Brad Garton

I'm putting on-line a project I recently finished, it's an

integrated music/text/graphics application called "My Book of Dreams".

http://music.columbia.edu/~brad/BookOfDreams/

It was programmed entirely in Max/MSP/Jitter, using the [rtcmix~] and

[maxlispj] objects for most of the audio control and synthesis. There's

been a fair amount of discussion on the list lately about generative and

algorithmic composition -- all of the music in the application is 

and synthesized algorithmically (i.e. no sound samples). I'm especially

happy with the the physical model oboe-shawm and controlling style-model

I hope you enjoy it! Feel free to pass the web site along to others

I'm putting on-line a project I recently finished, it's an
integrated music/text/graphics application called "My Book of Dreams".
Grab it here if you're interested:

	http://music.columbia.edu/~brad/BookOfDreams/

It was programmed entirely in Max/MSP/Jitter, using the [rtcmix~] and
[maxlispj] objects for most of the audio control and synthesis.  There's
been a fair amount of discussion on the list lately about generative and
algorithmic composition -- all of the music in the application is  
generated
and synthesized algorithmically (i.e. no sound samples).  I'm especially
happy with the the physical model oboe-shawm and controlling style-model
agent.

I hope you enjoy it!  Feel free to pass the web site along to others
if you'd like.

Brad Garton
http://music.columbia.edu/~brad


my-book-of-dreams

Can't launch the source patch called "BookOfDreams.pat"

two crash here. 
Can't launch the source patch called "BookOfDreams.pat"

Same here. Same specs except for a G5. Just see the splash screen. Src

code did the same thing to max 4.6.3, and I think I probably have all the

right extentions in there, but can't get that far to tell.

Looks like an ambitious work. I hope I get to look at it.

On 10/1/08 12:45 PM, "Derrick Giscloux" wrote:

> Can't launch the source patch called "BookOfDreams.pat"

Same here.  Same specs except for a G5.  Just see the splash screen.  Src
code did the same thing to max 4.6.3, and I think I probably have all the
right extentions in there, but can't get that far to tell.

Looks like an ambitious work.  I hope I get to look at it.

On 10/1/08 12:45 PM, "Derrick Giscloux"  wrote:

>
> Hi Brad,
>
> two crash here. 
> Can't launch the source patch called "BookOfDreams.pat"
>
>
> MaxMSPJitter 4.6.3 1.6
> OSX.4.11
> PPC G4 
>
>
>

It works perfectly for me, and sounds great. Maybe it's an architecture issue? I'm on an Intel machine. Nice work Brad!

Awesome work! I really enjoyed it. It reminds me a bit of "Einstein's Dreams" but shorter and sweeter. I especially was... uh... what's the word... i guess most "tripped out" by your metadreams. Really great idea. I have this trick I do when I find a dream I like, I wake myself up just a little so that I can return to sleep with a greater sense of control over the dream. If I ever have a metadream like the ones you had, I will certainly have to try this and then I feel I will either become master of the universe or ... uh... maybe I just won't know what to do with myself, hahaha.

And I just have to say, my favorite part was where you are about to "save" Paul Lansky by knocking him unconscious with a large piece of wood and he simply replies, "Don't worry, I've had it done to me before."

P.S. One thing you could do to expand on this "Book of Dreams" idea is maybe, since your chapters are short but sweet, turn them into captions for some kind of visual animations? I like the little squares alot, don't get me wrong, but it's just an idea to go further. Like, this is probably a bad example(probably not the music you'd want and i'm not any kind of professional graphic-designer/animator), but if you look here at my website:

you see how you could easily have someone create abstract flash animations, generate quicktime files of them and then include them in your application(but then again, maybe that would create too large of a download size). or else host them on the net, which would allow you to create longer ones without the problems of downloading a huge file but then you'd have to maybe do the generative music some other way like using java or something. I guess i shouldn't come up with ideas like this when i have no idea how to implement them, but.... just sharing a dream that spawned from reading yours. Anyways, great work again! Thanks for sharing!

P.S. One thing you could do to expand on this "Book of Dreams" idea is maybe, since your chapters are short but sweet, turn them into captions for some kind of visual animations? I like the little squares alot, don't get me wrong, but it's just an idea to go further. Like, this is probably a bad example(probably not the music you'd want and i'm not any kind of professional graphic-designer/animator), but if you look here at my website:
www.karaokaze.net
you see how you could easily have someone create abstract flash animations, generate quicktime files of them and then include them in your application(but then again, maybe that would create too large of a download size). or else host them on the net, which would allow you to create longer ones without the problems of downloading a huge file but then you'd have to maybe do the generative music some other way like using java or something. I guess i shouldn't come up with ideas like this when i have no idea how to implement them, but.... just sharing a dream that spawned from reading yours. Anyways, great work again! Thanks for sharing!


unfortunately it crashes for me too on both max 5 and max 4.6.3

I hope this is fixable... this sounds really exciting!!!!

