You may have already seen FaceOSC, free software that eases the use of facial tracking from a computer camera for use as a controller, here with music software (top). Synthtopia picked up the story in July, featuring artist and engineer Kyle McDonald. But one FreeKa Tet has done his own implementation (second from top), and while the video is a bit grainy, he sounds wonderfully terrifying, as if his face is trying to slip out of The Matrix.

Sometimes, I’m rendered entirely silent (no, really, it happens), and it’s best to let videos speak for themselves. So here, after the jump, are some whimsical and wild prosthetic sound light-up … hell, I don’t have any idea what’s going on, but I’m enjoying it.

I dare you to start some conversation about musicality. Just don’t be surprised, comment trolls, if you find yourself abducted by a glowing and oddly glitchy-sounding creature with long, monstrous fingers. I’d watch what I say, frankly. Remember the old saying “on the Internet, no one knows if you’re a dog?” I expect that extends to space aliens, too.

Plenty more where those came from.

Oh, look, I could have done my research and seen there’s a bio for Mr. FreeKa Tet, aka Bacon ClapCLAP.
:

Extreme violent bursts, silence, speech, hard rock samples, strange atmospheres, Burgers , American Idol Icon, crackles, retardation, puking static, rocking a gabber party, cutting a worm in half and watching both parts moving, get a watch tatoo on his wrist, confusing videogames with music, drawing little puke characters on friends faces …

Right. Okay. That cleared everything up.

Enjoy your weekend, folks, and stay high and dry, those of you here on the Eastern seaboard of the US.

Granular synthesis… you’ve heard it before. Famously articulated by experimental composer Xenakis, the process of slicing up sound into tiny bits and reassembling it has produced everything from lovely (or terrifying) synthesized sonorities to the underlying time stretching algorithms in popular music software. But with all the tools competing for your granular synthesis time (one seems to pop up every few seconds on the prolific Facebook page of sound designer Richard Devine), the Hadron Particle Synth promises to be different.

It’s a synth, but also an effect – and, for a twist, can seamlessly morph between the two, going from sound source to sound processor and shades in between. Its layering, parameter control, expression options, and all-around completeness lead its developers to confidently dub it “particle synthesis” and not just “granular synthesis.” And what may really convince you, it’s completely free, open source, runs and runs at release either inside Ableton Live as a Max for Live or within the free, geekily-delicious tool Csound. (Plug-ins for Mac and Windows are coming, too.) Whew. Now you’ve got my attention.

No video is out yet, but the Trondheim, Norway-based creators point CDM to their SoundCloud page for some sound samples.

Oeyvind Brandtsegg shares some delightful demo music for your sonic exploratory pleasure, complete with notes on its creation:

All of them made with Hadron as a primary ingredient.
The “Little Soldier Joe” songs are live recorded duo improvisations (Carl Haakon Waadeland on acoustic percussion and myself on Hadron).

Little Soldier Joe walks home with the sugar by Brandtsegg

Little Soldier Joe throws spoonful of sugar in the air just to hear the sound of it falling by Brandtsegg

Little Soldier Joe throws spoonful of sugar in the air just to hear the sound of it falling by Brandtsegg

Little Soldier Joe wonders where he put his keys by Brandtsegg

Little Soldier Joe walks down to The Future to borrow a cup of sugar by Brandtsegg

“Ramblin”, “Walking” and “SpinSync” were actually made as Hadron demo songs (the programmed drums are the only sounds not made by Hadron).

Ramblin by Brandtsegg

WalkingAndFalling(in progress) by Brandtsegg

“Magnetic Forest” was my first electroacoustic composition with Hadron (three improvised overlaid tracks, recorded as midi and edited/composed)

Oeyvind Brandtsegg has a delightful selection of tracks for your sonic exploratory pleasure, with notes:

MagneticForest (in progress) by Brandtsegg

“FeedingTheCharmQuark” (1 and 2) are improvisations with audio feedback into Hadron, where pitch tracking of the audio input is used to control grain rate, so there’s some organic/unpredictable stuff happening as a result of the feedback loop.

