Liu Hao

《e-live》For 5 MIDI Controllers Composing, programming: Liu Hao(刘昊)

Performance: [ Classroom 513 ] e-LIVE ORCHESTRA ([513教室] 电子乐团)This piece is accomplished by 5 well trained performers, playing per-designed Max/MSP instrument - Bitstream 3x MIDI controller.All the music happens in real-time. All the generation, modification, morphing of the sound is controlled by the knobs, the faders and the ribbons of the controllers in performer’s hand.In order to reach the main goal of this piece, which is interaction, performers must have the ability of sensitive controller playing while listing to the sound generated by their performance.

[Classroom 513] e-LIVE ORCHESTRA is an experimental orchestra. Interactive electronic music is one of the most important fields which electronic musicians are trying hard to study and practice. The purpose of this orchestra is exploring and practicing different performance ways for interactive electronic stage music.[Classroom 513] e-LIVE ORCHESTRA is also a teaching orchestra. By rehearsals and live shows, students had their playing technique trained, known well of the key of interaction, gathered lots of music experience.It was found by Perry Cheng(程伊兵), associate professor of MCCCM (Multimedia Center of China Conservatory of Music) in 2009. All the members are the students from that department, they are (from left to right): Liu Hao(刘昊), Xiu Jian(修建), Perry Cheng(程伊兵), Cai Ming Jun(蔡明君), Long Ling Zi(龙凌子), Zhang Shen(张珅), Chen Yan Kun(陈彦锟) and Chen Yu Zi Long(陈宇子龙).

《e-live》for-5-midi-controllers-by-classroom513-e-live-orchestra

《e-live》For 5 MIDI Controllers by [Classroom513] e-LIVE ORCHESTRA

Tom Hall

Gustavo Bravetti first showed up on my radar a number of years ago - 2008 or 2009, maybe? -  while I was breezing through my latest tech gadget blogs over my morning coffee. The first thing that struck me was this image:

It was early, and at my first glance, I thought it was a photo of Trent Reznor with some gesture controllers. Since I’m a huge NIN fan, I quickly started reading the article and read about Gustavo instead for the first time. Since I’m someone who worked with these early micro controllers for both live and installation work (Miditron!) I was struck by way Gustavo presented it - not trying to hide the tech, and at the same time able to use it in a live context without looking like a crazy videogamer who had lost his way and ended up at a rave. Gustavo looked ominous and commanding.

Since then, technology has evolved and along with it Gustavo’s live setup, which now includes additional hardware (Elektron samplers and drum machines) whilst still using Max, gestural controllers and a repurposed Push Controller to run everything.

I’m also an admirer of Elektron hardware, so Gustavo had me sitting up paying when he released his huge performance controller Max patch for his whole live setup. You can basically sit back and control absolutely every element of your live set from one PUSH controller - 3 Elektrons, Max, Sensors and more. I’m always taken aback and full of admiration when someone has the patience to go through and translate all the MIDI ctrl data from a controller to hardware control without ending up with Max patch that looks like Paris’s finest Bolognese.

Gustavo ended up with what is in my books is an easy to read, active and interesting user interface instead of so many other attempts that usually end up looking like a chaotic mess. I knew it was time I reach out to Gustavo to hear more about his use of technology and how Max is involved. 

Pretty basic opening question: When did you first start working with Max?

Well I started digging into Max about 10 years ago, but actually have only been using it in live performance for about 5 years or a little more. When I first got into it, I just started patching to see how much of the hardware I could control from a central point. As I patched on, I just started controlling more and more of my setup with Max. I still wish now that I had more time to patch.

I’ll follow up with a hard-hitting question: How much is Max a part of your live setup now?

One hundred percent. It wouldn’t run at all without it. You know, I started using Max because I felt the need to make people realise what is happening – today, you know, there are many artists who just press PLAY, or turn on a laptop. It’s the case that even with the new analog live sets you see, no one knows what the artist is doing. 

This is why I introduced performing at first with the Wii remote - to show people that I was directly controlling elements of the sound. Now that I think of it, perhaps my first way of showing people that kind of interactivity was a setup called “Broken Cable” that had strands coming out of it. Each one of those strands was a switch that I would touch or the audience could touch. People loved being in direct control of what was happening.

