Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Making things in Max




I've been learning how to use Max from watching tutorials and downloading & studying existing patches (programs). Many patches are available for free online and vary from useful widgets & tools for dropping into patches to complete, functional patches that function either in Max or as standalone software. I've been watching lots of examples of synthesizer, sampler and loop machine patches. I've also watched many tutorials involving the Wiimote, but I'm not sure if I'm compelled to use it because it's useful or just because it would be cool. I've been considering changing my input device from the Wiimote to my Micron, a small scale synth that can act as a midi controller.

Whichever I decide on, I'm thinking the program I make will set the input up to play audio clips of each note on the 12-note scale - onto corresponding keys on the Micron, or specific buttons/combinations on the Wiimote (if I use the Wiimote I'd probably set it up as a loop machine instead of a note-for-note synth).

The data produced by the Wiimote/Micron would also have to control a second patch that plays video in sync with the gestures/keystrokes being used to create the music. I've been making video programs and playing around with effects for the past few days, and am starting to figure out a plan on turning the audio into something visual, based off of the sonochromatic scale. I found lots of resources online offering free video loops for VJ shows. I grabbed some and played around with them in Max, and noticed that there's many that have pretty solid color schemes - some stay basically red or blue or purple, etc. I'm pretty sure that I can eventually make something that connects the notes being played to one of 12 different clips to represent that note's color. Using Max's crossfade, several clips can be spliced together at once to represent chords/multiple notes being hit at once.

In the end, with any luck you'll be able to create music using at least one of these devices that simultaneously controls live video in colors that relate to the notes being played.



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