I enjoyed it thoroughly and was very, very impressed. Your work in algorithmic composition continues to be an inspiration for me. I hope to "get there" one day (I have yet to write a piece that is completely algorithmic). Thanks for sharing.

PS - I can't open the source patch either. I believe I have maxlispj and rtcmix~ installed properly. The patch starts to load, I see a bunch of general lisp eval errors (stack overflow or memory) - I think these are expected IIRC. Then there is an rtcmix error about function "roomset" already defined. And shortly after that it crashes. Maybe I will install the latest versions of maxlisp and rtcmix at some point (not motivated to debug this further right now)

Brad,
I enjoyed it thoroughly and was very, very impressed. Your work in algorithmic composition continues to be an inspiration for me. I hope to "get there" one day (I have yet to write a piece that is completely algorithmic). Thanks for sharing.

PS - I can't open the source patch either. I believe I have maxlispj and rtcmix~ installed properly. The patch starts to load, I see a bunch of general lisp eval errors (stack overflow or memory) - I think these are expected IIRC. Then there is an rtcmix error about function "roomset" already defined. And shortly after that it crashes. Maybe I will install the latest versions of maxlisp and rtcmix at some point (not motivated to debug this further right now)


Quote: RabidRaja wrote on Thu, 02 October 2008 06:34

----------------------------------------------------

> I have this trick I do when I find a dream I like, I wake myself up just a little so that I can return to sleep with a greater sense of control over the dream.

Now I'm officially jealous! (No, not really.)

You know that's called lucid dreaming, don't you? Just in case: 

Quote: RabidRaja wrote on Thu, 02 October 2008 06:34
----------------------------------------------------
> I have this trick I do when I find a dream I like, I wake myself up just a little so that I can return to sleep with a greater sense of control over the dream.

You know that's called lucid dreaming, don't you? Just in case: http://www.lucidity.com/


On Oct 1, 2008, at 4:30 PM, Eric Lyon wrote:

> It works perfectly for me, and sounds great. Maybe it's an 

> architecture issue? I'm on an Intel machine. Nice work Brad!

It's not an architecture issue -- I tested it on both PPC and Intel 

machines, including even an older G4 running 10.3.9. I wish it were 

Derrick and Christopher (and others running OS 10.4.x): try this 

version, it may behave better on your G4/G5 machines:

http://music.columbia.edu/~brad/BookOfDreams/older/BookOfDreams.app.zip

Note: The above version will not run on Leopard (10.5.x)!

I apologize for the crashes a few people have been experiencing. The 

application was actually finished towards the beginning of August, and 

I've spent the last two months trying to be sure it runs on various 

platforms. Unfortunately this one is caught between max 4.6 and max 

5, and OS X 10.4.x and 10.5.x. And I'm just really clueless about 

Windows in general... It's just weird; seems to run fine on most 

machines but then there are others that don't seem any different, 

yikes! It makes me truly appreciate commercial developers like 

For Mac users experiencing crashes: I would like to see any crash 

reports you can generate -- it may help me understand what is failing 

on particular machines (garton - at - columbia.edu). Also, if you try 

loading the 'source' patches and they crash, try loading them with the 

loadbangs disabled (hold SHIFT-APPLE) to see if any clues show up in 

the Max window. Note: You may have to re-enable the Max Menus (under 

"File" I think) in order to get to the Max window.

For Windows users experiencing crashes: I wish I knew more. I think 

I'll be getting a new Windows laptop in a few months. Not sure if I 

should get Vista or find a vendor who will load XP.

> It works perfectly for me, and sounds great. Maybe it's an  
> architecture issue? I'm on an Intel machine. Nice work Brad!

It's not an architecture issue -- I tested it on both PPC and Intel  
machines, including even an older G4 running 10.3.9.  I wish it were  
that simple.

Derrick and Christopher (and others running OS 10.4.x):  try this  
version, it may behave better on your G4/G5 machines:

	http://music.columbia.edu/~brad/BookOfDreams/older/BookOfDreams.app.zip

Note:  The above version will not run on Leopard (10.5.x)!