FeedingTheCharmQuark2 by Brandtsegg

FeedingTheCharmQuark1 by Brandtsegg

More on the tool:
Hadron Released [News Item]
Partikkel Audio
The team of creators (sound designers, DSP gurus, and Max for Live aficionados all)
and for the really good bits (including that Csound source): Partikkel Downloads

By the way, if you’re wondering how the business model works here when everything’s free and open source, so far it looks like Partikkel, cleverly, has a Hadron expansion pack of “Time Dilation Effects.” Clever — free and open source software, plus what in gaming is called DLC (“downloadable content”). It could be The Future. Either way, it’s The Awesome for now.

I may fire up Csound this week so I can play with the source version. I also need to dig up the Csound for Pd external so I can use those two tools together. And of course I’ll use it in Max for Live, too, just to make sure there’s no chance my head doesn’t explode.

Tired of top 40 hits? Pooped on podcasts? Sapped on streams?

What if your radio could generative music that was never-before — and never-again — heard, all from dynamic, algorithmic software?

PatchWork Radio does that with Pd patches. It’s not a new idea, but the radio station here, at least, is modular – not just one patch but any number of patches can be transformed into radio, thanks to some Python scripting. Creator David Guy John notes:

I’ve recently just started up an internet radio station using PureData to stream generative music. The system will load and unload randomly chosen PD patches, synthesize all the audio in real time and then stream the results out.

You can listen to the stream at http://radio.rumblesan.com and more info is available at http://www.rumblesan.com/?p=265

I’m hoping to try and recruit some help to build patches for it as it’s a bit of a daunting task to do just on my own so if you could let people know about it I’d be really grateful.

So, who’s in – does this generate (ahem) some interest or ideas, and might you want to contribute?

It seems fitting that the kind of musical worlds imagined by artists like Brian Eno now can be deployed anywhere in the world, not just generated in one iteration, but in endlessly-transformable versions.

(But can you dance to it?)

Processing Class in New York, Online: Art From Code, For Non-Coders [Create Digital Motion]

It’s on CDMotion rather than CDMusic for a simple reason — Processing is especially well-suited to visuals, 2D and 3D. But there is audio and MIDI support in there, as well, and while it’s not exactly Java’s strong suit, certain applications do benefit from this approach in music. (It works nicely with everything from Monomes to Arduinos, too.)

Actually, on that note, I’d be especially interested to hear if anyone is using Processing for musical applications. Let us know in comments. And there are slots free for the class, so do sign up if interested. (If you’re outside NYC — realizing that’s, um, the HUGE majority of you –  watch for an announcement soon for how we’re sharing some of this information online for the rest of the world.)

Harvestworks also has a terrific-looking Max/MSP/Jitter intensive in March, but I don’t know how many slots are still open, and it will require US$1275 in tuition.

Image by the awesome eskimoblood, a great source of Processing inspiration!

Patching for the Web

Patching software goes back to the 1980s, best known in its incarnation in Max (later Max/MSP, later Max/MSP/Jitter and Pure Data), software for making music and multimedia. Max is well known in these parts, not so well among the general public. But its basic patching metaphor, itself inspired by early hardware synthesizers like the Moog and Buchla, has filtered into other software.

First, Apple quietly acquired the developer of a little-known live visual/VJ app called Pixelshox, transformed it into a new app called Quartz Composer, made it part of the Mac OS X developer tools, and made it central to their UI efforts. One day, a tiny VJ app with a cult following, the next, central to Cupertino’s OS strategy? Interesting.

Quartz Composer didn’t exactly take the world by storm, but it did update Max’s taking on patching with a pretty, zoomable patching interface. Someone must have noticed, because more recently mighty Yahoo unveiled Yahoo Pipes, an online tool for creating Web remixes, with an almost pixel-perfect, color-exact clone of the QC interface. (Imitation is the sincerest form of Web 2.0, apparently.) Microsoft’s Popfly tool is a bit different, but even it uses an object and patch-cord metaphor.

Lily, JavaScript Patching

Enter Lily: Lily is a JavaScript-powered patching environment. Lily-created software can run standalone, as a Firefox plug-in, or even in a browser. Much of the functionality is Web-focused, as you’d expect: modules for mashing-up data from Amazon, Flickr, Wikipedia, Yahoo, and the like, widget support for popular JavaScript library elements, SQLite database storage and file system access — all good stuff, but primarily Web-based.

