AirHarp for Leap Motion, a Responsive Musical Natural User Interface

I like this demonstration of Adam Somers  AirHarp music application for use with the Leap Motion 3D controller:


AirHarp is being developed in C++ using Adam Somer's audio processing toolkit, MusKit.  This looks interesting!  Things have changes since I last took a computer music technology course (back in 2003).

Adam Somers is a senior software engineer at Universal Audio.  He has a graduate degree in music technology from Stanford, and a background in computer science, electronics, human-computer interaction, and signal processing.

Leap Motion is a motion-control software and hardware start-up company located in San Francisco, California. According to promotional information from the website, the company's first product, the Leap Motion controller, is 200 times more sensitive than existing technologies.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out.  (I'm still waiting for my pre-order.)

RELATED
AirHarp (links to GitHub)
Leap FAQs
Leap Motion Website
Leap Motion Developer Portal
Leap Motion Leadership Team
Leap Motion goes retail: Motion controller sold exclusively at Best Buy
Michael Gorman, engadget, 1/16/13

Leap Motion: Low Cost Gesture Control for your Computer Display
Asus partners up with Leap Motion, PCs with 3D motion control to debut in 2013
Michael Gorman, engadget, 1/3/13
Stanford Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics

Catching up on music technology: Tornado Twins' "How to Make Dubstep in 10 Minutes"

I've been neglecting my musical experiments for too long.  My Yamaha Motif 8 is about 9 years old, and my last copy of MOTU Digital Performer is on a computer that died in 2007 or so.  In the past, I found that immersing myself in wave forms and playing around with sound synthesis was quite relaxing.  I miss it.

Since I'm not a performing musician, I told myself not to trouble with researching electronic keyboard/workstations and fancy software. The practical thing to do is to stick with Garage Band to give life to the musical ideas that pop into my head.  I've played with music-making on my iPhone and iPad, hoping it would dampen my electronic music urge, but wasn't quite right.


What to do?  I still am not sure what I will do.  However, a link from a tweet by the Tornado Twins caught my eye today.  It led me to a short video that put me back into the music-creating groove.  Even if you aren't into music technology or electronic music, you might enjoy the opportunity to view musical creation visualized in the video, and appreciate the enthusiasm of the twin.


HOW TO MAKE DUBSTEP IN 10 MINUTES (Using the Dubstep Master Kit)

RELATED 
Tornado Twins Dubstep Master Kit
MOTU Digital Performer
Tornado Twins (The Tornado Twins are involved in music as well as video game development.)


SOMEWHAT RELATED

Comment: 
I plan to devote periodic posts to music technology in the future a bit more frequently than in the past.  It is a topic that is dear to my heart.
A little "history":
In the early 1990's, I bought an Ensonic KS-32 weighted-action keyboard.  I was exasperated by the 250-page manual that came with my keyboard. It was time to upgrade the computer, so I got a Mac Performa 600 CD, and purchased the very first version of MOTU's FreeStyle software to ease the music creation process.  I have been pleased with all of my MOTU products over the years, as well as the excellent tech support. 

MOTU Freestyle Sequencing Software (review)
Mike Collins, Sound on Sound, 1995

GarageBand on the iPad2 is Awesome!

For just $4.99, this app has given me hours of joy - and I've only had it for a week!  The first time I played around with it, I exclaimed that I no longer have a need for my Motif 8 keyboard.

(Seriously, my husband now thinks I'll be unloading my keyboard on eBay or Craigslist soon.)

Below are a couple of videos to give you an idea of what the iPad version of GarageBand is all about:

GarageBand for iPad



Be sure to visit soon for an update - I'll include videos of my own.

Rhizome article about spectral music and software at USCD, via Tom Erbe

Continuing with my music technology theme:


This article below was shared by Tom Erbe, known for Soundhack,  a powerful spectral effects software that has provided me with many hours of music technology joy off and on for years. Playing around with Soundhack was one of the things that inspired me to take a music technology class several years ago.


How Large an Atom of Music? A Tour through Today's Spectral Music and Software at UCSD
Nat Roe, Rhizome, 4/27/11


FYI:  If you are interested in exploring this topic further, visit Tom Erbe's website, which includes information and resources related to the computer music courses he teaches at USCD.


"RHIZOME is dedicated to the creation, presentation, preservation, and critique of emerging artistic practices that engage technology. Read more here."

April 25th Release Date: Play and Experiment with Music on your iPad/Phone/Pod with NodeBeat iOS Music Sequencer by Affinity Blue, by Seth Sandler and Justin Windle

If you love music and have an iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch, you'll have fun exploring and experimenting with NodeBeat. As soon as I get my iPad, I plan to get this app! 


