Marten

Hey guys, I am pretty new to Max6 and M4L, so I could need some help and advice.

For this idea I would like to produce the whole sound with Instruments from Ableton Live…so Live and M4L should be the first choice. But I really could need some help to build the visual interface and on how to send the data to the right parameters or at least to trigger clips within Live.

I would like to read out the mouse position within a certain area in order to send it to Ableton Live to make sound. It doesn’t has to be the mouse. It could be also an object or whatever which I can drag around if that’s easier. Please find attached a simple visualization of the problem. My visual mouse over instrument should be also look like that. There should be no sound within the outer rectangle (the black frame) and the red rectangle. There should be sound, as soon as the mouse gets into the inner rectangle … I am talking about the area`s A to D. While the mouse gets closer to the red rectangle (this should be probably an image instead of a rectangle), the sound should also change slightly (e.g timbre or volume). As an example, I also subdivided area A to use that data for spatialization. So talking about Surround, A3 would be more hearable on the left site and A1 would be more hearable on the right site (speakers). I think this should be the last step and doable with some M4L patches which are already out there. Maybe I would like to subdivide the other areas too, but that’s maybe something for the future.

I need to see what I am doing while moving the mouse. This is really important for me, because the visualization and the mouse over serve`s as some sort of instrument. So maybe a separate window would be nice.

I am not quite sure where to start here. I found the nodes object which looks quite good, but I cant change the form as far as I understood it correctly. I need something which is more flexible when it comes to form and positioning of area`s A to D. Maybe the nodes make more sense for the surround thing I am looking for. But first of all I need to build the visual instrument and to read out the mouse data within the mentioned areas and subdivided areas. The mousestate object is probably also not the right thing because it reads out the whole monitor screen and I want not to be limited to just a smaller window, no matter where it is on the screen….maybe it’s a second screen anyway.

So any advice on how to do that would be much appreciated.

Hey guys, I am pretty new to Max6 and M4L, so I could need some help and advice.
For this idea I would like to produce the whole sound with Instruments from Ableton Live…so Live and M4L should be the first choice. But I really could need some help to build the visual interface and on how to send the data to the right parameters or at least to trigger clips within Live.
I would like to read out the mouse position within a certain area in order to send it to Ableton Live to make sound. It doesn’t has to be the mouse. It could be also an object or whatever which I can drag around if that’s easier. Please find attached a simple visualization of the problem. My visual mouse over instrument should be also look like that. There should be no sound within the outer rectangle (the black frame) and the red rectangle. There should be sound, as soon as the mouse gets into the inner rectangle … I am talking about the area`s A to D. While the mouse gets closer to the red rectangle (this should be probably an image instead of a rectangle), the sound should also change slightly (e.g timbre or volume). As an example, I also subdivided area A to use that data for spatialization. So talking about Surround, A3 would be more hearable on the left site and A1 would be more hearable on the right site (speakers). I think this should be the last step and doable with some M4L patches which are already out there. Maybe I would like to subdivide the other areas too, but that’s maybe something for the future.
I need to see what I am doing while moving the mouse. This is really important for me, because the visualization and the mouse over serve`s as some sort of instrument. So maybe a separate window would be nice.
I am not quite sure where to start here. I found the nodes object which looks quite good, but I cant change the form as far as I understood it correctly. I need something which is more flexible when it comes to form and positioning of area`s A to D. Maybe the nodes make more sense for the surround thing I am looking for. But first of all I need to build the visual instrument and to read out the mouse data within the mentioned areas and subdivided areas. The mousestate object is probably also not the right thing because it reads out the whole monitor screen and I want not to be limited to just a smaller window, no matter where it is on the screen….maybe it’s a second screen anyway.
So any advice on how to do that would be much appreciated.
Thanks a lot!


sound-only-within-a-certain-area-via-mouse-over

Have a look at the mode messages to [mousestate], you can have coordinates relative to the patch - not the whole screen with 'mode 1'. I think once you crack this the rest of the project seems quite straightforward.

