Sound checks & rehearsals

Mackenzie, 11:00 am - noon

Dee et al., noon - 1:00 pm

Alex & Mackenzie, 4:00 - 5:00 pm

Dale and Jinok, 5:00 - 5:30 pm

Adrian, 5:30 - 6:00 pm

Cheryl, Alex, Ming-Ching & Justin, 6:00 - 6:30 pm

Daniel & John, 6:30 - 7:00 pm

Performance order Thursday

Daniel & John - The Merry Men Who Could, tpt/tbn - no video

Adrian Gierkowski - Synesthesia - laptop/video

Cheryl Krugel - Am K'sheh Oref - percussion trio, no video

Justin Kothenbuel - See What Happens - erhu & viola, video

Jinok Cho and Dale Bigall - Wii Would Like to Play - no video

Mackenzie Danner - TechnoFlute - flute & video

Alex Biehlen - title? - flute / perc - video?

Dee Reddy - No Idea - elec bass, tpt, tbn, perc - no video

Monday's rehearsal

Hi Loadbangers - thanks for doing the video conference! Here's our plan for Monday's rehearsal - we'll try to keep it to about 15 minutes per person, so everyone has a chance.

- Dee first
- then, Daniel and John
- then, Justin with Ming-Ching and Cheryl

As soon as I get details from Guy, I will let you know. I'm hoping that for Wednesday morning, we'll be able to rehearse in NCSA, which is on North Campus not too far from the Beckman Institute where we did our midterm concert. He's got everything we need there, so setup should not be as time-consuming as it was at Beckman. Thanks again and see you Monday!

Rehearsing

Hi everyone - sorry I can't be there today! I'm in touch with Guy Garnett, and it looks likely we'll be able to do our performance in his space at the NCSA building - I should know more details soon. Here's a summary from my view of how we're doing so far:

- Daniel & John: I haven't heard any of your piece yet, or seen a score or patch. Do you have a title? I would like to see and/or hear something on Monday, please.

- Cheryl: You're making progress; I hope you have a chance to work more on your electronics. The vocoder sound can be very twitchy, and hard to control in volume. You may want to insert a peaklim~ object before your final output. And for your soundfile, try to have it really "do something," instead of fading in and out. Could you please write your title, either in email or a comment to this post?

- Justin: I will look forward to hearing your work on Monday.

- Jinok & Dale: Good work. I can't wait to see the video.

- Alex: Your description sounds promising, and I'm looking forward to hearing it. Are you still using flute and percussion? Have you and Mackenzie worked together yet?

- Mackenzie: Coming along nicely. For your techno track, you may want to put in some more variety to the bass line, I thought it sounded kind of static. I'm not a techno person, but I think if you use different bass sounds, or transpose octaves, or leave it out occcasionally, your piece would have a better sense of flow. You can actually make a kind of form this way: intro, A, break, B, break2, A, etc. etc. You might also think about changing parts of your percussion a little more often than you do right now. Ask some of the other people in the class what they think.

- Dee: Looks promising, but I'm a little nervous about how ambitious your piece is. Are you willing to give up part of your plan, if necessary? Have you written out your music yet?

Adrian: Good progress, I can't wait to see the final thing.

For all of you: Please think of a title. It just occurred to me right now that we could try an iChat with me here in LA, to see how you guys are doing. My handle is stephenataylor@mac.com - go ahead and invite me at 10 am, OK?

Concert time

We can't do the Art Museum on Thursday night, because they're closing at 5 pm. So:
-Art Museum, earlier in the day (say, 12 noon)
-or, another place - MBA?
-or, Art Museum on Saturday Dec. 13? - nix
-off-campus building? Hillel Building? John St. in Champaign across from Notes & Quotes

Final performance 12/11

Daniel and John - trumpet & trombone - no video - 2 mics - 6' - mostly written out

Cheryl - non-pitched percussion trio - 4' - video by Ming Ching

Justin - work with Ming-Ching?? - adapt M-C's patch - 4' - no video

Jinok & Dale - 2 wiimotes & video - 5' - no mics!

