RESOURCES

Useful resources (links, tutorials, example code, readings) will be posted here. Please be sure to check back in from time to time, as this page will be updated throughout the course.

SYLLABUS

M_Cetilia-Programming_Sound-Fall_2017.pdf

SCHEDULING TIME IN THE OLD LIBRARY

Book time here: https://wc.risd.edu/webcheckout/patron/patronPortal.html

Think ahead, reserve time now! It's recommended you establish a weekly regular time. Availability will become limited as semester progresses (the space is in high demand, so openings are likely to fill).

Full calendar link:

https://wc.risd.edu/webcheckout/wco/calendar.ics?method=checkout-center-allocations&a=D940E708BA07C70E2F5C67BE5EC47B&u=dcosta&checkout-center=37706511

WEEK 1

Introduction / Max Interface Basics

What is Max?

Who has used it?
Why?

Interface overview

Menus, object instantiation
Locking / unlocking patches
Tool palettes
Connecting objects
Inspector
Debugging via the Max window
Options menu, incl. file path, audio status
Extras window, incl. audio tester
Presentation mode

How to get help / About the documentation

Max Basics

1. Basic objects

object
message
comment
button
toggle

2. Order of events

right-to-left, bottom-to-top
trigger
loadbang
loadmess

3. Data types

bang
int
float
symbol
list
signal

4. Ezdac~ and ezadc~ / dac~ and adc~

5. Cycle~

Download patches from:

https://drive.google.com/a/risd.edu/file/d/0B0UVEiPHwylWS1lVYzNOXzQ2VUE/

WEEK 2

Reading Due:

Jennie_Gotschalk-Defining_Features_of_Experimental_Music.pdf

Jennie Gotschalk – Defining Features of Experimental Music

Max Workshop 1: Synthesis Primer

Basic UI Controls

1. Max objects
hslider, vslider
multislider

2. MSP objects

gain~
signal number box

Subtractive Synthesis

1. Metering

meter~
scope~
spectroscope~

2. Basic waveforms

cycle~
tri~
rect~
saw~
phasor~

3. Special features

Phase offset: cycle~, phasor~
Duty cycle: rect~, tri~
Syncing oscillators: tri~, rect~, saw~

4. Noise sources

noise~
pink~
rand~

5. Filters

filtergraph~
biquad~
cascade~

6. Mixing / crossfading

+~
*~
gain~
!-~
line~
curve~
gates & switches

Modulation Synthesis

1. Smooth & stepped randoms

train~
sah~
rampsmooth~

2. Some maths

Basic maths: +, -, *, /, !-, !/, %
Signal maths: +~, -~, *~, /~, !-~, !/~, %~

3. Fun with volume

Tremolo
Ring modulation (bipolar)
Amplitude modulation (unipolar)

4. Fun with frequency

Vibrato
Frequency modulation
Basic
A’la John Chowning
A’la F. Richard Moore

Download patches from:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0UVEiPHwylWdHhCOWx5M1NFdEU

WEEK 3

Reading Due:

Kim_Cascone-The_Aesthetics_of_Failure.pdf

Kim Cascone – The Aesthetics of Failure: “Post-Digital” Tendencies in Contemporary Computer Music

Max Workshop 2: Digital Audio Fundamentals

Digital Audio

1. Recording to disk, playing back from disk

sfplay~
sfrecord~
autonaming recordings w/ sprintf, date

2. Live multitracking

Recording multichannel files (note: 2Gb limit for both .aif & .wav)
What if your patch crashes (or goes over 2Gb limit) before writing the header?
Stereo files: Soundhack
Multichannel files: cf. Diemo Schwarz's aifffixlength.c
Splitting multichannel files using De-Interleaver.

3. Fun with memory buffered audio

buffer~
play~
groove~
wave~
syncing wave~ w/ rate & @sync 1
record~
feedback with buffers

Download patches from:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0UVEiPHwylWSjBxNWt3YngyNTg

WEEK 4

Reading Due:

Jack_Burnham-Systems_Esthetics.pdf

Jack Burnham – Systems Esthetics

Donella_Meadows-Dancing_with_Systems.pdf

Donella Meadows – Dancing with Systems

Max Workshop 3: Automation and Trickery

Tips & Tricks

1. Phase modulation

2. Comparators

Basic comparators: >, >=, ==, <=, <, !=
Signal comparators: >, >=, ==, <=, <, !=
Wave splicing with comparators

3. Presets

4. Mixing reminder

5. Softclip (wavefolding) cheat with sinx~

Timing

1. Metros

2. Lots of metros

3. Delay / pipe

4. Counters

5. Random

6. Drunk

7. Phasor~ sequencer

rate~ / sync lock mode

Mapping

1. Zmap

2. Scale

3. Expr

4. mc.scale

Simple Networking

1. Maxhole

2. Udpsend / udpreceive

3. Using route with udpsend / udpreceive

Tidying up

1. Subpatches / encapsulation

2. Patches inside patches

3. Presentation mode

Open in Presentation Mode

4. Bpatchers

Download patches from:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0UVEiPHwylWbDRyLWI3U3RNYjQ

WEEK 5

Reading Due:

Barry_Blesser_Linda-Ruth_Salter-The_Other_Half_of_the_Soundscape.pdf

Barry Blesser and Linda-Ruth Salter – The Other Half of the Soundscape: Aural Architecture

