2011 Spring, Audio Visual Systems

AV Systems – Granular Synthesis Recorder

By Ryan | Published March 20, 2011

For the advanced AvSys homework, we were asked to build an app that uses live audio input to record data for a granular synthesizer.

I spent most of spring break hammering this out, and the current version works but is far from perfect. Here is a video demonstration:

Basically I am taking input buffer data, storing it to dynamic float arrays, and then sending the information to a version of Zach Lieberman’s granular synthesis code that I hacked up quite a bit.

I plan on updating this so that the parameters of the synthesizer can be changed after the sounds are recorded, and I’ll do a post (with code) in the coming weeks.

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2011 Spring, Audio Visual Systems

AV Systems – White squares and graphical score

By Ryan | Published March 20, 2011

This week’s assignment we were asked to manipulate a white square using sonic information. Using sonic qualities, like pitch, and frequency information, and we were to think about how to “perform” the white square.

We were split up into groups, and Lara Warman, Basak Haznedaroglu, and I came up with 3 scenarios for our white squares, each taking the lead on writing the code for the project.

My scenario involved a “ski slalom” using pitch to direct the white-square skier around the appropriate flags. The higher pitches moves the skier to the right and lower pitches moves the skier to the left. Here is a video demonstration:

Lara coded the pitch competition (which divides the square into two triangles), and here is a demonstration for that (on the left). Basak was coding a carnival “bell ringing” competition, but she didn’t make it too far with it. She sent along code, so here is a demonstration of what she sent (on the right).

Code for these projects can be found here.

We were also asked to make a graphical score to a piece of music / sound for which traditional music notation isn’t necessary. Think about what visual languages you can use to represent sound.

I chose Terry Riley’s “A Rainbow In A Curved Air” as the musical piece to visually score. I imagined the piece being a spiraling combination of different tones, shapes, and patterns, so I first chose my color palate and created a series of “sound strips” by shredding the paper selected.



I then placed varying amounts of the sound strips on my scanner. I rotated the strips as I added and removed the pieces, and eventually added bits of shredded cd’s to embody the portions of high range sound glitter that Riley adds throughout the piece.

Here is my visual score of Terry Riley’s “A Rainbow In A Curved Air”:

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2011 Spring, Thesis Studio

RhythmSynthesis User Testing

By Ryan | Published March 12, 2011

This past weekend, I ran a series of user tests with the latest prototype of my thesis project. I reserved a classroom on the 10th floor of 2 W 13th Street (room 1013) and set up the prototype along with a large guitar amp, various effects pedals (delay, distortion, etc), and a drum machine. The group of people who tested the project included fellow students, friends, musicians, and Parsons Faculty.


I included a few updates in the program, which included a full 12 tone scale matched to specific hue values within the full visible light color spectrum, tempo/speed changes, and the use of object area to determine appropriate scale (meaning the larger the piece the lower the octave, the smaller the piece the higher the octave). I also updated the light platform to provide a better color for camera detection. The PS3 Eyesight is biased a little on the cooler color side.




The reactions and results were great, and it provided me plenty of feedback for taking the next steps with the interface and the software portion of the project. In general, there was a wide array of approaches to how to create musical pieces. Some were methodical, other’s used the space between the platform and the camera to manipulate the sounds, and others just went crazy.

Here is a video of some of the folks testing this prototype:

Thanks to Ivy, Greg Climber (and his friend), Katherine Moriwaki, Jonah Brucker-Cohen, Matt Ruby, Steven Sclafani, Cara Lynn, Lou Sclafani, Zach Lieberman, George Bixby, Rob Ramirez, Shane Lessa, and Manuel Rueda Iragorri for coming in to test and offering up your valuable feedback. Looking forward to tackling the next set of updates and changes.

The next user testing session will be…
2 W 13th Street, Room 1013 (map)
3/26 (Saturday) 1 – 7pm
3/27 (Sunday) 4 – 10pm

All are welcome, so if you plan on coming, please send me an e-mail so I can make sure you’re all set with security downstairs.

For more information on my thesis project, RhythmSynthesis, you can check here.