Thanks Mike, I will look into that. Do you have some tips on how to subdivide the actual instrument window (outer rectangle to the inner red recatangle, distance measuring, etc)? Please let me know.

Thanks Mike, I will look into that. Do you have some tips on how to subdivide the actual instrument window (outer rectangle to the inner red recatangle, distance measuring, etc)? Please let me know.
Thanks


Check wolfram alpha for the equation to measure the distance between two objects in a 2d grid (and more like 3d space ).

https://cycling74.com/forums/2d-distance/

Just use the expr object to put in the formula.

To subdivide you need to get the size of the window and then just pick a number to subdivide it by.

Using if then else objects can help you filter out the data.

Those diagonal lines will be tricky though. Just start out with a simple grid first.

Check wolfram alpha for the equation to measure the distance between two objects in a 2d grid (and more like 3d space ).
Heres an example.
https://cycling74.com/forums/2d-distance/
Just use the expr object to put in the formula.
To subdivide you need to get the size of the window and then just pick a number to subdivide it by.
Using if then else objects can help you filter out the data.
Those diagonal lines will be tricky though. Just start out with a simple grid first.


You could cheat and draw it as an image, with each block as a different colour then:

-select a section of it using jit.submatrix and your data from mousestate

-recognise colours/shades and do whatever you like with the data.

-load it into jit.qt.movie
-select a section of it using jit.submatrix and your data from mousestate
-turn it into max data with jit.spill
-recognise colours/shades and do whatever you like with the data.

Though having said all that I now see this is M4L, so that might not be the best approach.

Thanks Andro, that sounds logic to me .. I will try to make it work in the next days. What do you mean by Wolfram Alpha? This search engine here: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfram_Alpha

@Mark: Why is not the best approach with M4L? I thought the functions are basically the same!? No?

Thanks Andro, that sounds logic to me .. I will try to make it work in the next days. What do you mean by Wolfram Alpha? This search engine here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfram_Alpha never heard of that!

@Mark: Why is not the best approach with M4L? I thought the functions are basically the same!? No?


Yup wolfram alpha, thats the one, helps me out all the time when i need an equation.

M4l can entail a lot more work with getting things to run correctly on startup(in my experience at least)

If you build a Max patch. Add udp.send and in a M4l patch udp.receive then you can send data from one patch to another. This is my preferred way of working.

Durhams idea would definetlet work and get around the "calculating the area" problem :)

If you make each area a colour with a gradient then it should work.

Hi Marten.
Yup wolfram alpha, thats the one, helps me out all the time when i need an equation.

M4l is the same but it isn't :)
M4l can entail a lot more work with getting things to run correctly on startup(in my experience at least)
If you build a Max patch. Add udp.send and in a M4l patch udp.receive then you can send data from one patch to another. This is my preferred way of working.
Durhams idea would definetlet work and get around the "calculating the area" problem :)
If you make each area a colour with a gradient then it should work.


Hey Guys, thanks a lot. I think I would try to do both suggestions in order to learn something here :)

So at the moment I am trying what Mark has suggested, but I am stuck within the process.

I made an jpg (just a sketch of the main idea) where each block has a different color, loaded it into jit.qt.movie it worked. But now i dont know how to go further with the jit.submatrix object and my data from mousestate.

(And dont forget, I would like to trigger clips or maybe other parameters like volume within Ableton Live when the mouse gets closer to the red object :)

So at the moment I am trying what Mark has suggested, but I am stuck within the process.
I made an jpg (just a sketch of the main idea) where each block has a different color, loaded it into jit.qt.movie it worked. But now i dont know how to go further with the jit.submatrix object and my data from mousestate.

-select a section of it using jit.submatrix and your data from mousestate
-turn it into max data with jit.spill

(And dont forget, I would like to trigger clips or maybe other parameters like volume within Ableton Live when the mouse gets closer to the red object :)


Sound only within a certain area via mouse over