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Blog archive for September 2014

ATK for Reaper : Public Beta (version 1.0.b3)

September 12, 2014

Zoomtransform          Directtransform

Ambisonic Toolkit for Reaper is now available
as a public beta (version 1.0 beta 3).

While there is a well-established workflow for stereo production in DAWs, options have been more limited when working with Ambisonics. The Ambisonic Toolkit (ATK) brings together a number of tools and transforms for working with first order Ambisonic surround sound, and includes intriguing possibilities for spatial soundfield imaging.

The ATK toolset in intended to be both ergonomic and comprehensive, framed so that the user is enabled to ‘think Ambisonic’. By this, the ATK addresses the holistic problem of creatively controlling a complete soundfield, facilitating spatial composition beyond simple placement of sounds in a sound-scene. The artist is empowered to address the impression and imaging of a soundfield — taking advantage of the native soundfield-kernel paradigm the Ambisonic technique presents.

ATK has previously only been available for public release via the SuperCollider real-time processing environment. Cockos Reaper is a reasonably priced and flexible DAW, popular among many composers and sonic artists working with spatial sound. Reaper’s versatile design conveniently supports the ATK’s Ambisonic workflow model.

Using the JSFX text-based scripting language, the ATK has now been ported to plugins for Reaper. Several of the plugins, in particular the transforms, offers intuitive graphical user interfaces that helps visualise the effect of the various transforms. The plugins work with all operation system and processor versions that Reaper supports. On the Windows platform the plugins can also be used with other VST-hosts by means of the ReaJS ReaPlug plugin.

The ATK toolset has been been gathered, authored and developed by Joseph Anderson over a number of years, and is now a collaborative open source project. The port of ATK to Reaper has been done by Trond Lossius of BEK, Bergen Center for Electronic Arts.

A paper on ATK for Reaper by Trond Lossius and Joseph Anderson will be presented at the upcoming joint ICMC | SMC conference in Athens. If you are attending the conference, please drop by during the poster session next Thursday!

Papers at ICMC / SMC

September 12, 2014

Next week the joint ICMC / SMC (International Computer Music Conference / Sound and Music Computing Conference) takes place in Athens. I’m involved with three papers and a demo session during the conference. I very much look forward to the conference, and to present everything that we have been working on.

The papers are available from the text section of this web site.

 

ATK Reaper: The Ambisonic Toolkit as JSFX plugins

by Trond Lossius and Joseph Anderson

Screen_shot_2014-08-21_at_13

Thursday 18, September 2014
12:10-12:45: Poster Session craze – Odeon 1
12:45-14:30: Poster Session - Odeon 0

While there is a well-established workflow for stereo production in DAWs, options have been more limited when working with Ambisonics. The Ambisonic Toolkit (ATK) brings together a number of tools and transforms for working with first order Ambisonic surround sound, and includes intriguing possibilities for spatial soundfield imaging. These tools have previously only been available for public release via the SuperCollider real-time processing environment.

Cockos Reaper is a reasonably priced and flexible DAW, popular among many composers and sonic art\-ists working with spatial sound. Reaper’s versatile design conveniently supports the ATK’s Ambisonic workflow model. Using the JSFX text-based scripting language, the ATK has now been ported to plugins for Reaper; these include intuitive graphical user interfaces.

 

Model-View-Controller separation in Max using Jamoma

by Trond Lossius, Theo de la Hogue, Pascal Baltazar, Tim Place, Nathan Wolek and Julien Rabin

Using

Wednesday, 17 September
09:00-10:40: Oral session – Computer environments for sound/music processing (1) – Odeon 4

The Model-View-Controller (MVC) software architecture pattern separates these three program components, and is well-suited for interactive applications where flexible human-computer interfaces are required. Separating data presentation from the underlying process enables multiple views of the same model, customised views, synchronisation between views, as well as views that can be dynamically loaded, bound to a model, and then disposed. Jamoma 0.6 enables MVC separation in Cycling’74 Max through custom externals and patching guidelines for developers. Models and views can then be nested for a hierarchal structuring of services.
A local preset system is available in all models, along with namespace and services that can be inspected and queried application-wide. This system can be used to manage cues with modular, stringent and transparent handling of priorities. It can also be expanded for inter-application exchange, enabling the distribution of models and views over a network using OSC and Minuit. While this paper demonstrates key principles via simple patchers, a more elaborate demonstration of MVC separation in Max is provided in Lossius et. al. (2014a).