Alex - flute & percussion, 2 mics - 6' - maybe video

Mackenzie - techno flute, 5' - let's try for video

Dee - bass guit, wii drums, elec guit, tbn, tpt - 2 mics - M-C will do video - 6'

Adrian - electronic noise, 1 laptop, video - 4'

KAM on Wednesday

Just a friendly reminder that on Wednesday morning we'll be meeting at the Krannert Art Museum. Let's meet at the front door on Peabody, near the coffee shop (which is right inside).

500 East Peabody Dr
Champaign IL 61820 [view map and driving directions]
(217) 333-1861 (automated)
(217) 244-0516

Here's a slightly outdated website about the exhibition space, the Canvas, that we'll be playing in.

Doink!

Does anyone play an instrument that can do slap tongue?

Midterm congrats!

Dear Loadbangers,

I'm really pleased and proud with how you all did tonight - "Project 1" was a big success! Let's build on it and make our early-December gig in the Krannert Art Museum something to remember. I have two goals in mind for December:

• Work with video (Jitter)
• Work in ways and with people you haven't tried yet.

For Monday I would like to look over folks' patches from tonight and look for the good things, and the things that could be improved. The main patcher people will probably have some thoughts about how to improve their patches, as well.

The December gig should have no more than 50 minutes of music, I'm guessing; so we need to start figuring out who will be writing (or "writing") pieces, how long they will be, who will play in them, etc. The people who did the main patching this time, I'm going to ask you to let others come to the fore; maybe you can concentrate on Jitter, or on fine-tuning what you already have. If you haven't done much patching yet, roll up your sleeves and get ready to work! Thanks again and have a good weekend!

Setup for Friday

People at Smith Hall, 5:30
- Alex, Ming-Ching (busy with dress rehearsals), Dee, Cheryl, John

4:45 - moving equipment
- Jinok, Dale

6:00
- Adrian, Daniel

6:30
- Mackenzie, Justin

Sound check order - starts at 6:35 (reverse performance order)
- Alex & Ming-Ching
- Jinok, Mackenzie, Cheryl
- Adrian & Cheryl
- Alex, Justin, Cheryl & Ming-Ching
- Daniel, Justin & Dee

Fridays gig

A will send out a duplicate email of this post.

  I don't think its a good idea to put the computers at front of house position. Part of the appeal of pieces like this is that the people and the computers are part of the performance. I do have some ideas that can help us out tomorrow though.   

  First off, I believe I can provide some stage monitors which will make things easier to understand what is going on while on stage. 

  Secondly, I will try changing how things are routed. Instead of putting the microphones through the interfaces, I will put the microphones direct into the mixing board, send those signals out to the interfaces, then take the output from the interfaces back into the mixing board. That means the signal coming to Jinok and John's interfaces will be line level. So be sure to set them appropriately. 

  My reasoning for all this is so that I will be able to have independent control over the amplitude of each individual instrument. Only problem with this is that I will not have control over the amplitude of sounds being played back off the computers. This means we need to get a balance figured out during sound check.

  Does anybody else have a car we can transport some equipment in starting at 5:00pm tomorrow? Its not that much stuff. Two monitor speakers and an amplifier. Anybody who is available to help set up at 5:30 would also be appreciated. There will be more setup time involved in this performance. Let me know.

-Dale

Beckman liveblog

Dear loadbangers,

I'm liveblogging the Beckman gig - first of all, a big thanks to Dale, Jinok and Ming-Ching for helping with the setup; and to John and Jinok for letting use their computers and interfaces - that's a big deal! And thanks to Ming-Ching for getting us an extra gig Friday night - it'll be great doing the concert twice in a row!

For tomorrow night's concert, we will need the performers to be earlier - it's not good to be setting levels etc. while the audience is already there, it makes us look unprofessional. If we have another daytime concert (which is unlikely), you'll just have to miss your classes to be here on time.