I also really love the Elektron machines, but I really like to play live. I cannot unmute three tracks on three machines at the same time with precision - this is where Max comes in very handy. I can have a button for that part of the show that unmutes those specific tracks and control it easily. I want the music to be ‘live’ and interesting with no excuses or shortcuts and this is why I control my live setup like this. I want to be good and live at the same time and Max is perfect for that.

Can you tell me a little more about the sensors you use live?

Now I use sensors a lot instead of the Wii remote - I do a lot of the coding on the Arduino and then have Max control and interpret the data from it, which Max then distributes to Ableton Live and to the Elektron devices. The sensors I use tend to be more physical so that people can see them - objects and sensors you can reach out touch rather than just waving your arms around in the air, I’ve found this is my preferred way to add interactivity to my live performances.

How do your different ideas or projects come to life? is it experimentation in the studio/Max or is it that you see a new sensor and then think of ways to integrate it?

Actually, it’s a bit of both. If I want inspiration I reread the Max documentation and ideas come to me when I relearn a new piece of Max patching. Ideas just come to me when I read manuals. This approach comes from when I was younger. The local music store would not have any of the equipment or instruments in the store - it would just have the manuals, and you would have to read the manual and then decide if you wanted to purchase it. If you did, you went home with the manual and then waited weeks for the item to arrive. This meant that you knew it really well from the start, and - to this day - I’ve maintained this approach. This has been the case with almost all the new hardware I bought for many many years.

That reminds me, the first sensor I had in my live music performance was on the Roland MC505. It was called the D-Beam, but I soon stopped travelling with it because it was heavy and musically wasn’t very good. I used it much longer than I should have as just a controller because of the D-Beam. But then I decided that I couldn’t travel with it just for the sensor - that’s when I decided to build my own.

My first sensor was the glove, which was actually just a repurposed joystick. I used to use it with a notebook pc and a Max patch made by someone else. I used two computers back then to play live: One controlled all the sensors and data; and the other controlled all music. That way, the music would continue if the sensors crashed. But then I decided to switch everything from USB-based protocols to MIDI - that way, I wasn’t reliant on lots of drivers. Also, if some custom controller goes mad, the computer isn't affected, and you can restart any custom controller without the need to restart the computer.

Awesome. Tell us about your new ‘performer’ Max patch for controlling your whole Live rig?

Sure. It’s been very popular and many people have shared it. It’s called ‘Performer’, and it expands the possibilities of the Elektron hardware by repurposing Ableton’s Push controller. In a nutshell, it’s a really big snapshot controller, with the computer running the Max patch as the bridge to the three Elektrons I use to perform live.

It does many, many things: modulation, snapshotting, and non-linear sequencing - so you could actually program not just the control elements themselves, but entire performances and songs using just the system. Finally, I’ve added a quantizer that allows everything to be cued and launched in sync.

Here's a video of me doing some improv playing ‘performer’ playing: 

Do you have any advice for Max programmers and live performers out there?

"Pong" like game made in Max Msp Jitter, where the "player" controls the speed and angle of the "ball", lfo's, filters, and another synthesis and graphics parameters, this is intented to be used as the main synth in one of the performances of my new live show (yes! bars are automated, the player controll all the rest ;)

Crazy Pong - sneak peek for XXXPERIENCE!

Gustavo Bravetti finalizando a Tribal Tech em Balneário Camburiu.

Gustavo Bravetti

Performer is a patch made on Max that allows to use the Ableton's Push Controller to control the Elektron's Dark Trinity. (Click on SHOW MORE for video's Index and Links.)

EDIT: NEW VIDEO - Performer in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYfBojlLujs

EDIT: 0.9 It's ready :)
Please read the quick start guide.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/y13bojtyq2kg5lr/AABlxRHfDlzUcKBOw__YTLRBa?dl=0

00:00 Introduction.
00:39 Controlling Track's Mute States.
01:03 The Display's Pages.
01:25 Controlling Track's Levels.
01:49 Controlling Performance´s Macros.
02:20 Quick Row Change Alternative.
02:32 Snapshots (And basic multiplication skills show-off).
03:12 Activating Parameters.
05:12 Activating and Storing Single Parameters.
06:18 Deactivating Parameters 
06:42 One Button To Reload Them All (...or just some of them).
07:52 Hold Mode.
08:39 Quantise Mode.
10:10 Hold + Quantise.
11:17 Tap Mode.
11:46 The Crossfader as a Modulator.
12:03 X-Fading Track's Levels.
12:27 X-Fading Performance's Macros.
12:53 Crossfader Actions.
15:05 Outro.