I apologize for the crashes a few people have been experiencing.  The  
application was actually finished towards the beginning of August, and  
I've spent the last two months trying to be sure it runs on various  
platforms.  Unfortunately this one is caught between max 4.6 and max  
5, and OS X 10.4.x and 10.5.x.  And I'm just really clueless about  
Windows in general...  It's just weird; seems to run fine on most  
machines but then there are others that don't seem any different,  
yikes!  It makes me truly appreciate commercial developers like  
Cycling, Peter Castine, etc.

For Mac users experiencing crashes: I would like to see any crash  
reports you can generate -- it may help me understand what is failing  
on particular machines (garton - at - columbia.edu).  Also, if you try  
loading the 'source' patches and they crash, try loading them with the  
loadbangs disabled (hold SHIFT-APPLE) to see if any clues show up in  
the Max window.  Note:  You may have to re-enable the Max Menus (under  
"File" I think) in order to get to the Max window.

For Windows users experiencing crashes:  I wish I knew more.  I think  
I'll be getting a new Windows laptop in a few months.  Not sure if I  
should get Vista or find a vendor who will load XP.

On Oct 1, 2008, at 11:00 PM, Martin wrote:

> unfortunately it crashes for me too on both max 5 and max 4.6.3

For sure it won't work w/ max 5. Soon after the SDK is out, it 

> I hope this is fixable... this sounds really exciting!!!!

I hope it is too! See my just-sent post, hopefully I can get you a 

For sure it won't work w/ max 5.  Soon after the SDK is out, it  
should...

I hope it is too!  See my just-sent post, hopefully I can get you a  
version that will run.

On Oct 2, 2008, at 12:15 AM, Adam Murray wrote:

> I enjoyed it thoroughly and was very, very impressed. Your work in 

> algorithmic composition continues to be an inspiration for me. I 

> hope to "get there" one day (I have yet to write a piece that is 

> completely algorithmic). Thanks for sharing.

thanks Adam! Believe it or not, words like this mean a lot... :-)

> PS - I can't open the source patch either. I believe I have maxlispj 

> and rtcmix~ installed properly. The patch starts to load, I see a 

> bunch of general lisp eval errors (stack overflow or memory) - I 

> think these are expected IIRC. Then there is an rtcmix error about 

> function "roomset" already defined. And shortly after that it 

> crashes. Maybe I will install the latest versions of maxlisp and 

> rtcmix at some point (not motivated to debug this further right now)

Aha -- you have an older [rtcmix~], and it does not run on Leopard. 

The lisp errors look scary but are innocuous, having to do more with 

where the BGabcl.jar archive is stashed. Gonna work on that a bit 

with max 5. You need v. 1.56 of [rtcmix~] to run under OS X 10.5.x.

> Brad,
> I enjoyed it thoroughly and was very, very impressed. Your work in  
> algorithmic composition continues to be an inspiration for me. I  
> hope to "get there" one day (I have yet to write a piece that is  
> completely algorithmic). Thanks for sharing.

thanks Adam!  Believe it or not, words like this mean a lot... :-)

> PS - I can't open the source patch either. I believe I have maxlispj  
> and rtcmix~ installed properly. The patch starts to load, I see a  
> bunch of general lisp eval errors (stack overflow or memory) - I  
> think these are expected IIRC. Then there is an rtcmix error about  
> function "roomset" already defined. And shortly after that it  
> crashes. Maybe I will install the latest versions of maxlisp and  
> rtcmix at some point (not motivated to debug this further right now)

Aha -- you have an older [rtcmix~], and it does not run on Leopard.   
The lisp errors look scary but are innocuous, having to do more with  
where the BGabcl.jar archive is stashed.  Gonna work on that a bit  
with max 5.  You need v. 1.56 of [rtcmix~] to run under OS X 10.5.x.

> Awesome work! I really enjoyed it. It reminds me a bit of 

> "Einstein's Dreams" but shorter and sweeter.

That makes me happy -- I really like Lightman's writing.

> And I just have to say, my favorite part was where you are about to 

> "save" Paul Lansky by knocking him unconscious with a large piece of 

> wood and he simply replies, "Don't worry, I've had it done to me 

> P.S. One thing you could do to expand on this "Book of Dreams" idea 

> is maybe, since your chapters are short but sweet, turn them into 

> captions for some kind of visual animations? I like the little 

> squares alot, don't get me wrong, but it's just an idea to go 

> further. Like, this is probably a bad example(probably not the music 

> you'd want and i'm not any kind of professional graphic-designer/ 

> animator), but if you look here at my website:

I'd seen your website before -- nice work! I'm pretty much 

graphically-challenged myself, though. Goofy little squares are about 

the best I can do, I think. :-) Also, the shortness of the chapters 

was definitely a 'design decision'. I had done a similar project a 

http://music.columbia.edu/~brad/software/downloads/My_Music_Book.html

) with much longer chapters, not sure if they worked as well as the 

Thanks again for the nice comments, glad you enjoyed it.

