Following my ten day residency at STEIM which coincided with their second micro-jamboree, I was encouraged to take some of the ideas I presented and form them into tools for use by other people. As such I am releasing a set of java processing/jitter tools for data visualization and interaction.

Radviz max external win32 is the windows mxj java source, classes and Max 5 description patch that I am making available for general use. For mac you just need to recompile the external from within the mxj environment. Their is a readme in the zip file explaining where to put the source .java files within the Max 5 installation forlder.

The amiga forever font that is used inside the description patch is available for mac and pc from the excellent freaky fonts.

I am currently developing this data visualizer to accept input from Tristian Jehan’s analyzer external in a patch that handles realtime segmentation, analysis and database entry of acoustic signals. This will be publicly released shortly in a max patch that showcases this application of the radviz external. I am also developing the visualization of sequence information using the same framework.

Check back here for further updates to this work and feel free to ask questions over installation/use or leave any feedback.

I participated in a 1 week orientation workshop recently at Steim. We learned the concepts behind software such as Lisa, Junxion, how they can be used in a performance, and were shown the basics about how to use the software. On the hardware side of things, we learned about things like sensors, custom hardware, instrument building etc.

I’m a producer, slowly moving from the studio to stage. I write electronic music, mostly beat-oriented. My most successful project goes under the name ‘Thesis’, which is known for deep percussive dubstep.

Quite soon after starting the workshop, I realised the vast possibilities made available by Steim’s relatively easy to use tools. Currently I use Ableton Live and a Novation Zero SL controller for performances, so I begun thinking about ways to compliment this system with sensors, with the idea of allowing more physical control. The Wii remote stood out as the best way for me to begin this journey, as the device is small, affordable, already has a lot of goodies built in, and communicates easily with Junxion. This communication can easily be routed to Ableton Live, as I tested during my time at the workshop.

I went through a few different concepts about how I could control my liveset with Wii remotes. The possibilities are endless, but I wanted something practical and straightforward, that I can use naturally. Here are some of my sketches/notes:

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I have been twice at STEIM, both times to work on USB HID programming for Pd and Max/MSP. USB HID promises high performance and ease of use for custom built instruments, but working with it on the low level turns out to be brutal. I would have never gotten very far on the HID code I have written if it wasn’t for the quality time I spent at STEIM, working with STEIM people. The sad fact is that we were still not completely successful in completing everything that we wanted to get working, but there is some solidly working code that many people are using.

Any interesting project for me started at my first residency at STEIM. I wanted to do a quick demo of the Arduino so I started to write Arduino and Pd code to make them talk. Thru that experience I started developing the Firmata protocol and library for Arduino, Wiring, etc. Out of my frustrations with USB HID, I was able to make the Arduino much easier to use with programs like Pd, Max/MSP, Processing, Python, etc.

1) Instrument development
2) HYBRIDS, a project on interaction/interactivity together with visual artist Jamie Griffiths

1) VOICE AND LIVE-ELECTRONICS USING REMOTES AS GESTURAL CONTROLLERS
In October 2007 I was invited to STEIM for the first time. Since then I have been lucky enough to have another two residencies at STEIM in order to create a setup for live-electronics as an extension for my vocal performances. I’m working with the programs LiSa and junXion controlled by and played with two Wii-Remotes. In order to explain the setup including my personal approach, I wrote an article, “Voice and Live-Electronics using Remotes as Gestural Controllers”, which was published by CEC (Communauté électroacoustique canadienne) in October 2008. The article is accompanied by two videos demonstrating two artistic results: “Studies for Self-Portrait” and “Music for a Singer/Performer with Gestural Controllers, Live Electronics and Playback for Ten Loudspeakers”.

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