"NodeBeat is an experimental node-based audio sequencer and generative music application for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. NodeBeat is designed to let you create a variety of rhythmic sequences and ambient melodies in an intuitive fashion. It is scheduled for release on April 25th." -Affinity Blue


NodeBeat - iOS Music Sequencer from AffinityBlue on Vimeo.

NodeBeat is a collaboration between Seth Sandler and Justin Windle. It was developed using openFrameworks, with PureData for audio synthesis.  According to the NodeBeat website, "Octaves and Notes make up the two types of nodes. Octaves pulse and send messages to Notes within proximity. Each Octave is assigned a random octave and each Note, a random note; therefore, a Note will play in several octaves depending on the Octave it's connected to. Pause nodes to create your own beats or let them roam free to have them generate their own." Features include adjustable node physics, node add/remove, pitch shift, adjustable pulse rate and beat sync, adjustable echo, attack, decay, and release for creative sound sculpting, and for the iPad, audio waveform display and landscape/portrait views.

RELATED
NodeBeat website
Seth Sandler's posts about music
Seth's posts and videos about AudioTouch, and interactive multi-touch interfaces for computer music exploration and collaboration.
Soulwire (Justin Windle's blog)


Cross-posted on The World Is My Interactive Interface and TechPsych blogs.

Social Sound Waving: Sound Cloud

One of my Facebook friends recently shared a link to the SoundCloud website, a site that is new to me.  I was pleasantly surprised to learn about it!


"SoundCloud is a platform that puts your sound at the heart of communities, websites and even apps. Watch conversations, connections and social experiences happen, with your sound as the spark." -SoundCloud

Here is the screenshot and the link:

Jurassic Park Theme (1000% Slower)

Yet another rabbit hole for me to follow in the future!

2010 International Computer Music Conference in NY. I wish I could go!

I'm usually too busy during the last month or so of the school year to attend conferences.  One I'd really like to attend is the 2010 International Computer Music Conference in N.Y.  Music is an important component of interactive multimedia content, and new technologies have made things a lot easier for musicians who are technologically inclined.  Conferences like ICMC are a great way to see - and hear - what is going on.

Links:
ICMC Paper Schedule 
ICMC 2010 Poster/Demo Schedule
Thomas Erbe's ICMC Workshop:  Pure Data Object Programming
(see bio and plug below)

Intriguing Topics: 
"Gestural Shaping and Transformation in a Universal Space of Structure and Sound"
"SoundCatcher:  explorations in audio-looping and time-freezing using an open-air gestural controller"
"Sense/Stage - low cost, open source wireless sensor infrastructure for live performance and interactive, real-time environments"
"The Four M's:  Music, Mind, Motion, Machines"
"A Wireless, Real-time Social Music Performance System for Mobile Phones"
"Because we are all falling down: Physics, Gestures, and Relative Realities"
"Argos:  An open-source application for building multi-touch musical interfaces"
"Peacock: a non-haptic 3D performance interface"
"Head Tracking for 3D Audio using the Nintendo WII"
"The Avatar Initiative- An Interdisciplinary Approach to Digital Media Research and Education"
"Computer Controlled Video as a Multi-modal Interface in Live Acousmatic Music"
"The Machine Orchestra"
"Eye. Breathe. Music"
"Combining audiovisual mappings for 3D musical interaction"

ICMC Unconference Categories

PdBarCamp
Sensory Interaction in Composition and Performance
Language, Neurology, and Acoustics
Open Scores and Accessible, Consumer Devices
Issues in Computer Music Performance
Computer Music and Society:  Questions of Dissemination

Realistically,  I'd be happy with a bit more time to play my keyboard! 
(The very first class I took when I decided to return to school to take computer classes was computer music technology.)

My plug for Tom Erbe, from the ICMC website 

Instructor Bios:

"Tom Erbe has had an important role in American experimental and electronic music of the last 20 years. In addition to his pioneering and widely used program SoundHack, he has become one of the most sought after and respected sound engineers for contemporary music. In 2004 he rejoined the faculty of UCSD in the Department of Music and serves as Studio Director. Most recently Tom has released SoundHack Spectral Shapers, the first of a planned set of three plugin bundles to bring extreme spectral processing to the VST, AU and RTAS formats."

If you are thinking about experimenting with sound, Tom Erbe's SoundHack freeware is awesome. His spectral shapers are worth every penny.  (I used the +binaural filter to create a 3D effect of racing car sounds for one of the students I work with who has autism and loves racing cars.)

+binaural

This filter places a sound at a specific position around the listener's head. Use it with a reverb to create a virtual environment. When used with it's LFO, +binaural can place various beats or parts of a loop in specific repeatable positions.

SOMEWHAT RELATED
When I get a moment, I'm reading my latest issue of IEEE Multimedia cover-to-cover:
Special Issue:  Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia


(The second class I took after I returned to school to take computer classes was Computer and Internet Multimedia.)