Thursday, 22 April 2010
Video Work
Monday, 19 April 2010
Elysium Software
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxSP5ZP8IHo&feature=player_embedded
This is called elysium and was created by Matthew Mower in 2008 and is inspired by the ReacTogon.
But what is Elysium?
Straight from the Elysium webwite " Elysium is an interactive generative MIDI sequenser"
"Elysium is a sequencer, that means it’s designed to produce sequences of notes that can be layered to form music.
Elysium uses MIDI which means that it doesn’t make sounds itself but can drive MIDI based synthesizers, samplers, and other instruments. It also means that Elysium’s output can be recorded, and manipulated, in a DAW such as Logic or Ableton Live.
Elysium is generative which relates to the way the music is created by building up a “system” composed of layers, cells, tokens, and playheads that combined, when “played”, to produce a sequence of notes.
Elysium is interactive. Features like MIDI CC control and MIDI trigger mode allow you to take control and integrate generative elements into the music you make and play."
The great thing about this is that Elysium is open source like TUIO and ReacTivision. The down side for me is that Elysium only runs on Mac opperating systems lepard and snow lepard, and as I only have tiger running on my mac I can not use this software.
Luckly for me ReacTIVision and TUIO both work with my operating system, which is one reason why I have decided to create a reacTable.
The Elysium software screen dump looks just like the reacTogon's musical interface and ind if you what the video demo you can see that it looks and behaves just like the reacTogon does and is one way in which you can see how the reacTogon has inspired it.
Full instructions on how to download and make a symple midi sequencer useing Elysium can be found on thie following website:
http://lucidmac.com/products/elysium/
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
The Reactagon the Chain Reactive Performance Appegiator
This marker is known as a ricochet marker, it plays a note when the playhead reaches it. They can be also be used to change the direction of play in real time. Like its name suggests it is used to pass the play to another marker, like another rocochet marker, creating a musical sequence.
The bar consisting of different square blocks located at the bottom of the table is known as the "transposer bar" and it allows the pitch of the musical sequence to be changed.
Another counter known as a "splitter" can be used to dispurce the playhead in several directions
A "stop" counter can be used to stop the play head after the final not it played. Conbine all these markers you can create interesting intricate musical sequences.
Volume, timbre and rythm can be controled by by lower faders located on the side of the reacTogon. By moving up and down the faders with a simple finger depth and colour can be added to the composition.
The faders above these act like sound banks and additional sounds like drum sequencers and other instruments making the composition experience larger and more exhilerating.
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
The Chaos pad
The Kaoss Pad
When the Kaoss pad KP1 was launched in 1999 is was a new and exciting way to use effects. It hosts a square touch panel that is sensitive to the figure and can be used to control effects in real time. It also has a built in single sample memory that allows the user to record and manipulate in a number of ways.
The Kaoss pad works as an all in one sampler, effects processor and tangible midi controller for audio and musical instruments. It allows the user audio control in real time over effects, samples and records. The player can control how effect is used and the amount by placing a single fingertip upon the tangible square surface. The parameters of effects are controlled completely using the x and y coordinates on the pad. Ruling both horizontal and vertical directions means that it is possible to control the effect time by stroking right, whilst simultaneously a downwards stroke can have power over the amount of feedback on the effect, these work instead of faders. By tapping lightly on the kaoss pad works like a switch and can control the effects, on and off. The benefit of having a touch screen x-y calibration instead of sliders, faders and knobs means that the koass pad can be small, light, compact and easier to use.
The kaoss pad contains effects such as;
Reverb
Delay
Pitch shifter
Sound processing filters
Modulation effects such as
Flanger
Chorus
Panning
Phaser
Ring modulation
The pad also allows the user control over sampling, and records from a source like CD to the pad for a maximum or five seconds at 48 kHz. The sample can then be used with the koass pad and modified using the effects available. This feature allows the player to intragrate sampled effects into a live set. The Kaoss pad also allows the user to connect a microphone and operates though a Jack. By singing or playing into the microphone allows the user to manipulate and sample the incoming signal in real time.