Our strategy of using two computers seems like it's working! For tomorrow night, let's see if we can avoid moving mics around more than necessary. Also - Adrian suggests putting the laptops in FOH position, next to the mixer. That might be a very good idea - Dale do you think we can do that? OTOH it's cool to see the laptops onstage.

Daniel, Dee & Justin - I'm not sure what happened in your piece, but the combination of gamelan and electric guitar sounds really good. Let's devote extra time to sound check on this one tomorrow, and do it last, so it's ready to be the first piece. Dee, double check your electric guitar rig - make sure the laptop is facing you, so you can visually check that your levels are OK.

Ming-Ching, Justin & Alex - nice piece, I think it's very successful - the highs were really maxing out though. Dale had your highs entirely down, but it was still painful at times. I don't know if we can get monitors for tomorrow night or not - I wouldn't count on it. But it'll be a little easier to hear in Smith.

Mackenzie & Ming-Ching - good job. Try to act more like a "performer" - it seemed (to me) like you were sound-checking or practicing, and never really went into performance mode. Just play one or two short/long notes as a soundcheck to make sure everything is working; then start your piece. Try to make it more integrated, so it really sounds like a piece of music.

Adrian & Cheryl - good job. I'd like to draw attention to Adrian's posture behind the computer; you can really tell he is performing as a musician, not just sitting back there.

Jinok - good job. Can your beats section fade out more gradually next time, to make a smoother transition into the ending?

Alex & Ming-Ching - good job - try to have some sections in the middle with the vocal samples where M-C stops playing in the middle of the rolls - that would make it more obvious that M-C is controlling the sample playback (if he is).

LoadBang404 Set list

1. Daniel - "Arc" Zither, Electric guitar
   
2. Ming-Ching - "My Silent Loneliness, Under a Starry Summer Night" Zither, glock, viola
   
3. Ming-Ching/Mackenzie - "Syrinx" Mackenzie, flute
   
4. Adrian/Cheryl - "Titles are so hard" viola
   
5. Jinok - "E-Arirang"flute and viola
   
6. John/Alex - "Bangers and Math" Alex w/drum controller
   

Patches by:

• Daniel
  
• Adrian
  
• Alex/John
  
• Jinok
  
• Ming-Ching
  

Performers:

• Cheryl - va
  
• Mackenzie - fl
  
• Ming-Ching - glock
  
• Justin - zither
  
• Dee - elec guit
  
• Alex - drum controller
  

Beckman gig

Thursday, Oct. 23, 12:20 - 12:50ish - about 30 minutes

- Cheryl & Adrian (Cheryl has class until noon)

- Daniel, Justin, Dee

- Alex and Dale (Dale will be running sound)

- Ming-Ching and John Nichols (John has class until noon)

- Jinok & Mackenzie (Jinok has class at noon; M. has class until noon)

Cars: Justin & Dale

Speakers: JBL (from Guy, Siebel)

Mixer: Mackie 1402 (from Guy Garnett, Siebel)

Mics, cables, and stands: Dale will bring 2 from Krannert

Interfaces: Jinok's Alesis; Steve's @$%ty M-Audio

Computers: Steve's MacBook Pro; Dale's MacBook Pro

performance chance?

I'm thinking if we can have some pieces play on friday 24th in smith hall since there seem to be a concert. anybody interested?

Question

Folks, should we begin to advertise our gig? some of my friends are asking about this. I want to make an event on facebook. but we have not come up with a name for our ensemble or our gig yet. any idea? and also, posters?

Classes directory

Jake Rundall has kindly set up a directory where we can all upload patches or soundfiles. In the CAMIL lab, simply double-click on the Classes disk icon and navigate to 404B. Here are more detailed directions for both Windows and Mac:

Connecting to the CAMIL Server using AFP on Mac

If you use a Mac outside of class, or have access to one, you can easily connect to
the CAMIL server from outside the lab.

