDocumentation.pdf