**It has taken a while, but I finally found some time to update my MultiControl application. This was a small program I made back in 2004, and have updated a couple of times since then (that’s why the patching code looks so horrible, please don’t look at that…). Originally, I made it for a series of workshops with kids, but I have also used it in a few concerts. Inspired by some blog comments and e-mails, I am happy to announce version 0....
I am participating in the EyesWeb Week in Genoa this week. This morning Nicola Bernardini held a lecture about Free Software. I have heard him talk on this topic several times before, but as I have now some more experience on participating in a Free Software project (i.e. Jamoma), I got more out of his ideas. Some main points from the talk: Use Free Software! Freeware and shareware may have nothing to do with Free Software....
The concept of “mapping” is frequently used in the computer music community these days, and has also been used over the last couple of days during the Jamoma workshop. This reminded me about the distinction between mapping and conditioning, as frequently pointed out by Marcelo Wanderley: Conditioning: filtering, scaling and normalizing signals in a 1-to-1 mapping Mapping: creating couplings between multidimensional data sets, e.g. MxN. For clarity’s sake it is probably useful to separate between the two....
Due to a lack of increase in its budgets over several years, and increase in everything else, NOTAM - the Norwegian Network for Technology, Acoustics and Music - has to cut down on its activities. The most dramatic change will be that the lab and studio facilities will not be publicly available any longer, since the focus will have to be directed towards fewer and more advanced projects. More in this press release (in Norwegian)....
{#p501 .imagelink}Yamaha has announced a product called Bodibeat, a music player which will adjust the tempo of the music to follow your walking or running. It is based on an accelerometer and, I guess, an algorithm detecting peaks in the continuous movement signal. This gives the pace of the walker or runner which again can be used to control the playback speed of a music file. Apparently, the technology is based on research by BMAT, which is a spinoff from UPF....
As part of the Ultima festival and the opening of this year’s Musikkteknologidagene, Kjell Tore Innervik and I organised the debut of the NMH Laptop Orchestra. Inspired by PLORK, we lined up with laptops and performed two pieces by Alan Tormey and Ge Wang. This was an immediate success, and we hope to establish this as a permanent ensemble from now. {#image494}
{#image489} I am doing some background research for a paper on “active music” and have been testing various audio software over the last few days. I was very excited about testing GarageBand ’08, since Apple has been shouting loudly about its new “magic” features. I have to say that I had some expectations that we would actually see some novel features here, especially since they promise a “hand-picked” band on a virtual stage....
The new Doepfer USB64 Info looks very interesting with its 64 analog (or digital) inputs and €125 price tag. I am not so excited about the MIDI plug, and wonder whether they intend to communicate some higher resolution data through the USB plug. {width=“602” height=“162”}
We have been working on the Giant Music Ball all day. Besides soldering, aligning all the sensors was the biggest challenge. Here is a picture from early on in the process: {height=“400”} I love cables… {width=“400”} Crossing the Karl Johan street in the city centre of Oslo: {width=“400”} Lots of people stopped by and wondered what we were doing. {width=“400”} If you are around, please stop by booth 33 and check it out: Friday 9-16, Saturday 10-17....
I have been preparing for Forskningstorget, an annual science fair in the city centre of Oslo, the last couple of days. Last year we made a Music Troll, and this year we are making a giant music ball for people to play with. The ball is built from a huge boat buoy, 120 cm in diameter, made for tank boats and stormy weather. This makes it just perfect for a music installation which is supposed to survive some thousand children over the next couple of days…...