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2011 Spring, Thesis Studio

RhythmSynthesis Sound Tests This Month

By Ryan | Published March 3, 2011


Starting this weekend, I am hosting a series of collaborative sound tests at Parsons The New School for Design. The goals of the series are to test how my prototype can be used as an instrument in individual and group configurations, receive feedback and discuss the project with my musical and non-musical peers, and create new musical pieces. Here is the info:

RhythmSynthesis Sound Tests
Where: 2 W 13th Street, Room 1013 (map)
When: On the following weekends…

3/5 (Saturday) 1 – 7pm
3/6 (Sunday) 1 – 10pm
3/26 (Saturday) 1 – 7pm
3/27 (Sunday) 4 – 10pm

I’ll have an assortment of instruments and amplifiers, and I’ll be recording the sessions in their entirety. All are welcome, so if you plan on coming, please send me an e-mail so I can make sure you’re all set with security downstairs.

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2011 Spring, Collab: Game Design Thesis

Doing sound for games

By Ryan | Published March 2, 2011

Last semester I did a Game Design Independent Study with Caitlin Morris and Mohini Dutta to work on the thesis project of our fellow classmates, Eric Chung, Margaret Moser, and Joungyoun Lee. I was responsible for creating sound pieces that would accompany specific stages of the game (ex. rooms, hallways, as well as specific scenes and player interactions), and it was great to be involved in the project from the early stages.

As a sound designer, we’re typically involved in the later stages of game design, and there tends to be limited collaboration with the rest of the team besides getting specific requests. The process for this game, however, differed greatly from that, and I believe the sound pieces (and the game as a whole) benefited from having all of the creative parties meeting and discussing from the very beginning. By giving Caitlin, Mohini, and I an early look at the game’s story, mechanics, and player experiences, we were able to develop our portions with a much deeper understanding of the project as a whole.

Here is a description from the game’s official website:

Bardo is a digital first-person game that combines the linear model of classical tragic narrative with the interactivity of video games. A story in the form of Oedipus Rex or Antigone requires a strong sense of causality and dramatic necessity, but game systems are inherently unpredictable-in order to be games at all, they must respond to user input. How can a linear and unmoving thing fit neatly within something that requires change? By incorporating unique gameplay mechanics and innovative dynamic storytelling techniques, Bardo will bring these two seemingly opposed forces together.

Eric, Margaret, and Joungyoun recently put together a quick teaser for the game (which features the music I composed), and you can see that here:

It has been a tremendously rewarding experience for all aspects of the project (from process and prototyping to theoretical debate and just plain old fun), and I look forward to continuing to work on the project after graduation. Looking forward to the official release.

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2011 Spring, Thesis Studio

Thesis Prototype – Additive Synthesis and Controls

By Ryan | Published February 21, 2011

New musical interfaces are necessary to further explore the complexities of rhythm. RhythmSynthesis proposes a new instrument for composition and performance to continue such exploration. Originating as an investigation into the relationships between rhythm and technology, RhythmSynthesis applies color, shape, and sound to demonstrate how our understanding of visual music, computation, and tangible, audio-visual interactions can be applied as considerations in musical expression.

The goal for this prototype was to introduce updated sound generation and controls in the application. Using additive synthesis code I developed in the course Audio Visual Systems with Zach Lieberman and Zach Gage using openFrameworks, I am analyzing the shape and size of each colored object to determine the sounds that should be made. I also included sliders for changing the rate at which the objects are sensed and played.

Here is a brief demonstration:

You can see other prototypes and relevant write-ups here.

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2011 Spring, Audio Visual Systems

AV Systems – See something in new york

By Ryan | Published February 15, 2011

As part of our assignment this week, Zach encouraged us to go out and see something (instead of just find work online to reference and talk about).

I am currently a TA for Michael Schober and Dan Greenblatt’s ULEC called Collaboration In and Beyond Music. It’s an amazing course that involves a mix of lecture and live performance by a range of musicians (classical, jazz, etc). On my way in to class on Monday, I saw an advertisement for a Samir Chatterjee who was performing with the Chhandayan World Percussion Group that was happening Tuesday at the New School.