Lily

Where things get especially interesting is that Lily has some multimedia support:

• Graphics: SVG, canvas elements.
• Multimedia: Audio and video file support.
• Connectivity: OpenSoundControl support, which in turn could be used to connect to tools like Max/MSP, Flash, Processing, Reaktor, Traktor DJ, and others.
• Custom modules: Code your own modules in JavaScript.

There’s even a demo of Lily being used as a Beatbox.

So, will there be a Web-based Max killer? Quite the opposite. As patching interfaces spread, they only serve to validate the idea of patching in the first place. Web developers get introduced to the concept, and meanwhile, musicians schooled in Max have new, more accessible Web tools. Lily could be useful for Web-based, simple patches that complement software like Max and Reaktor: speedy beat calculators, or, via OSC, perhaps even control apps. (Hmm… your Flickr stream, controlling a Max/MSP patch?) And meanwhile, this also validates the Max approach of blending patching with coding in languages like JavaScript and Java, both of which are possible in the current release. We also have a new version of Max to look forward to, as confirmed by Cycling ’74, which should continue to expand on these ideas.

Lily looks really interesting, but I’d like to see more. The feature set in JavaScript is woefully limited compared even to Flash, let alone what’s possible in Java. It’s too bad these other environments haven’t developed toolkits that allow patching for modular combinations, but still let you easily code when you like. Even Max falls short here: much of Max’s capabilities require messy coding in C, so once you get to that point, you probably don’t want to be using Max unless you’ve got a Cycling ’74 paycheck coming. (On the Pure Data side, even, where coding is open source, efforts to integrate Ruby and Python have proven less fruitful for multimedia than simpling coding in something like Java or C#. And all of these tend to separate coding from patching; we haven’t seen a good combination.)

Lily is still in development, with a pre-release beta coming soon, so we have plenty of time to think about what it’s for. But one thing’s for certain: patching is here to stay.

Thanks to Ronnie at the wonderful Rekkerd.org and to Marco Raaphorst, who has a write-up in Dutch.

Xray is designed for visualizing performance and debugging code, which is a linear, time-based process. That means that some kind of timeline interface makes perfect sense. Apple didn’t just stop there, though: the track view, transport controls (including record button), volume, channel controls, ruler, and loop display elements are all there. It’s so close that you wind up with sentences like this:

Add different instruments so you can instantly see the results of code analyzers.

Instruments turn out to be exactly the same word in development; see comments for more details of what this means for real programmers as opposed to weekend coders like me.

I’m just waiting for Apple to add an Apple Loop Browser so you can lay down a groovin’ trance or house beat while you figure out why your application is sucking so many CPU cycles.

Mac OS X Leopard Sneak Peak: Xcode 3.0 [Apple.com]

And in a non sequitur at the end, Apple reverts to their usual marketing hyperbole: “Xray. Because it’s 2006.” So we should have a developer tool with the interface from Sonic Foundry’s ACID in 1998? Hey, if it saves developers time and makes the dev tools more intuitive, I’m for it! Developers who want to chime in on this and let us know what you think, please do.

Programming offers incredible possibilities for music creation, and with the free Processing development environment for Mac, Windows, and Linux, even non-programmers can get into the artistic horizons of code. But code doesn’t always think like composers do. That’s why the new sound library jm-Etude looks promising:

New sound library: jm-Etude [Code & form]

jm-Etude for Processing, and the Java library jMusic on which it’s based, allow you to structure your code more musically with notes, phrases, parts, and scores. Combine this with the Sonia synthesis library for Processing (or, for Java development, the corresponding JSyn plug-in), and you have a serious compositional environment. I can also see this as appealing to people coming from the land of Csound and wanting something that lets them code notes and other musically-useful units.

I’d love to see a similar library that helps deal with performance environments, helping structure into scenes and elements — Chris from Pixelsumo was just asking me how you might use Processing in a VJ performance. For live music or visuals, it’d be helpful to have a library that lets you structure what you’re doing over time for performance. Anyone know if there’s something like this already out there (short of coding the thing yourself, which might ultimately be better)?

