Wanting to create a Max patch/therapy tool for people with Autism
Hey people, what's good
I have an idea for a sound/music therpay tool I'd like to have a go at making for people with Autism. I have the whole project laid out in my head, and Max is going to be at the heart of things. I'm a beginner, my only real experience coming from following Sam's youtube tutorials, Baz Tutorials and doing the tutorials built in Max. I don't want this to stop me at least making a prototype, so I was hoping to get some pointers towards the objects I should study and use - basically, I want a person to be able to hit drum pads that I've made, using piezo transducers, then send that signal to Max and have Max convert that electrical signal to MIDI, then have that MIDI signal be able to trigger pre-made loops, with a loop on each pad, and with each loop being in sync. My other idea is you hit the pads, and each hit triggers a sample in a list, which scrolls through the list, so you get the impression that you're playing a melody with each new hit of a pad. It would be nice to even have the two of those mixed together, so that you can kinda jam with yourself without having any musical talent. What objects should I be looking into to get me started?
Any help is greatly appreciated,
Tom
Hi Tom,
I would give You the following advice : first make Your mind about logic
that has to function between user Input (drum Pads or whatsoever)
and triggering of audio. ( what happens when user hits this or that pad, what happens when pad gets hit
repeatedly, etc etc)
That is the main point. Later You can investigate what is the best way to get Loops Play
or stay in sync etc.
Do that and upload here Your plan, and when that gets clear, I am sure You will get all the help
needed to solve all the details.
Max does not need to translate Piezzo trigger to midi note, detecting attack on the pad
is enough . That can be used as trigger for Sample Playback.
I assume You will have Audio Interface with as many Audio Inputs as Pads.
If that is not the case, You could use a simple arduino board to wire as many Pads
as needed to analog inputs, and send Triger info to max... just an idea
Anyway, as soon as You post definite questions, I will be glad to reply and help as much as I can.
I'd add one thought to the above advice: using an Arduino for your multiple piezo sensors connected to Ableton Live (via MaxForLive) would make your life easier, as you're focused on loop-based audio response.
My own (political) suggestion for designing interactions with autistic people is this: don't underestimate ability. Autistic people have a notably high rate of perfect pitch and many are very good with pattern recognition - it's likely that a 'simple' system will not be much of a challenge, or could result in some repetitive behaviours. That said, of course autism is a spectrum condition and this will be entirely dependant on the population you're working with.
Hey Source, thanks for the reply - when you say create a Logic plan, do you have links to any examples of these? I know that I want a chair with x amount of drum pads fitted to it, almost like a desk, that the user can sit in and bang on. They'll be triggering various sounds, sounds that I can adjust for each person, by sending electrical pulses to a laptop running Max. I do have an interface with 8 line inputs and 4 outs. It's good to know I can send the piezo output straight to Max - which object would I be using to read a signal from a piezo transducer?
Hi Kodama, thanks for your input. Good point about not underestimating - I'm fully aware of the spectrum, and I work with people right across the board, some who cannot even speak but who love sensory experiences, some who are very high-functioning but have no interest in music. We're all unique, it's no different for those on the spectrum and so I'm very much thinking about these things all the time. I work with some very interesting minds. In fact, that's the reason I want to use Max - so that I can build and tweak for the individual. Add or remove complexity as needed. One thing that puts me off M4L is the possible limitations it may have compared to running everything through Max - if I'm working with someone who wants visuals as well as sound, and maybe even vibrations or the control of air, for example, then I think Max would be better for me rather than Live? (I'm thinking ahead, in the future here, when my programming capabilites have improved). I've been producing music for over a decade, and always wanted to get into Max, but never truly had a reason to use it - all the tools I needed to make the music I wanted to make had already been made, so there was little point in me re-making those tools. Now, I have a very strong reason to learn Max and create something specific, and whilst I'm a bit of a noob, I'm dead-set on learning Max this time.
Hi Tom,
what I mean with a logic plan is complete concept, from trigger hit to what is going to sound.
I will be glad to help solving any technical problem and finding simplest solution for this or that,
but please don't expect anyone to develop the concept for You.
In case of Piezzo trigger - I assume You don't need the velocity or ?
That is exactly what I mean - if You want Pad trigger to control Loudness of the sound
played, You need to extract loudness of the hit and convert that to Sound level.
If not, one can ignore that and just recognise transients.
That can be done as simple as measuring the Audio Input Level AFTER some steep Hi Pass Filter,
depending on what the people will be using to hit the Pads.
For Drum Sticks this simple trigger detector would do the job, if people will play pads
with fingers You would need something a bit more complex.
As You see one can fill the whole page with questions without giving many answers.
So please provide some details, that would be helpful.
Gettings Pads input into Max and extracting trigger signal is a simpe task,
the real work will be to put up a good musical concept.
here is a very simple trigger detector example