Max Workshop 4: Spatialization Techniques

Tidying Up

1. Subpatches / encapsulation

2. Patches inside patches

3. Presentation mode

Open in Presentation Mode

4. Bpatchers

Abstractions

1. Abstractions

2. Basics

3. Unique IDs

4. Patcherargs (and attributes)

Spatialization

1. Phase-controlled panning

frozen cycle~
pan4S

2. el.npan~

3. VBAP (Vector-Based Amplitude Panning)

4. Ambisonics (ICST)

1 signal
2 signals
X/Y Controls

5. CICM

vbapan~
ambipan~
ambicube~

6. MIAP (Manifold-Interface Amplitude Panning)

7. Panoramix (IRCAM)

Download patches from:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0UVEiPHwylWaGtFUmJQQ2Q3SzQ

WEEK 7

Reading Due:

Joel_Ryan-As_If_By_Magic-Some_Remarks_on_Musical_Instrument_Design_at_STEIM.pdf

Joel Ryan – As if by Magic: Some Remarks on Musical Instrument Design at STEIM

Pd Workshop 1: Introduction to Pure Data for Mobile Devices

On Mac OS X: Open Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/) and type in sudo spctl --master-disable
Download Pure Data: http://msp.ucsd.edu/software.html
Download MobMuPlat Development Package: http://danieliglesia.com/mobmuplat

Move the MobMuPlat development package from your Downloads folder to your Desktop.
If you have a Windows computer, you'll need Java (you should have this installed from Processing) for the editor to work: https://java.com/en/download/help/windows_manual_download.xml
For your mobile device, download MobMuPlat either from the iTunes store (iOS): https://itunes.apple.com/kr/app/mobmuplat/id597679399?mt=8
or the Google Play store (Android): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.iglesiaintermedia.mobmuplat
For iOS + Windows or Mac, you'll need iTunes to transfer the files.
For Android + Mac, you can use Android file transfer: https://www.android.com/filetransfer
For Windows + Android, file transfer should be fairly straightforward, we'll take a look in class.

Using Pd's native GUI Objects

You don’t need to do anything other than get your patch over to MobMuPlat and you can use sliders, buttons, toggles, messages, numbers, comments, radio buttons, tables etc.

Making a Custom Interface

Open the MobMuPlat Development Package. You’ll see three tabs:

Doc

Set Screen Size, Orientation, Number of Pages, Main Pd File

Add

slider / knob / xyslider / label / button / toggle / grid / panel / multislider / LCD / multitouch / menu / table
Note: label can display images (but for bg images, be sure to turn on “allow touches to scroll”)
table can change contents of buffer in Pd, but your buffer’s name needs to include the leading /slash in Pd

Prop

Set your objects’ colors (they can be translucent), font (for Label), address, range of values
Note: values range 0-1 by default, larger values will be int only, so scale values in Pd.

Download patches from

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0UVEiPHwylWSmFOM2NkS3NLem8

WEEK 8

Reading Due:

Liz_Kotz-Circuit_and_Score.pdf

Liz Kotz – Circuit and Score

Pd Workshop 2: Introduction to Pure Data on the Bela Platform

Bela Pin Diagram: http://bela.io/belaDiagram

Bela Wiki: https://github.com/BelaPlatform/Bela/wiki

Bela IDE: https://github.com/BelaPlatform/Bela/wiki/Bela-IDE

Getting Started with Bela: https://github.com/BelaPlatform/Bela/wiki/Getting-started-with-Bela

Running Pd on Bela: https://github.com/BelaPlatform/Bela/wiki/Running-Puredata-patches-on-Bela

Notes

In order for Bela to work, you need to install the Network drivers for your machine. Go to the Getting Started with Bela link and scroll down to “Installing network drivers” and follow the directions based on your OS. You will probably have to reboot your machine when you’re done installing.

When your network drivers are installed, the Bela IDE will show up in a browser at http://192.168.7.2 once connected.

adc~ / dac~ 1 and 2 are for audio ins / outs , 3+ are for analog ins / outs (0-5V).

If you want to use a digital in, you have to configure it as signal or control (“message”) rate first.

Never use 5V with digital pins or you'll fry your board (cf. Bela Pin Diagram).

When creating a new project in the IDE, be sure to select Pure Data as the project type.

To run your project, click on the "run" icon at the bottom left side of the IDE.

Your main Pd patch should be saved inside your project as _main.pd.

You can make a project load up automatically when Bela first starts by selecting it under Settings -> IDE Settings -> Run Project on Boot.

Remember to eject BELAB00T disk before powering down your board.

Additional Resources

Bela Core Code (including examples on SD card): https://github.com/BelaPlatform/Bela

Bela “Experimenter’s Kit” Book: http://bela.io/archive/BelaBook.pdf

Bela Forum: http://forum.bela.io

Download patches from

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0UVEiPHwylWaFVGbzFHMml3bnM

WEEK 9

Soldering_Is_Easy-Heres_How_To_Do_It.pdf

Mitch Altman / Andie Nordgren / Jeff Keyzer – Soldering Is Easy: Here's How to Do It

Pd Workshop 3: Bela’s Dead, Long Live Bela

1. OSC from Pd on Bela

to Pd
to Max

2. Midi Fundamentals

3. Bela example with 4 potentiometers & 4 buttons on solderable breadboard

Download patches from

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1TbEpna_OuDQp5MkkNov1jPD5Z5YmxUoJ

SUGGESTED READINGS

ONLINE RESOURCES

MAX ADD-ONS

USEFUL SOFTWARE

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