Programming and concept by Gustavo Bravetti.
http://gustavobravetti.net

Music by Gabriel Rocha and Gustavo Bravetti.
http://soundcloud.com/djpp
http://soundcloud.com/gustavobravetti

OCTATRACK, ANALOG FOUR and RYTM by Elektron Music Machines.
http://elektron.se - http://elektronauts.com

Push Controller by Ableton.
http://Ableton.com

Programmed on Cycling74 Max.
http://cycling74.com

Produced by Gustavo Bravetti.
gbravetti@gmail.com

Performer - Main Features Introduction

The first and only take! :D 

Emil Montgomery Space Is A Dream - Gustavo Bravetti 100% Live Elektron's Remix

Some mistakes has been made, some things has been forgotten, but that's live!

This an improvisation using Performer over a couple of patterns. All changes, build ups, FXs., etc., are performed live. Performer is a patch made on Max that allows to use the Ableton's Push Controller to control the Elektron's Dark Trinity. Want to know more about Performer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wlejg7o4a-0

All sounds with the exception of the sampled flute and male voice are made on the black boxes.

Original Track Credits: "Space Is A Dream", by Emil Montgomery, Oscar Valdez, Alvaro Quartino -  Listen to the original: https://youtu.be/LizKXnwILvI 

Join Performer Beta Facebook 's Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/performersnap/

Space Is A Dream

got-live-if-you-want-it-a-visit-with-gustavo-bravetti

Got Live (If You Want It!) - A Visit With Gustavo Bravetti

antonaudio

Using MaxMSP to receive all the control data from a PS3 controller and converting it to MIDI messages to be used with any program that accepts MIDI. I was also happy to discover that the sixaxis values and button pressure get passed to Max as well. Plus its wireless so I can just completely lean back in my chair and have fun controlling things. I’ve made each message range scalable as well, for fine tuning control possibilities. 

I added 9 nodes for each joystick which gave me 11 control parameters (including XY) for each joystick! It was a little unpredictable to know what kinds of results that would achieve but that was part of the fun:) There is also momentary and toggle Note Ons, button pressure CCs, SIXAXIS motion CCs, random scale Note assignments, 3 parallel sequencers and sample and hold CC values!

bluetooth-sixaxis-ps3-midi-controller-app

Bluetooth SIXAXIS PS3 MIDI Controller App

Nick Suda

Love Has No Labels is an ad campaign by the Ad Council which addresses our inherent internal biases, diversity, inclusion, and love across classifications. The original video has accumulated over 100 million views between Facebook, YouTube and mirrors combined.

Conceptually, the project required creating a "live X-Ray machine," where all an audience could see was non-descript skeleton figures embracing, kissing, playfully interacting, and so on. Technologically, this implied a live motion capture rig that required little setup, so that actors could easily enter and exit the stage and still have the tech appear relatively invisible.

In using an Xsens IMU (cameraless) mocap setup, the potential for accumulating error and drift in the coordinate system of our digital avatars was a very real concern. This is compounded by using two suits in constant, close proximity relationship to each other.  Therefore, we researched how we could re-adjust the position of our skeleton avatars in realtime.

We discovered that Translation parameters (as well as pretty much anything else you'd want to do) are exposed openly in Maya (our CG platform) by the Maya Embedded Language, or MEL.

Furthermore, some of the skeletons' most important gestures - such as opening and closing jaws for laughing, kissing, and talking, and opening and closing hands for waving, holding hands - are not articulated by the motion capture suits. So, our animator exposed meta-parameters for articulating these parts with keyframes indexed from 0 to 10.

We then created a Max patch that opened up a TCP connection to the Maya rendering computer using a stock mxj TCP object. Over this socket, we took in CCs from a MIDI controller and wrapped them into coherent MEL command strings on their way out.

With eyes on camera feeds inside and outside of the stage box, avatar translation was placed on rotary knobs, and fists and jaws lived on the vertical faders of a Livid Ohm RGB for the most performative articulation. This effectively became a secondary puppeteering stage for our realtime mocap rig.

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