[Updated:] I missed the major point of this, which is that it lets you use Processing as an interactive MIDI sequencer. (Follow that link for a promising-looking interactive table, built in the “app no one wants to use any more,” Director.)

CPS is a powerful host for plug-ins. Like Native Instruments’ much-hyped platform KORE, it can be a plug-in in other hosts or host plug-ins itself. CPS is unusually powerful, with some truly unique features (aside from the normal VST/VSTi hosting on Mac and Windows). Director and Web browser supports makes this particularly worth a look if you’re building an interactive kiosk or a project involving live animation:

1. You can patch stuff: A powerful graphical patching feature set lets you create complex performance scenarios. And if that’s not enough:
2. You can code your own stuff: An SDK supports C++ and Java so you can create your own code


3. You can use it with Adobe (Macromedia) Director: CPS is the only app I’ve ever seen of this type that interfaces with interactive visuals and multimedia in Adobe’s Director, making this perfect if you’re one of the niche of people building museum kiosks or other Director-y applications.


4. It’ll run in your Web browser: Yep, you read that right; thanks to Director support you can publish to a Web-compatible version


5. Csound users will be at home, because it uses the structured audio standard estbalished in MPEG-4


6. It works with sensor input if you’re attaching I/O boards via serial so you can, for instance, make sounds by waving your hands over photocells. (See my ongoing coverage on this topic.)


7. It’s a great learning environment if you want to try out input from sensors, basic programming, patching, MPEG4 opcodes, and more.

CPS Introduction

CPS isn’t going to be entirely without updates, fortunately. It’s not quite as complete on Mac as Windows, but it does run on both, and the creator plans to update it with a new version of Sun’s Java Virtual Machine (so obviously, the whole thing runs on Java). It’s had a cult following in academia, not surprising given its feature set. Now if the creator would just open source the thing (if that’s possible) . . .

Thanks to CDM’s Atomic Afro for this one; Afro’s got his eyes permanently peeled for free music software. More discussion on the CDM forums.

Nathanaël Lécaudé has built an elegant solution called the Max Toolbox. A whole series of mouse operations is reduced to single keystrokes: connect and rearrange objects en masse with just one key press. The secret is Max’s JavaScript implementation, which allows objects to be manipulated, created, and destroyed via code. But whether this inspires your own automagical patching JavaScripts for Max or you just take advantage of the keystroke shortcuts Max’s creators forgot, it’s a welcome idea. Still in beta; I’ll be watching this evolve. Via the CDM forums, where you’re welcome to ask or share anything you like related to this sort of thing on our DIY, Physical Computing, and Advanced” boards.

It’s the arcane post of the week: Yes, this series will bring all the stories the fewest readers care about, direct to you. But I care about them (because I care about arcane things), and we’ll see if someone else does, too. This week’s entry: it looks like CodeWarrior, the long-beloved Mac development tool, is nearly at its end. Metrowerks is no longer supporting the product (though they’ll still happily sell it to you unsupported — uh, thanks), and “after Q1 2006″ you won’t be able to download at all. (Or thereabouts, since it’s obviously still there.) Why am I bothering to mention a dead development tool in the first place, particularly with Apple’s own Xcode included free with every copy of Mac OS X? Two reasons: first, we’ve already heard noted music developer Propellerhead complaining that their PowerPC code was faster on CodeWarrior than Apple’s Xcode. Now, granted, I’m not sure why this is and I haven’t heard anyone else griping about Xcode performance (though you will hear them griping for other reasons), but I’ll leave that whole issue to others.

More importantly, Max/MSP/Jitter from Cycling ’74 still requires CodeWarrior for creating externals on Mac, a key means of extending Max’s already-deep capabilities. Yes, I expect Cycling will fix that in a future release, but it makes it sound as though CodeWarrior would be a smart download for backwards compatibility.
Pay US$99 for an unsupported product that’s waiting for the executioner? No way. But if you can convince Freescale’s automated form (hint, hint) that you’re an educator, you can use the learning edition. And I’m guessing if you’re writing Max/MSP externals, you’re either in an academic institution now, or were at some point, or could probably fit in if you happened to visit. Go download and enjoy. Oh, and send us your externals.