CC3 Week 6 - Synthesiser Definitions I

I spent most of the time for this exercise just getting my SynthDef to work. The final result isn't very inspiring but I'm sure I will get the chance to create much more exciting sounds in the future.


AUDIO
SynthDef example [400KB]

//Synth Def
(
 SynthDef("SinTone", {
 
 arg cFreq = 500, cAmp = 0.5, mFreq = 3, mAmp = 0.75;
 
 var carrier, modulator, out;
 
 modulator = LFSaw.ar(freq: mFreq, mul: mAmp);
 carrier = SinOsc.ar(freq: cFreq, mul: modulator * cAmp);
  
 out = Out.ar(bus: 0, channelsArray: carrier);
 
 }).send(s);
)

a = Synth("SinTone", [\cFreq, 222, \cAmp, 0.9]);
a.set(\cFreq, 800, \cAmp, 0.15);
a.set(\mFreq, 5);
a.set(\mFreq, 10);
a.set(\mFreq, 15);
a.set(\mFreq, 20);
a.set(\mFreq, 30);
a.set(\mFreq, 40);
a.set(\cFreq, 100, \cAmp, 0.15);
a.set(\cFreq, 8000, \cAmp, 0.15);
a.set(\cFreq, 50, \cAmp, 0.15);




// MIDI control
(
 MIDIClient.init;
 
 MIDIClient.sources;
 
 MIDIIn.connectByUID(inport: 0, uid: MIDIClient.sources.at(0).uid);
)



( 
 MIDIIn.noteOn = {
 
  arg src, chan, num, vel; 
  
  [chan,num,vel].postln;
  
  a.set(\cFreq, num.midicps);
 };
 MIDIIn.noteOff = {};
)
( 
 MIDIIn.control = {
 
  arg src, chan, num, val; 
  
  [src, chan,num,val].postln;
  
  a.set(\mFreq, (val * 1.5));
 }; 
)

[1] Christian Haines. "Creative Computing: Semester 1 - Week 6 - Synthesiser Definitions I". Lecture presented at the Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, South Australia, 10th April 2008

Week 6 Forum - Mashups

[2]

Today's forum class was on mashups. David Harris presented us with some music by Vicki Bennett. I was late for forum this week and so I missed the actual presentation but I think my idea of a mashup or remix would be different to what David Harris thinks. I could be wrong but I am just going by past experiences.

I would have liked to see the visuals and music as I'm sure they were interesting. *Ah wellz* next time I'll make sure I'm there. I've only missed a few forums classes in my whole degree so I'm doing okay.


[1] David Harris, "Music Technology Forum: Semester 1 - Week 6 - Vicki Bennett". Lecture presented at the Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, South Australia, 10th April 2008

[2] Creative Commons, Featured Commoners. http://creativecommons.org/commoners/2005/10/page/2 (Accessed 10/4/8)

AA3 Week 6 - Side Chaining

This weeks exercise was to use side-chaining in three examples. I choose three ways in which I have actually used it in my music "career". Yes my career still has a long way to go but I have used side-chaining a fair bit particularly in the last year or so.

In my first example I have a song playing in the background and I have plugged in a microphone (a real cheapy from home which is why it sounds soooo dodgy) into my mbox. The input of the microphone is the input sidechain to the compressor on my track with the song playing. Then I have done a typical voice over for Fresh FM. I work at Fresh FM in production and as a DJ. I have a long release time on the compressor so you can hear the volume gradually go up again.

The second example is a song I've produced that uses side-chaining on the bass with the kick drum. I have included two clips since the section I wanted to show went for too long.

The third example is simply using a gate instead of a compressor. The only time I use a gate is when I produce with analogue gear to hide the noise floor. In my example I have simply sent a tone generator through a gate and triggered with a snare.



tone triggered using a snare through a gate


AUDIO
Voice Over Example [1.2MB]
Dance Track Example [872KB]
Tone Gate Example [216KB]


[1] David Grice. "Audio Arts: Semester 1 - Week 6 - Side-Chaining". Lecture presented at the Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, South Australia, 8th April 2008

[2] Mellor, David. 1996, STAR GATE! Using the Drawmer DS201 dual gate Sound on Sound, http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1996_articles/jan96/drawmergate.html (viewed 13/1/2007)

[3] White, Paul 2001, Advanced Gating Techniques 1, Sound on Sound, viewed 12/2 2007, http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr01/articles/advanced.asp (viewed 12/2 2007)

[4] White, Paul 2001, Advanced Gating Techniques 2, Sound on Sound, http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may01/articles/advancedgating.pt2.asp (viewed 12/2 2007)

Week 5 Forum - Pierre Heny

[1]

kudos Henry!