Since the KP1, Korg have developed and updated their products such as;
KP2 and the KPE2 (Kaoss pad enhancer) a kaoss pad that controls and manipulates both audio and video
KP3
Mini-KP, in the spring of 2008 Korg developed the last in the chain of kaoss pads the Mini-KP a smaller version of its brother the KP3, this kaoss pad hosts 2 memory banks, 100 new effects and holds 4 AA batteries. Making it safe to circuit bend and manipulate internally.
Personally I am not a fan of the chaos pad, and because of its natual ability to easily make alot of noise, it makes it hard to use well and effectivly, given to the wrong person the chaos pad can be a little bit overwelming.
A example of somone using the chaos pad 3 well is Beardy man, he uses his voice to make loops and samples of words aswell as beat boxing, conbineing it with drum samples stored within the memory of the chaos pad. He also using a vocodera and other effects such as chorus, delay and reverb. You can see in the video how he is using his fingure of the touch pad to manipulate diferent aspects of the music he creating.I think this is very effective and I enjoyed watching it. Beardy man makes it look easy and fun to use a chaos pad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39n4wow8fWE
Monday, 22 March 2010
Tangible Musical Interface "Tangible Sequencer"
The ReacTable Experience
Collaboration means working together and it is a very important thing that people have been doing since the dawn of time. Bridges do not get built with one pair of hands, just as Rome wasn't build in a day.
The collaborative nature of the ReacTable allows groups of people to play together simultaneously. This opens up the opportunity for each person to explore their own, and each others creativity, whilst creating music and visual delights.
The ReacTable is extremely entertaining not only to watch but to play. From building one I have found that mine is very satisfying to use. Being secure in the knowledge that when you place a object down a sound can be heard, and by twisting that object "you" the user can control the pitch and this can be very pleasing.
The ReacTable experience is a version of the reacTable that has been developed for museums and other places such as schools for demonstration and experiments. Based on the real thing, this version of the ReacTable is robust and designed for the casual user and children. It is suited well for people interested in new music development and especially children who are beginning to explore the many possibilities of creating sound and music.
Children grasp the concept of the ReacTable quickly and can create sound from the moment they start to use it. Inprovisation is naturally easy and children and users soon start to explore the avenues of sound creating more complex composition.
If you fancy having a go, "The ReacTable Experience" can be found at any one of these venues;
Intech Science Center, UK
Discovery World, USA
Museum of Science and Industry, USA
Polymechanon Science Center, Greece
Museo Papalote del Niño, Mexico
Montréal Science Centre, Canada
CosmoCaixa, Spain
ZKM, Germany
Santralistanbul, Turkey
Museum für Kommunikation, Switzerland
Science Centre Singapore
Sub Mix Pro, Italy
experimenta, Germany
The ReacTable experience is also available to rent for your own exibition, you can do this at the reacTable website, if are your interested go to http://www.reactable.com/.
Saturday, 13 March 2010
The ReacTable in a Commercial Environment
- Do I think it will catch on?
- Will DJ's be replacing their CD decks for a ReacTable?
Im sure that this will happen soon though, but at a hefty price.
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
Tangiable Fidicial Blocks
The above picture shows a ReacTable tangiable object, note the fiducial on one side. These are made out of perspex and the fiducuial is inlayed within the plasic. To have tangiable like this will set you back alot of money, because of the material and also because they will have to be custom made for you.
All the best,
--Marcos Alonso
Reactable Systems
(+34) 93 1820 777
http://www.reactable.com/"
A little steap and out of my price range but I was happy that I got a responce from one of the men who helped make it.
Deturmined to find a alternitive way I emailed other, more local plasic molding factorys in the UK. I tryed http://luminati.co.uk/.
I emailed them the imformation on how meny I required, which was 20, the fiducial picture i wanted inlayed within the plastic, and the size, and shape.
He most Kindly emailed me back with this:
"Dear Abigail
Thanks for the additional information.
John Gall
Director
Luminati Waycon Ltd
john@luminati.co.uk ~ DDI : 01752 897928 ~ T : 01752 698720 ~ F : 01752 698116"
Again far too much but I was supprised to notice that the price of geting them custom made in the UK was about the same size if I was to buy them from spain.