1. Click anywhere on the desktop to make sure Finder is active.
2. Choose Go -> Connect to Server (or Command + K)
3. Insert the following address: afp://camil.music.uiuc.edu/
4. Click Connect, and login using your CAMIL username and password
5. You will be prompted which "Volume" to mount: choose Classes, your homefolder, etc...
6. It's best to eject the volume by dragging it to the trash when you're done with itConnecting to the CAMIL Server using WinSCP on Windows

WinSCP is a free, open program for file transfer that runs on Windows. You can download WinSCP from winscp.net. When you install the program it is fine to do a "Typical Installation." The following instructions assume that you chose "Norton Commander interface" during the installation process.

To setup and use WinSCP, do the following:
1. Install and run WinSCP
2. Configure the connection as follows:
Host name: camil.music.uiuc.edu
Port number: 22
User name: your CAMIL username
Pasword: your CAMIL password
Private key file: leave blank
Protocol: select "SFTP" and check "Allow SCP fallback"
3. Save the connection configuration by clicking "Save...." The name it suggests (yourNetID@camil.music.uiuc.edu) is a good name to use. You can click the box to save your password with the configuration if you want.
4. To login, select your configuration and click "Login"
5. The first time you connect the program will warn you that the server's host key is not found in your cache. You can click "Yes" to continue connecting and add the server's host key to your cache.
6. If you didn't save you password with the configuration you'll be asked to enter your password.
7. You'll then see a screen that shows files in your computer on the left and your CAMIL account home folder on the right. You can copy files to and from your computer and your CAMIL home folder as well as other locations on the CAMIL server (the Classes folder, etc...).


Navigating Tips
1. "Parent directory" button - takes you to the folder that contains the folder you're currently in
2. "Root directory" button - takes you to the root level, or top level, of the server
3. "Home directory" button - takes you to your home folder
4. Setting up a shortcut to the Classes folder:
a. Go to your home folder
b. Go the Files menu and select New -> Link
c. Fill in the info for the shortcut:
Link/shortcut file: put a name for the shortcut (i.e. Classes Folder)
Point link/shortcut to: "../../../Library/WebServer/Documents/Classes"
* enter exactly as shown above without quotes, then click "OK"
5. To copy a file, simply click and drag it from the version on your computer to the appropriate folder on the server (i.e. the "Submit" folder or a subfolder of "Submit").

sfplay~ and poly~

Inspired by today's class, Daniel and I did a search on the Cycling 74 MSP forum for "sfplay~ and poly~" and lots of good stuff came up:

• the list of all search hits
• info on sfplay~ and its buffer size (different from the buffer~ object)
• someone with 50 sfplay~s, who decides to learn about poly~

Beckman gig

- 2 or 3 computers
- flute, electric guitar or bass guitar, viola, trumpet, percussion (2 players - gamelan?), keyboard, found objects w/contact mics
- ca. 30 - 40 minutes of music
- improv
- composed (Dee, Jinok, Cheryl, Alex, Adrian, John, Daniel, Ming-Ching)

- video?? (separate computer for projector)

pattr and preset

Here is a square synth project I made last year which might help to figure out how to use the pattr (patch attributes) objects in Max - they act as an updated version of the old preset object. This patch also shows an attempt at music notation in Max, using the pictslider object. Also - there's a pretty simple use of poly~, adsr~, and rect~ (a square wave object).

Agoraphobia patches

Here is a zip file of the patches for my piece Agoraphobia for flute, harp, and live electronics. I tried to dust it off a little to make it presentable, but it is definitely a work in progress, and there are lots of improvements that could be made to it. So with that in mind, please feel free to download it and hack to your heart's content. I've not included the 300 MB of sound files, so you will get lots of error messages saying Max couldn't find them. If you have other problems or questions please let me know - we can discuss it in Monday's class.

Free VST plugins

Here's a good site with tons of free VSTs:

http://www.kvraudio.com/get.php


under "Choose General Plug-in/Host Type" be sure to check "effects"

Cycling 74 guitar tutorials

There are some good tutorials on the Cycling 74 website for making a guitar-processing rig in Max. I've been going through these over the last week and they have some excellent Max techniques, as well as a good use of Presentation mode.

