Multi-touch controller goodness is now as close as your nearest iPod Touch or iPhone; all that remains is to hook it up to some creative music, visuals, or others. (I would prefer the iPod Touch for this reason; then you don’t have to worry about using it as a phone — draining the battery in the process — or needing AT&T service.)

Olle Holmberg has a new solution for using the Touch/iPhone as a controller, by translating input to OpenSoundControl (OSC) and, if you prefer, MIDI messages. He writes:

I was searching everywhere for a way to get my new iPod Touch to work like a wireless touch controller to Pd (and hence to everything else), but couldn’t find one — so I made one. It’s really just an OSC mapping for routing the default Mrmr “Performance.mmr” interface, but if you’re interested it would save you heaps of time, even though it’s not really anything difficult to make.

Mrmr is an “open protocol for mobile devices” for dynamically creating interfaces; we’ve covered it on Create Digital Motion, where vade has interviewed the creator, and we’ve seen it in action coupled with upcoming visual app 3L. Those solutions used proprietary software like Max/MSP/Jitter, though, whereas this works with the free and open source Pd. (We love Max, but having an alternative is good, especially if you just want to hook up your iPod Touch to Ableton Live or Reaktor, etc.) As far as I know, this should also mean compatibility with Windows and Linux, but maybe someone can verify that.

The Pd patch is below — homely but functional, and you can extend it if it doesn’t do what you need.

For more information and download of the first release:

PdiPod - Mrmr to Pd on iPhone & iPod Touch [on pissypaws.tumblr, Olle's blog]
Pd Forum Announcement and Discussion
Files/download

Scratching began as a practical means by which DJs could cue records. (So say originators like Grandmaster Flash; if you’re interested in the history, check out the fantastic documentary Scratch — trailer above.) But something about the gesture, the mechanical feeling of scratching, and all that history has made the turntable compelling as a controller. It’s even taught as an instrument at Berklee.

So, what if you want to scratch for purposes other than conventional DJing?

Getting at Timecode

Digital vinyl systems like Serato Scratch LIVE and Native Instruments Traktor Scratch are designed for DJs. Part of the whole advantage is that you get an integrated system with vinyl, decoding capability, audio interfacing with the computer, and software for DJ functions. If you want to take the turntable to other frontiers, you have to find a way to get the timecode data from the vinyl directly and do something different with it, like control an instrument or scratch visuals. (Only recently did a big-name, mainstream DVS, Serato, take on visuals, as seen on Create Digital Motion, and even then it makes some assumptions about what you want to do.)

We’ve seen a few examples of how to do this:

We live in an age of disposable electronics. iPod battery wears out or new prettier iPod arrives, and old iPod gets tossed. Or, if you’re Norwegian sound artist and musician Espen Sommer Eide, your iPod could live a second life far more interesting than its first.

The Slåttberg is a custom musical instrument fashioned from an iPod running Linux, pdPod, the iPod-ready version of open-source multimedia patching software Pure Data, a 60s-era loudspeaker cabinet, an internal amp, and, most importantly, a big crank. Plugged into a Moogerfooger FreqBox, the resulting instrument feels like a reimagined analog Hurdy-Gurdy. Espen says he was inspired by deconstructing Norwegian fiddle music, and it comes out in the instrument not only in the sound but in the sense this creation is something Norwegian ethnomusicologists might collect, alongside ancient Scandinavian flutes.

Those of you in Norway, let us know how the premiere goes, and what else happens at the festival — sounds terrific. Espen writes:

Hi being a regular reader of your site, and since your article about the pdpod a while back inspired me to use my old ipod for this project - I thought you might be interested to check it out. A preview video of a custom built musical instrument by Espen Sommer Eide, artist and member of Alog and Phonophani. The Slåttberg will premiere at the Borealis Festival for contemporary music Bergen, Norway late february 2008.

alog.net

Alog, by the way, is the acclaimed duo of which Espen is one half. And anyone who makes use of Duck-Rabbits (the “famous gestalt psychological figure representing both a duck and a rabbit depending upon the point of view”) wins still more bonus points.