Chatterjee is a world-renowned tabla player who is also New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music faculty, and Chhandayan approaches rhythm from a multitude of global influences. The group included Emiliano A. Valerio (Afro-Cuban percussion), Yousif Sheronik (Middle Eastern percussion), Daniel Weiss (jazz drumset), Xander Naylor (guitar), and Ned Rothenberg (reeds), so there was a wide range of styles and approaches represented.

This was the first time I saw a reed player use circular breathing effectively in a live setting. I’d seen many videos, but Rothenberg was fired up tonight.

After watching each of the performers take a solo, I thought about how a computer interface could provide the same level of tangible, dexterity that these analog instruments provided. The tabla performance alone was enough, but each performer illustrated the many approaches and techniques that can be used to create complex and inventive sounds.

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2011 Spring, Audio Visual Systems

Christian Marclay’s The Clock

By Ryan | Published February 15, 2011

Over the weekend, fellow classmate, Haeyoung Kim, let me know about Christian Marclay’s exhibit at the Paula Cooper Gallery, so I rode my bike up the West Side Highway and in to Chelsea. Sampling clips from thousands of films, the 24-hour video piece The Clock demonstrates time as a complex, central cinematic figure in its many forms and meanings.


The piece has a similar editing style to Marclay’s earlier work, with multiple film styles spliced together in both a jarring/cutting and swaying/lulling way, but the story that is told is much more suspenseful and edgy. Although the woman sitting next to me on the plush couches was falling asleep, I sat at the edge of my seat with a grin from ear to ear. The sound, woven beautifully by Media Noise’s Quentin Chiappetta, effectively carries the audience from suspense, to fear, to uneasy, to laughter.

After waiting in line for almost 30 minutes, I won the seat lottery and got a front row seat. The space was filled to capacity with many audience members sitting on the floor along the wall and in the back. A very helpful representative from the gallery provided guidance on when and where seats became available.

The show closes this Saturday (2/19), so get there if you can.

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2011 Spring, Audio Visual Systems

AV Systems – AM, FM, etc.

By Ryan | Published February 9, 2011

This weeks assignment included the following:
a) implement additive, AM and FM synthesis using the sin wave code as a starting point.

b) using additive synthesis, create the most harmonious, beautiful sound that you can. think about using multiple sin osicllators, with various levels of volume. Be very, very, very careful not to clip your sounds (ie, scale the volumes so that they add up to less then 1.0). Use many oscillators.

c) using additive synthesis, create the most evil, terrible, cacophonous and dissonant sound. Again, take care about volume levels.

d) try to see what the limit of your computer is by adding as many sin oscillators as you can together. how many can you put into the app with out it skipping. take care about the volume of each osciallator.

e) using any synthesis technique, attempt to recreate these tones:

http://www.presentationhelper.co.uk/sound/dial_tone.mp3
http://www.presentationhelper.co.uk/sound/ringing.mp3
http://www.presentationhelper.co.uk/sound/cappuccino_machine.mp3

f) make music ! try to transcribe a song (turning the notes into frequencies) and play it via code. And / or, try to create a sequencer that allow you to compose music by controlling some parameters of synthesis over time. then, create some music with this tool.

here is a video of each item, and below are links to the source code:

a1. Additive Code
a2. AM Code
a3. FM Code
b. most harmonious code
e. most terrible code
d. too many oscillators code (got up to 360 oscillators before error messages)
e. match tones code
f. world’s worst keyboard keyboard code

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2011 Spring, Audio Visual Systems

AV Systems – Sounds for images

By Ryan | Published February 6, 2011

For the first assignment in Zach Gage and Zach Lieberman’s Audio Visual Systems course, we were asked to make 1 short sound (3-5 seconds) for 9 images. I named each piece as follows:

  • image1-airplane-hanger
  • image2-bad-quilt
  • image3-space-rainbow
  • image4-charts-and-graphs
  • image5-air-gong
  • image6-laser-light-club
  • image7-bubbles-tvshow
  • image8-bricks
  • image9-fern

I tried a number of different approaches, such as creating a narrative around the image (ex. bubbles tv show), using imagery characteristics to shape the sound choices (ex. charts and graphs and brick wall) , and experimenting with different recording techniques (ex. fern).

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