Motion

{.imagelink}Choreographer Dawn Stoppiello and composer/media artist Mark Coniglio of Troika Ranch talked about their work. They are currently using EyesWeb for tracking, and Isadora for video and audio generation. {#image204}Marc Downie presented his work developing tools for working with visuals in a dance context. He has been working with realtime motion capture on stage (both Vicon and Motion Analysis). He will release his Fluid system under GPL in October 2006....

Apple has recently filed an interesting US Patent Application:* * The invention generally pertains to a hand-held computing device. More particularly, the invention pertains to a computing device that is capable of controlling the speed of the music so as to affect the mood and behavior of the user during an activity such as exercise. By way of example, the speed of the music can be controlled to match the pace of the activity (synching the speed of the music to the activity of the user) or alternatively it can be controlled to drive the pace of the activity (increasing or decreasing the speed of the music to encourage a greater or lower pace)....

Apple and Nike has teamed up and released the Nike+iPod package, which allows for using an iPod Nano as a pedometer and share the training information online. It is based on a wireless accelerometer (1.37 x 0.95 x 0.30 inches, 0.23 ounce, using a proprietary protocol at 2.4GHz) and a receiver that connects to the iPod (Size: 1.03 x 0.62 x 0.22 inches, 0.12 ounce). Suggested price is US$29, which is very cheap thinking about the included accelerometer....

{.imagelink}int.lib is a set of abstractions/javascripts for Cycling 74’s Max MSP software that facilitates the control of multiple parameters by navigating a two dimensional visual environment. It implements a gravitational system, allowing the user to represent presets with variable sized balls. As the user moves around the space, the size of the balls and their proximity to the mouse cursor affects the weight of each preset in the interpolated output....

Nintendo Wii features a wireless controller, with rumbling, sound and some kind of motion sensing (probably a 3D accelerometer?). It is good to see that such things are finally making their way into commercial products, and it will be interesting to see if we can use this for music making as well. {#image188 width=“500”}

Just went to a lecture by Sidney Fels from the Human Communication Technologies lab and MAGIC[]{#mce_editor_0_parent} at the University of British Columbia (interestingly enough located in the Forest Sciences Centre…). He was talking on the topic of intimate control of musical instruments, and presented some different projects: GloveTalkII: “a system that translates hand gestures to speech through an adaptive interface.” Iamascope: a caleidoscope like thing, where users would see themselves on a big screen, as well as controlling a simple sound synthesis....

{.imagelink}Daito Manabe has developed a Turntable-Controlled Vibrating Chaise Longue where it is possible to feel 34 sounds played back through a vibrating chaise longue. Lots of pictures of the making process is available on Daitos web page under works/chair the difference.

Yves Guiard should have held a lecture at McGill last week, but unfortunately could not make it. Reading on his web page and looking up some of the references, I found some interesting comments about bimanual control. He writes: During the nineteen eighties, I spent a lot of time trying to understand the logic of division of labour between the left and the right hands in human movements. I came to believe there is something deeply misleading to the concept of hand dominance, central to established thinking in the field of human laterality....

I recently got to know about the concept of 5 rhythms, and the Norwegian group doing this. Gabrielle Roth’s The 5 Rhythmsare an exhilarating and liberating approach to the exploration of improvised movement and dance that is authentic, inspired and catalytic. The 5 Rhythms (Flowing, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical, Stillness) are a map which can take you on an ecstatic journey, opening you to the inherent wisdom, creativity and energy of your body....

{.imagelink}Watching the ladies’ figure skating competition from the olympics, I am amazed by the total lack of connection between gestures and music. To start off with, I am not very impressed by the music accompanying the programmes, most being massively layered, romantic orchestral music, but the fact that it is also recorded by a microphone in front of a moderate PA system in the skating hall does not call for a good listening experience....