Pd, Max/MSP/Jitter’s free and open-source cousin for Mac, Windows, and Linux, has long been a favorite of software DIYers. It powers the synthesis and processing capabilities of the ReacTable project, made famous recently by Bjork. And its open nature has earned some followers even among Max/MSP/Jitter users (nothing stopping you from using both).

One thing Pd hasn’t been — even assuming you know how to patch — is easy. That’s unfortunate, because there are would-be patchers who can’t afford Max, or who want a full patching environment on Linux, or want some unique features in Pd and its libraries.

Hans-Christoph Steiner has been working for a long time on “Pd-extended”, adding a lot of that polish and documentation, and making the whole thing easier to install. There’s a major new, finished release that came out last week. “Easy” might not be the appropriate word — but “easier”, combined with “powerful” and “free”, might get your attention.

Hans-Christoph himself checks in to explain what Pd is about, and this build, even if you have no previous experience with the environment. Take it away, HC:

Pd (aka Pure Data) is one of the Max family of patcher languages. It is a close cousin of Max/MSP. Pd and Max were both created by Miller Puckette. It is a visual, dataflow programming language for sound, video, 3D, etc. Basically, anything you can do with Max/MSP, you can do with Pd. Miller Puckette started Pd as his “version 3″ of Max, and therefore there are some essential differences, but if you know Max/MSP, then Pd will be easy to learn. The Pd-extended distro is the Miller’s Pd plus the work of over a hundred contributors. It includes a large array of libraries for working with all sorts of things.

There are many features hidden inside of Pd that are basically undocumented. Typical of free software developers, the Pd devs write a lot of interesting code, but are not very good at documenting it (me included). For this release, we tried to bring more of that code to the forefront. The first part is getting it easy to install, the next part is making the documentation.

Our mention of mobile-ready Windows UMPCs has triggered a Goldilocks-style discussion of just how tiny is tiny enough — and what musical functionality people want from mobile devices. Needless to say, for most people this leads back to the laptop. For about 15 years, the laptop has unceremoniously eclipsed other form factors for mobile computing; it doesn’t need hype. But nonetheless, it’s interesting to see what’s possible — like running Pd (aka Pure Data, the open source cousin of Max/MSP) on an iPod.

PdPod Wiki Page
Via a discussion on the Cycling ‘74 Forum

Actually, even for Max users, porting simple patches to Pd may be the best bet. This isn’t limited to iPod, either; PdPDA is a Linux-based, PDA-ready version of Pd. So you could run this on any number of Linux mobile devices. That could be useful for simple MIDI gadgets you can tote with you. Anyone doing stuff with this, we’d love to hear from you.

It sounds like there are possibilities that go beyond the “because it’s there” rationality, to custom mobile patchers running on pocketable devices for, say, triggering MIDI sequences, etc. Well, and because it’s there.

Further down the road, it’s also not inconceivable that a clever software developer might take this idea and run, providing Linux-powered devices that run alongside their software on a PC/Mac. Think of smarter keyboards and control surfaces running embedded software, remote controls, and the like. Further-out possibilities spring to mind, too. Game developers like Nintendo have done mobile-to-console connections, where you can continue to level up a character built on your console while you’re on the bus. Imagine fine-tuning Reaktor sequencers on a mobile phone.

Video demo (thanks, Donald and Crave!):

In the New York area (or within Amtrak distance)? Mark your calendars for August 23. We’re teaming up again with Make Magazine and homemade marketplace/community Etsy to host the second evening of handmade musical creations at Etsy Labs in Brooklyn. This means software and hardware, sensors and controllers and game systems, custom Max, Pd, and Reaktor patches and DIY noisemaking toys — whatever you’re passionate about making.

That means I’d also like to invite you to share your work. Got a project — even an unfinished one — you’d like to come play with and share? Let us know here. If you’re not sure what makes sense to bring or how to set it up, drop me a line and I may be able to help.

If you just want to come and snack and drink and mingle, that’s great, too. We had a big, fun, mixed crowd last time and I expect we will again! Part of the reason we keep it informal is so people can meet, greet, and learn.