> Awesome work! I really enjoyed it. It reminds me a bit of  
> "Einstein's Dreams" but shorter and sweeter.

> And I just have to say, my favorite part was where you are about to  
> "save" Paul Lansky by knocking him unconscious with a large piece of  
> wood and he simply replies, "Don't worry, I've had it done to me  
> before."

> P.S. One thing you could do to expand on this "Book of Dreams" idea  
> is maybe, since your chapters are short but sweet, turn them into  
> captions for some kind of visual animations? I like the little  
> squares alot, don't get me wrong, but it's just an idea to go  
> further. Like, this is probably a bad example(probably not the music  
> you'd want and i'm not any kind of professional graphic-designer/ 
> animator), but if you look here at my website:
> www.karaokaze.net

I'd seen your website before -- nice work!  I'm pretty much  
graphically-challenged myself, though.  Goofy little squares are about  
the best I can do, I think.  :-)  Also, the shortness of the chapters  
was definitely a 'design decision'.  I had done a similar project a  
about 7 years ago (http://music.columbia.edu/~brad/software/downloads/My_Music_Book.html 
) with much longer chapters, not sure if they worked as well as the  
more concise ones in the Book of Dreams.

This version brings up AFP Connection Status window and will go no further

and keeps trying if I hit Cancel or if it times out, so I must force quit.

The window says, "Looking up "Abzinia.", which is either a name of an old

hard-drive, or maybe what I called this machine a long time ago. Seems like

> It's not an architecture issue -- I tested it on both PPC and Intel

> machines, including even an older G4 running 10.3.9. I wish it were

> Derrick and Christopher (and others running OS 10.4.x): try this

> version, it may behave better on your G4/G5 machines:

This version brings up AFP Connection Status window and will go no further
and keeps trying if I hit Cancel or if it times out, so I must force quit.
The window says, "Looking up "Abzinia.", which is either a name of an old
hard-drive, or maybe what I called this machine a long time ago.  Seems like
a clue, or maybe a new problem.

On 10/2/08 6:21 AM, "Brad Garton"  wrote:

>
> It's not an architecture issue -- I tested it on both PPC and Intel
> machines, including even an older G4 running 10.3.9.  I wish it were
> that simple.
>
> Derrick and Christopher (and others running OS 10.4.x):  try this
> version, it may behave better on your G4/G5 machines:
>
> http://music.columbia.edu/~brad/BookOfDreams/older/BookOfDreams.app.zip

Quote: Bill Canty wrote on Thu, 02 October 2008 00:37

> Quote: RabidRaja wrote on Thu, 02 October 2008 06:34

> ----------------------------------------------------

> > I have this trick I do when I find a dream I like, I wake myself up just a little so that I can return to sleep with a greater sense of control over the dream.

> Now I'm officially jealous! (No, not really.)

> You know that's called lucid dreaming, don't you? Just in case: 

I didn't know that! I think I will read up on it now, though, sounds like there's a world of self-awakening possibilities there. Thanks for telling me about it. (and here i was thinking i'd only learn about max on these forums!)

Quote: Bill Canty wrote on Thu, 02 October 2008 00:37
----------------------------------------------------
> Quote: RabidRaja wrote on Thu, 02 October 2008 06:34
> ----------------------------------------------------
> > I have this trick I do when I find a dream I like, I wake myself up just a little so that I can return to sleep with a greater sense of control over the dream.
>
> Now I'm officially jealous! (No, not really.)
>
> You know that's called lucid dreaming, don't you? Just in case: http://www.lucidity.com/
----------------------------------------------------

I didn't know that! I think I will read up on it now, though, sounds like there's a world of self-awakening possibilities there. Thanks for telling me about it. (and here i was thinking i'd only learn about max on these forums!)


Wow, excellent! After reading through them all I had fun clicking

around and exploring the transitions a bit too. Does the scoll

position in the story influence the music at all? At any rate, really

great piece - thanks very much for sharing this!

On Wed, Oct 1, 2008 at 3:06 PM, Brad Garton wrote:

> I'm putting on-line a project I recently finished, it's an

> integrated music/text/graphics application called "My Book of Dreams".