Before today I had only heard Henry's music. After watching his work and lifestyle I've come to a few conclusions.

Henry's art work is very erratic. He makes art out of almost anything. It is as if he sees all objects different to the average person. "Outside the square" seems to be his life.

In his home, everything is so disorganized and random. I think his mind is muddled, chaotic and in disarray. I feel he has just expressed his art and lifestyle in a sonic form. I don't consider it "music" as such, but I feel the sonic outcome reflects him as a person. I suppose in many ways this is what music is meant to do, but I especially noticed this with Henry. His personal expressions don't change much at all, so he expresses most of his thoughts through his physical and sonic art.

I enjoyed Heny's sound-scapes. They sounded very full and warm and were original. But, I do feel Henry was overrated though. It is not very hard to create "music" by sampling anything and putting it together. If you approached a punter and played them a piece by Henry and then after played a musique concrete piece by a first year Music Technology student, do you really think they could tell the difference?

I am interested to see if anyone agrees with me.


[1] Futurama. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurama (Accessed 7/4/8)
[2] Steven Whittington "Music Technology Forum: Semester 1 - Week 5 - Pierre Heny". Lecture presented at the Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, South Australia, 3rd April 2008.

CC3 Week 5 - Sound Generation II

In this week's exercise I have experimented with lots of different unit generators. I am still getting used to putting in argument values that work with the sound. I had trouble getting then envelope generator to work. I did get a sound but it's not much to talk about.


AUDIO
Samples of each patch [368KB]

// ONE
(
 {
  a = SinOsc.ar(
  freq: MouseX.kr(220, 660), mul: 0.25, add: 1
  )
 }.play;
)


// TWO
(
 { Mix.fill(
   8,
   { LFTri.ar(MouseY.kr(50,1000,1 ), 0, 0.05) }
  ); 
 }.play;
)


// THREE
( 
{ 
 LFPulse.ar( 
     freq: LFPulse.kr(freq: 130, mul: 4, add: 2), 
     mul: EnvGen.kr(Env.adsr(0.5, 0.04, 0.01, 0.1),  
   LFPulse.kr(3)
  ) 
 ) 
}.scope.play 
)


// FOUR
(
 { 
  XFade2.ar(
    SyncSaw.ar, 
    SyncSaw.ar(500), 
    MouseX.kr(-1,1), 0.3) 
 }.scope(1);
)


//FIVE
(
 { 
 LFPar.ar(
   MouseX.kr(50,1000,1),
   0,
   0.1
  ) 
 }.play
)

[1] Christian Haines. "Creative Computing: Semester 1 - Week 5 - Sound Generation II". Lecture presented at the Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, South Australia, 8th April 2008.

AA3 Week 5 - Production "Outside The Square" Part II

For this week's exercise I used a vocal sample, a harp sample and a piano sample. The vocal sample is of a recording I did a few weeks ago recording my younger cousins singing. The sample I used for this exercise is of the singer who I think sounded the best. For an untrained 14 year old, I think it's pretty good.

I applied Auto-Tune only as a correction tool in this example fixing the notes that were slightly out of tune. You can hear that Auto-Tune isn't always 100% accurate. It has jumped to notes that I think are not quite right. If I spent more time on the setting maybe this could've been resolved.

The harp sample was messed around by using a weird scale. I think I used the Greek Diatonic Scale. This resulted in the notes jumping all over the place.

The piano sample was messed around by bypassing many of the notes and then drawing in some pitch changes. I couldn't get rid of the crackling sound. I'm not sure why that comes through when you edit the pitch by hand. Below is a screenshot of the piano editing. Click on the image for a hi-res version.




AUDIO
Vocal Original Sample [468KB]
Vocal Sample w/Autotune [468KB]
Harp Original Sample [268KB]
Harp Sample w/Autotune [268KB]
Piano Original Sample [404KB]
Piano Sample w/Autotune [404KB]


[1] David Grice. "Audio Arts: Semester 1 - Week 5 - Antares Auto-Tune". Lecture presented at the Electronic Music Unit, University of Adelaide, South Australia, 1st April 2008

[2] White, Paul 1999, AUTOMAGIC - Alternate Uses for Auto-Tune, 21/2, 2007,