Expand your guitar, vol. 1 - a good intro to the basics of hooking up an instrument to your computer, and how to set it up in Max.

Max 5 guitar processor, part 1 - includes an interesting flow chart on how to plan a large-scale, complex Max patch. Starts with input, compressor, and output (including test sounds and white noise).

Max 5 guitar processor, part 2 - continues the above patch, adding overdrive and EQ (personally I didn't have great results with the overdrive, but I wasn't using a guitar to run the patch - your mileage may vary).

Teams for Assignment 8

Great work everyone on your delay patches so far; I'm looking forward to the next performance assignment, in which you will work in teams. Then, after the team assignment, we'll ramp up to Project 1, which is the performance in Beckman on October 23. I'm also looking out for other possible gigs - if anyone has ideas please let me know.

For the teamwork assignment you will work mostly in pairs: one of you will perform on your instrument or voice, while the other will control the computer, either manipulating the performer's sound in real time, or triggering soundfiles, or both.

While your first delay performance was more or less free improv, I would like this one to be a little more structured. Collaborate on a performance that has a beginning, middle, and end. Try to figure out what you want your piece to do. It doesn't need to be notated in traditional notation, but I would like some kind of written description, or score, of your performance.

You have two weeks - I would like to have in-class performances on Wednesday and Friday, Oct. 8-10. Here are the teams I'd like you to work in:

• Mackenzie Danner and Jinok Cho
• Daniel Swilley, Justin Kothenbuel and Dee Reddy (let's have Justin and Dee perform, and Daniel control the computer)
• Adrian Gierakowski and Cheryl Krugel
• Alex Biehlen and Dale Bigall
• Jeff Nichols and Ming-Ching Chiu

I've assigned you into teams based on your performing experience, and any previous experience in Max. Good luck! If you're auditing the class but still interested in doing this please let me know.

Assignments 4 and 5

Thanks to Ben Smith for a terrific presentation! Just to confirm what I said in class on Wednesday: you can have until Monday to finish tweaking your delay patches for Assignment 4. We'll be talking about delays more in Friday's class, as well as Max and MSP tutorials. Remember, as you work on your delay, that you will be performing in class with it for Assignment 5, which is due next Wednesday, 9/17.

Your performance next Wednesday shouldn't be too long (I want to try and hear everyone, so a couple of minutes is fine), but you should have some kind of plan: for instance you can start loud and get softer, or vice versa; you can start in the low register of your instrument or voice and go higher, or vice versa; you can start fast and end slow; or you can stay in one "place" (high, loud, etc.) for your entire performance. Just have a plan, and make sure that your delay patch is part of your plan. Some cool canonic things could happen.

Finally, next Monday Professor Ann Yeung will give a short presentation of my piece Nebulae for harp, MaxMSP, and Jitter.

MSP Tutorial 6 patch

In case they're useful, here is a link to the patches I went through in class today, on how to complete the exercises in MSP Tutorial 6.

New delay patch

Here is a link to a delay patch written by Darwin Grosse, that you can modify for Friday's assignment if you like; I think it offers some interesting comparisons to the delay patches that I've written. I've modified it a bit; you can check out the original from maxobjects.com; search for "twindelay."

Assignments 3 and 4

Next Wednesday Sept. 10, special guest Ben Smith will demo his violin effects setup, built in MaxMSP; Ben also plays with Guy Garnett's group the Digital Collective. Also for next Wednesday please do Assignment 3: work up to Max Basic Tutorial 22, Designing Equations; and MSP Tutorial 11, Frequency modulation.

For next Friday, Sept. 12, I would like you to customize a delay patch; you have the choice of two delays, which I used in two of my pieces: seven microworlds and Pulse Aria. Please download these patches and take them apart (Pulse Aria is easier to figure out since I wrote the patch later). Then the following week, you will perform in class using your altered delay patch. (Of course, you needn't limit yourself only to using delays; we'll discuss this more in class).