> It was programmed entirely in Max/MSP/Jitter, using the [rtcmix~] and

> [maxlispj] objects for most of the audio control and synthesis. There's

> been a fair amount of discussion on the list lately about generative and

> algorithmic composition -- all of the music in the application is generated

> and synthesized algorithmically (i.e. no sound samples). I'm especially

> happy with the the physical model oboe-shawm and controlling style-model

> I hope you enjoy it! Feel free to pass the web site along to others

music: www.hecanjog.com / www.cedarav.com

community: www.luvsound.org / www.lovelymedia.org

Wow, excellent!  After reading through them all I had fun clicking
around and exploring the transitions a bit too.  Does the scoll
position in the story influence the music at all?  At any rate, really
great piece - thanks very much for sharing this!

On Wed, Oct 1, 2008 at 3:06 PM, Brad Garton  wrote:
> Hey max/msp-ers --
>
> I'm putting on-line a project I recently finished, it's an
> integrated music/text/graphics application called "My Book of Dreams".
> Grab it here if you're interested:
>
>        http://music.columbia.edu/~brad/BookOfDreams/
>
> It was programmed entirely in Max/MSP/Jitter, using the [rtcmix~] and
> [maxlispj] objects for most of the audio control and synthesis.  There's
> been a fair amount of discussion on the list lately about generative and
> algorithmic composition -- all of the music in the application is generated
> and synthesized algorithmically (i.e. no sound samples).  I'm especially
> happy with the the physical model oboe-shawm and controlling style-model
> agent.
>
> I hope you enjoy it!  Feel free to pass the web site along to others
> if you'd like.
>
>
> Brad Garton
> http://music.columbia.edu/~brad
>
>

-- 
music: www.hecanjog.com / www.cedarav.com
community: www.luvsound.org / www.lovelymedia.org


beautiful work Brad , thanks for sharing this.

you probably know that there are many traditions ( tibetan , indigenous ) that work closely with dreams, where dreams are part of daily "reality".

you might find answers in some questions you are asking yourself by visiting some of these traditions.

my question now is how max and dreams relate for you ? :)

beautiful work Brad , thanks for sharing this.
you probably know that there are many traditions ( tibetan , indigenous ) that work closely with dreams, where dreams are part of daily "reality".
you might find answers in some questions you are asking yourself by visiting some of these traditions.
my question now is how max and dreams relate for you ? :)

will we have a [dream~] object soon ? :)


Quote: (karrrlo) wrote on Sat, 04 October 2008 21:03

> my question now is how max and dreams relate for you ? :)

> will we have a [dream~] object soon ? :)

No, we'll use dreams to connect with the source of all knowledge in order to solve our Max problems! ;-)

Quote: (karrrlo) wrote on Sat, 04 October 2008 21:03
----------------------------------------------------
> my question now is how max and dreams relate for you ? :)
> will we have a [dream~] object soon ? :)
----------------------------------------------------

No, we'll use dreams to connect with the source of all knowledge in order to solve our Max problems! ;-)


Whoa, this one leaves me completely flabbergasted. I honestly

have no idea what could be causing this...

On Oct 2, 2008, at 3:12 PM, Christopher Overstreet wrote:

> This version brings up AFP Connection Status window and will go no 

> and keeps trying if I hit Cancel or if it times out, so I must force 

> The window says, "Looking up "Abzinia.", which is either a name of 

> hard-drive, or maybe what I called this machine a long time ago. 

> On 10/2/08 6:21 AM, "Brad Garton" wrote:

>> It's not an architecture issue -- I tested it on both PPC and Intel

>> machines, including even an older G4 running 10.3.9. I wish it were

>> Derrick and Christopher (and others running OS 10.4.x): try this

>> version, it may behave better on your G4/G5 machines:

Whoa, this one leaves me completely flabbergasted.  I honestly
have no idea what could be causing this...

> This version brings up AFP Connection Status window and will go no  
> further
> and keeps trying if I hit Cancel or if it times out, so I must force  
> quit.
> The window says, "Looking up "Abzinia.", which is either a name of  
> an old
> hard-drive, or maybe what I called this machine a long time ago.   
> Seems like
> a clue, or maybe a new problem.
>
>
> On 10/2/08 6:21 AM, "Brad Garton"  wrote:
>
>>
>> It's not an architecture issue -- I tested it on both PPC and Intel
>> machines, including even an older G4 running 10.3.9.  I wish it were
>> that simple.
>>
>> Derrick and Christopher (and others running OS 10.4.x):  try this
>> version, it may behave better on your G4/G5 machines:
>>
>> http://music.columbia.edu/~brad/BookOfDreams/older/BookOfDreams.app.zip
>
>