Be sure to RSVP to Etsy Labs: Just email rsvp@etsy.com, and include a quick note on any project you’re bringing. And so the CDMers know you’re coming, say hi here, too.

CDM events around the world are still something we’re thinking about. If you’re interested in making this happen, let me know. New Yorkers can’t have all the fun.

Time: 8:00 pm
Place: Etsy Labs in downtown Brooklyn (325 Gold Street, 6th floor: directions)

Handmade Music Night Thursday August 23 [Etsy Labs blog]

Previous Event, in Pictures and Videos:

Etsy Video: Handmade Music Geekfest, MIDI Slime, Shock Gloves, GP Tracker
Oddities and Contraptions, as Handmade Music Invades Brooklyn @ Etsy Labs

So, you’re really hot patching synths in Reaktor. You’ve done some interactive music in Max/MSP. You think you’re really awesome. Fine. Go up against 5VOLTCORE and their knife-stabbing robot. They stake more than a reputation on this — they tempt fate and put their hand in the way of an evil robotic arm with a blade:

5VOLTCORE site (Thanks, Anton and the Pd list.)

I shudder to think what the debugging process was like. Pd (aka Pure Data, Max/MSP’s open-source cousin) is best known for music and synth applications, and to a lesser extent, interactive visual art. But the fact that it can also run a robot’s knife play demonstrates just how versatile and essentially application-agnostic these tools are.

Lest you think there’s no musical application all this mayhem, the folks of 5VOLTCORE have found equally destructive ways of creating music — like circuit bending graphics cards:

We mount cables stripped of isolation on an audio amplifier and use these to create short circuits and faulty currents on the chips of the graphic card of a computer. The intrusion of the amplified music signal in the graphic card causes the computer to get electrical impulses on parts of the hardware that are not designed to receive them. Instead of clean 0’s and 1’s, electricity generated by analog music hits the pins - and the computer tries to interpret it. A visual stream reacting in real-time to the music is generated. We then expand the possibilities of deconstruction with the help of tools like hammers and drill machines…

My feature story for Keyboard Magazine on recording live laptop performance is now available online at keyboardmag.com (as well as in the July print issue). When I got the assignment, I think my editor imagined futuristic, sci-fi like network recording, in which audio was streamed entirely virtually from players to a recording server and musicians connected to one another over the ether. Instead, we got just the opposite: quick and dirty solutions for capturing improvisatory computer performance, and intentional efforts to make laptop performances sound more like conventional instrumental ensembles. The case studies:

• The Moscow Laptop Cyber Orchestra hosts laptop jam sessions at the conservatory that bears Leon Theremin’s name. Individual speakers, stereo mic — plus groovy visuals in the background.
• Princeton University’s PLOrk plays with hemispherical speakers so that sound radiates from near the laptop the way it would from a real instrument. Their recording configuration is a little more sophisticated, with not only a stereo pair for the audience but three mics above the stage.
• Share in New York has the toughest challenge of all: a club environment in which anyone can show up with any gear and play. They combine the tried-and-true (old-fashioned analog snakes on the floor) with software tools for standardization (a template in the open source Linux and Mac DAW Ardour).

Check out the full story for details:

Electronica Unplugged

One thing we didn’t broach was what to actually play (these ensembles all experiment with everything from alternative controllers to live coding). But the recording question alone turned out to reveal a lot about laptop performance, and how it’s gradually evolving into just music performance.

Also of interest, Craig Anderton talks about the basics of recording your sets live in Ableton Live. The basic idea: record not only the arrangement, but external audio, as well.

This story also turned out to be an interesting demonstration of what can happen when new online sites (like CDM) interface with a traditional outlet (Keyboard, bringing you music making information since 1976). That’s my ultimate hope: that these outlets will make each other better, and each will expand the knowledge of techniques and what (and who) is out there. Less lofty translation: if Keyboard hadn’t asked me to write this up, I might never have gotten around to it, and conversely, if I didn’t have CDM, I would never have hooked up with folks like the Moscow Laptop Cyber Orchestra.

Speaking of which, let us know how you record your sets and even laptop ensembles, and if I missed anything!

Previously:
Laptop Orchestras Proliferate, from Princeton to Moscow