Project ideas and composing with MAX

Right now, being told to compose something musical with max is like asking a toddler to paint your portrait using fingerpaints; the child will love every second and probably be very pleased with the result, even if it looks like --

I can't even be bothered to finish that simile.  Composing using Max is hard.  Last week I had fun playing around with the Function box, using a combination of that, numbers boxes and the preset tool to make a piece of music inspired by this;  

Basically any horrible sound or attempt at music I got from Max, no matter what it was, sounded just as disgusting as that piece of notation looks.  

I now find myself stuck for ideas; I don't want to just add in phasors, saws and things I remember from past lessons and hope it all comes together and makes something that sounds kinda cool; As fun as that would be, I want my 'writing' process to have some kind of structure.  Or I at least want to REMOTELY know what I'm doing, rather than just typing random words into the object tool and linking the results together to see what I get.

In my search for inspiration I came upon this page.  Containing this video;

Which is kinda cool, until you realise what months of working with MAX does to you;

Tuesday 30 October Class - Looping

Today in class we listened to Come Out by Steve Reich.  It was composed using an audio recording of an interview with one of the youths involved in the Harlem riot of 1964.  It is heavily glitch based, with the words 'come out to show them' repeated over and over, eventually overlapping with the other playbacks of it, leading to various layers of a single voice.  It, like most things we hear in this class, was 'interesting'.

The song is just composed of the same line 'Come out to show them' looped over and over again, but every time it's repeated, another repeat is added a little bit later, until it all completely overlaps, to the point where it just sounds like noise at the end.  This is a prime example of process music.

We have been asked to start thinking about what we want to do for our final project, but still have no idea what to do.

A Recap - What we've been doing in classes

The Public Performance Technology class is an interesting one.  Interesting in the way that it is different from most of the other practical performance modules I've taken.

Whereas other performance based classes rely on technical ability and knowledge and implementation of theory, this one is more like a maths class.  Or a physics class.  Science;  Any kind of class that made me think too hard in high school - something I have forgotten how to do having being primarily focused on playing the keyboard and moving my fingers for the past three years.  In order to make the music, I have to remember numbers, learn functions, study, and revise.   Basically, making my brain think in a way it hasn't been accustomed to thinking for in years.

Let me explain.

The class is about mixing technology with music.  Using electronics and machinery, mixed with a programme known as MaxMSP, we can make music throg--you know what, I'll just link videos to show you what I mean in future posts.  For now, let me explain Max.

MaxMSP [http://cycling74.com/products/max/] is an audio/visual programme that relies on using a certain level of computing code to create music.  It's difficult to explain, but I'll do the best I can.  I am still very much learning how to use it.  

In simpleton terms, you create circuits - similar to those seen in a physics class - on a computer.  Using various commands and numerical values, you can send MIDI signals, effecting velocity and pitch with various tools and buttons and I have no idea what I'm talking about.  The past few weeks in class have been spent both seeing examples of music performance technology in action (using old, turned inside out electrical toys, or the Kinect hardware from the Xbox 360, etc) and working through the Max MSP tutorials, in what is currently seeming like a vain effort to get to grips with the rather completed programme (for us mere music students, that is).  

I have only just begun to get into the nitty gritty of the programme, having went over the basics of it.  Future blogs will focus on a combination of interesting examples of technology in example, and my (probably vague) attempts to explain how Max MSP works.  By the end of the year, the plan is that my final blog post will contrast from this one in every way, and I'll be typing, explaining and performing like a musical Einstein.  

Week One - Introduction

This first week was spent just introducing us to the programme MAX MSP.  A complicated programme that relies on using computing codes to send musical signals.

The ways MAX can be used to create music are almost limitless.  By connecting the programme to a MIDI controller or webcam, motion sensor, thermometer...any device that detects and reacts to a change in value of something, you can create music by walking, speaking, moving, or by how hot/cold you or an object gets.

Here is an example I found of the programme in use;

Here the man is using the motion sensor found in the Xbox's Kinect hardware to emulate playing a violin.  As stated, Max gives almost endless options in ways to make music like this.




It will be interesting to see what I come up with throughout the year, and to see how my final blog post for the year compares with this one.