Technology

I am getting adjusted to my new MacBook and have realized that the remote control is a funny little thing. Cool features: Works with Keynote Holding down play button puts the computer to sleep Shows up as “Apple IR” using HI in Max/MSP, so that it can be used for controlling anything there. Only problem is that I can’t turn off the system functions while using it in Max. To avoid people taking control over a presentation, here’s a short description of how it is possible to pair the remote:...

Soundflower from Cycling ‘74, a small freeware utility allowing internal audio routing under OS X, is available in Universal Binary for MacTel computers. Soundflower is similar to Jack, and while the latter has some more advanced features, I find Soundflower easier to use. They are both perfect for recording for example streaming audio.

{#image261}I have been using the JVC Everio GZMC500, one of the first hard drive based video cameras with a decent price tag and ok features, for more than half a year and my general impressions are very positive. Positive things: No tapes!!! 3CCD, excellent for recording in dark concert/lecture halls Very small and handy Negative things: No microphone/line input (this was a major drawback with this model, but luckily the built-in stereo microphone is not too bad…) Storing files in an MPEG-2 format which is probably good for writing directly to DVD, but a hazzle to work with on a computer (at least Macs) since they have to be re-encoded to something that is more easily playable in QuickTime....

{#image244}RtFFT by Gary P. Scavone is a fairly basic realtime spectrum analyzer. It can simultaneously display an arbitrary number of FFT signals, which correspond to the spectra of data input from one or more channels of your computer soundcard. The plot window can be zoomed to any arbitrary limits. Controls are provided for the FFT size, the window type, and window averaging.

{#image241}The Khronos Projector by Alvaro Cassinelli is an interactive-art installation allowing people to explore pre-recorded movie content in an entirely new way. […] The goal of the Khronos Projector is to go beyond these forms of exclusive temporal control, by giving the user an entirely new dimension to play with: by touching the projection screen, the user is able to send parts of the image forward or backwards in time....

{.imagelink}Eduardo Miranda and Marcelo M. Wanderley have just released a new book called New Digital Musical Instruments: Control and Interaction Beyond the Keyboard. The chapters are: - Musical Gestures: Acquisition and Mapping Gestural Controllers Sensors and Sensor-to-Computer Interfaces Biosignal Interfaces Toward Intelligent Musical Instruments So far most publications in this field have been in conference proceedings, so it is great to have a book that can be used in teaching....

For some experiments we are conducting on piano playing I have been looking for a way of measuring muscle activity, or electromyography as it is more properly called: Electromyography (EMG) is a medical technique for evaluating and recording physiologic properties of muscles at rest and while contracting. EMG is performed using a instrument called an electromyograph, to produce a record called an electromyogram. An electromyograph detects the electrical potential generated by muscle cells when these cells contract, and also when the cells are at rest....

The Reactive Sound System adds sounds to the current soundscape, either to mask for example speech, or to make unpleasant sounds more pleasant. They have also developed an acoustic curtain with a microphone and flat speakers which can work with the system.

Gordon Moore, founder of Intel, observed that computer processor complexity approximately doubled every eighteen months. This observation has become famous as “Moore’s Law” and predicts that computer performance grows exponentially. Thus we expect a fairly new (circa 2005/06) computer running modern software to perform a simple task like word processing much more quickly than a vintage computer (circa 1988/89). After all, should be approximately 28 times more powerful. Well, as the story Vintage Macs with System 6 Run Circles Around 3 GHz Windows 2000 PC shows, the old systems clearly beat a new computer when it comes to start-up time and word-processing....

We have started a collaboration between between UiO and AHO, and some of the music technology students followed courses with the interaction designers at AHO this spring semester. This was a great success, and I was impressed with what came out of it. Henrik Marstrander has worked on a table interface where he can control various musical parameters, and Jon Olav Eikenes and Marie Wennesland has made a multi-touch multi-touch interface modelled after Jeff Han....