Brittney Allen

I'm interested in creating a sustain/hold effect in Max/MSP in order to perform something similar to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUJE2rQ9wPw

I've come across a few resources (Davyray1's forum, Tracy Evans' sound on sound tutorial, Jamoma, Mike Norris' plugins, and Jean-Francois Charles' tutorial on spectral sound processing, etc.). All of the resources are great, however they're a bit difficult for me to understand. I'm wondering if there's a simpler way to create a harmonic effect utilizing arpeggiated notes for a real instrument (flute) in Max?

Hi All,
I'm interested in creating a sustain/hold effect in Max/MSP in order to perform something similar to this:
https://www.youtube.com/w

holdsustain

I think, nothing special involved here. Not fft, no freeze. You can do this with a simple sustain pedal and a additional switch to forward the sections. In the video, they did not use a switch to change the sounds, they just cut the video. What I listen to is, 3 sections.

First a monophonic synth and a polyphonic synth which is controlled by the sustain pedal.

from 2:23 (movie cut) the monophonic synth and a (pre-recorded) chord sequence.

from 6:02 (movie cut) the polyphonic synth only.

I think, nothing special involved here. Not fft, no freeze. You can do this with a simple sustain pedal and a additional switch to forward the sections. In the video, they did not use a switch to change the sounds, they just cut the video. What I listen to is, 3 sections. 

Thanks so much for the thoughtful response (and taking the time to watch the YouTube link as well); I definitely appreciate it.

I agree with you 1000 percent. So I'm wondering if it's possible to use a sustain pedal to create the sustained effect with an external wind instrument? I suppose it'd be a bit easier if I were using a midi controller, but I'm not sure how to go about sustaining pitches that weren't created within Max.

Try this. Save this as simple-audio-sustain.pfft:

Then, save this one as you want (for instance, simple-audio-sustain), in the same folder as the pfft patch:

Woah, the patches are lovely. Thanks so much :)

That being said, I don't fully understand how it works. Do you have/know of any resources pertaining to fft and spectral sound processing that I may cross-reference with your previously published tutorial? I've read through it and it's a little advanced considering my ignorance of the subject matter.

Well, if you want to understand this patch, I would advise to first explore spectrums (make them yourself with Audacity), sonograms (make sonograms with Sonic Visualiser, get familiar with the FFT parameters). To learn more about Fourier, you could check out a number of sources (one I like is Eric Heller's book Why You Hear What You Hear, chapter 3.)

Then in Max, there are two things to explore:

Once you have a good grasp of the Forbidden Planet patch, you're on track. Then, my freeze patch is really a phase vocoder, so that's what you want to study next.

Of course, you could also use the patch as a black box, and modify the main patch without understanding everything that's going on inside the [pfft~]... it really depends on your goals.

Then in Max, there are two things to explore: 

MSP Analysis Tutorial 4: Signal Processing with pfft~

in Extras -> ExampleOverview -> MSP -> FFT Fun -> Forbidden Planet

Thanks so much for the resources! Looks like I'm going to be pretty busy this summer :)

Hey Brittney, how did you go with this? As a flautist I'm kinda curious.

It didn't work out quite so well for me . Jean-Francois Charles sent some amazing patches that went clear over my head. Lol I haven't given up hope but I admittedly haven't spent much time on the project.

Thanks for the response, Brittney, although I'd much rather you'd been able to send links to some amazing Max-enhanced flute performances. :-)

I'd be happy to hear about it if you do make some progress on the project one day. Cheers, Bill

Here's another approach using delay lines.

Hold/Sustain