The pro's of buying them from spain is that I would get a set identical to the ones being used on the reactable, It would be alot easyer to buy them from the ReacTable website.
Yet
If I bought my own from Luminati.co.uk I would have more creative licence meaning I could design them how I want have different shapes and colours to the ones they use on the true ReacTable, making mine different, and I like different.
But Alas having tangiables made in this material is to expensive, so I have to think of alternitive ways of making my tangiable blocks.
The good thing and most important reason why the tangiables inleyed in a perspex object is because the fiducial must be clear at all times when in contact with the video camera. Having the fiducial inlayed in plasic makes the tangiable more duriable and easyer to clean if dirty.
If a printed out paper fiducial is just idily stuck on the bottom of an object, that that fiducial picture will soon get grubby, and the paper will start to peel away after time. So I begain to think about a few factors of making my tangiable blocks, I wanted a material that is,
- light, so if droped on the glass surface the interface will not smash,
- strong,
- cheap
- easy to find
I also needed to make my fiducial pictures stronger and more durable than a simple sheet of paper.
I thought of lots of materials such as wood, but in the end I decided on using blocks of duplo.
The good thing I think with using Duplo instead of wood is that it would be lighter because its plastic, and easer to get hold of, as most toy shops stock duplo, but it would probily proove more expensive than wood. Also they are a good size.
Another thing I liked about using duplo is the fact that it is in its pure form a childs building block, and from one of my early posts I said that, building blocks are implortant to a childs learning, and creative thinking, and also it links to the idea of collaberation, I like this idea.
I found a large box of duplo for cheaper than I expected, it cost me £6.99 from the Entertainer shop in Cardiff Queens Arcade, which I thought was quite resonable. Below are some pictures of me making the tangiable blocks.I selected two peices of duplo that were the same size and stuck them together useing glue, I then filled in the square holes with tishue paper and succured this with celetape. I did this so that the fiducial picture will have a more sturdy base to lie on. I then carefully cut out the fiducial marker and it's number, laminated the paper fiducial and finaly stuck the fiducial to the bottom of the new tangiable object using super glue.
I made 14 of these bocks and they are light, easy to move around the table, but the down side it that they are hard to tell apart from each other. I will have to mark them with a pen to know which one does what. This of course will not look as fancy as the ones designed by the reactable people but it's a nice, cheap and fun do it your self way of creating tangiables.
Monday, 8 March 2010
Translucent Tabletop!!
I orded a sample from windowfilm.com and this is a picture of it....
Monday, 1 March 2010
Projector Research
- Where is the projector possitioned in the true ReacTable
- How is it set up?
- The projector is fixed to the top of the cabinet,
- A mirror is used to extend the distance,
- IR LED's are used to illuminate the cabinet,
- the glass table top is not transparent.
Monday, 22 February 2010
Optic Research
- To track the objects the table needs to be is well illuminated. Allowing the camera and ReacTIVision to see the markers clearly.
- The glass screen must be dark enough so that the user can see the projected visual aid.
Sunday, 21 February 2010
My ReacTable Status 3
- MDF
- Glass
- Screws
- Glue
- Woodern battons
- Electronic screwdriver
Tuesday, 16 February 2010
My ReacTable Status 2
- Round glass Tabletop which I had custom made from Trefforest glass and cost me £30. The glass has a diameter of 80cm
- MDF wood which I had cut into 4 peices.
- It is easier to construct than a circular cabinate
- It is cheaper
- I can also project of to it's sides if need be.
My ReacTable Status 1
Monday, 15 February 2010
Further Camera Research
- Cheap to Buy
- Robust
- Works with ReacTIVision
- Easy to assemble
- Captures the entire glass tabletop
- Will The camera capture the entire table?
- Will the camera work quickly enough in real time to track the markers?
- Open Macam (working)
- Close Macam
- Open ReacTIVision (defalt built in isight appears)
- Press (H) = ReacTIVision option mode
- Press (O) = ReacTIVision camera settings
- Select Macam Sony HD Eye for PS3
- PS3 working with ReacTIVision
- Fiducial markers are recognised from a close distance.