 

Demo: Using Jamoma’s MVC features to design an audio effect interface

by Trond Lossius, Nathan Wolek, Theo de la Hogue and Pascal Baltazar

Eqviews

Monday 15 September 2014
09:50-10:40: Demo session – Room A

The Model-View-Controller (MVC) software architecture pattern separates these three program components, and is well-suited for interactive applications where flexible human-computer interfaces are required. Separating data presentation from the underlying process enables multiple views of the same model, customised views, synchronisation between views, and views that can be dynamically loaded, repurposed, and disposed.

The use of MVC is widespread in web applications, but is far less common in interactive computer music programming environments. Jamoma 0.6 enables MVC separation in Cycling’74 Max, as presented in Lossius et. al. (2014b). This demonstration will examine the development of a multi-band equaliser using these recent additions to Jamoma. This review of the design process will serve to highlight many of the benefits of MVC separation.

 

The SpatDIF library – Concept and practical applications in audio software

by Jan C. Schacher, Chikashi Miyama and Trond Lossius

Playback_maxpatch

Poster session Monday, 15 September 2014
12:10-12:45: Poster Session craze – Odeon 1
12:45-14:30: Poster Session - Odeon 0

The development of SpatDIF, the Spatial Sound Description Interchange Format, continues with the implementation of concrete software tools. In order to make SpatDIF usable in audio workflows, two types of code implementations are developed. The first is the C/C++ software library `libspatdif’, whose purpose is to provide a reference implementation of SpatDIF. The class structure of this library and its main components embodies the principles derived from the concepts and specification of SpatDIF. The second type of tool are specific implementations in audio programming environments, which demonstrate the methods and best-use practices for working with SpatDIF. Two practical scenarios demonstrates the use of an external in MaxMSP and Pure Data as well as the implementation of the same example in a C++ environment. A short-term goal is the complete implementation of the existing specification within the library. A long-term perspective is to develop additional extensions that will further increase the utility of the SpatDIF format.

 

References

T. Lossius, N. Wolek, T. de la Hogue & P. Baltazar (2014a): Demo: Using Jamama’s MVC features to design an audio effect interface. Proceedings of the joint 40th International Computer Music Conference & 11th Sound and Music Computing Comference, Athens.

T. Lossius, T. de la Hogue, P. Baltazar, T. Place, N. Wolek & J. Rabin (2014b): Model-View-Controller separation in Max using Jamoma. Proceedings of the joint 40th International Computer Music Conference & 11th Sound and Music Computing Comference, Athens.

Article on sonozones in Journal for Artistic Research

September 23, 2014

Sonozones

An article on the sonozones project has just been published in The Journal for Artistic Research. sonozones was an artistic research project carried out in Mülheim an der Ruhr in the summer of 2013 in collaboration between Jan Schacher, Cathy van Eck, Kirsten Reese and myself.

This project also led to the film installation Muelheim an der Ruhr, August 2013 in collaboration between me and Jan, presented as part of the This must be the place exhibition at KINOKINO Centre for Art and Film and Sandnes kunstforening in the fall 2013. A binaural (headphone) version of this work can be found here.

 

sonozones. sound art investigations in public places

by Jan Schacher, Cathy van Eck, Kirsten Reese, Trond Lossius

The ‘sonozones’ project investigates sound art practices in public places through personal and public acts of listening and sounding. The topic is explored using artistic processes developed on site in Mülheim in the Ruhr region of central Germany. Four sound art practitioners collaboratively explore ideas and concepts that question the significance and impact of listening and sounding in public places and suburban and urban spaces. The project collects traces and artefacts of the artistic processes as a basis for investigations into key elements of the individual and social dimensions of sound art. The exploration of forms sets the stage for experiments, interventions, and performative presences carried out on site by the artists. A continuous dialogue and the collection of verbal reflections frames these activities. In addition to texts, this exposition lays out a collection of audio recordings, photographs, and videos in order to document and convey sensory experiences as well as thoughts.