Assignment 2

Because we need to get started on projects soon, I would like you to work through most of the tutorials in the next week or two. By this Friday, Sept. 5, please work through Max Tutorial 15, "Abstractions"; and MSP Tutorial 6, "A review of fundamentals." We'll do some of these in class, but please try to do as much as you can on your own. If you have time, work up to Jitter Tutorial 4, "Controlling movie playback."

Assignment 1a

For next Wednesday I've asked you to go through the first 9 Max tutorials, as well as the first few MSP and Jitter tutorials. In Max tutorial 6, "Simple math in Max," there are instructions for making a Fahrenheit - Celsius converter. Before class next Wednesday, please make one of these converters and email it to me. Besides following the instructions, try to customize it: include some sliders or dials (covered in tutorial 7); change fonts, change colors - just to make it more personal, and to give you experience in designing a user interface (albeit a very simple one).

Good luck and have fun! If you run into trouble, please shoot me an email anytime.

Hi, all. My name is Daniel Swilley. I am a 2nd year DMA composition major. My experience with MAX/Msp is mostly from the stand point of building algorithmic composition tools, and a few FM and grainular instruments... I have a number of years experience with electroacoustic music and have come to feel comfortable with the medium and my capabilities. However, I've never done anything with live processing or interactive performance. I'm looking forward to exploring these things as well as getting to the chance to play again. Trumpet is my primary instrument, but I also play flute. Also, I also have an interest in conducting so perhaps that will translate to some cool experiments with wii controlers governing performance parameters... Time will tell.

Mackenzie Danner

I'm Mackenzie Danner, aka TechnoFlute.  I am a Doctoral student in flute performance and am also completing a B.S.E.E. (Electrical Engineering).  I have a B.M. and M.M. from Northwestern University in Flute Performance and Music Technology.  I studied with Walfrid Kujala, former piccoloist of the Chicago Symphony.

I have been working on combining flute with self-produced techno music.  I'm very interested in hard techno, trance, vocal trance, and dance music.  I want to create percussive sounds in flute to incorporate into drum beats.  I also want to use signal processing on melodic lines as in traditional trance and techno except replace the vocal part with flute.  And I would also in the future like to create several TechnoFlute music videos.  

Hi, my name is Justin Kothenbeutel. I am a 2nd year masters piano performance major. I am taking this course because I want to learn more about how to compose in electronic media. It will also be fun since I was also a composition major for my undergrad.

I'm Dee; a composition undergrad. I'm here because I fall asleep after five minutes of reading the MAX/MSP manual.

hi

hey my name is john. i am a dma student and have wanted to learn max/msp for about 6 years now. i am excited about our class and i'm looking forward to whatever collaborative efforts the future holds.  have a nice day!

Heyo

Heyo all,
My name is Cheryl Krugel, and I'm a senior studying Music Composition. I've worked with a program that is kind of like an elementary version of MAX/MSP/JITTER--called Isadora (http://www.troikatronix.com/isadora.html); it was developed by a composer/choreographer team, and allows one to create patches using video, audio, midi, and other components. Other than that, I've mostly worked with acoustic music. I'm excited to learn MAX/MSP and create cool sounds with it :).

Hello my name is Dale and I am a 3rd year sound design and technology graduate student over at the Krannet Center. I have been designing sound effects and music for theatre dance and opera for several years and have no official musical background. I am very familiar with synthesizers and computer music.

I'm Quinn Collins and I'm a second year MM student in composition. I'm excited the learn Max and work with all of you.

Hi there,
I'm Chen-Yu Huang, coming from Taiwan. I'm a grad student in Harp performance. I don't really know much about Max or computer music, but I'm interested in learning that. I think it would be cool to play the music live with the computer.

Hello Everybody,

I'm Alex Bielen, a senior in Music Composition, and I am looking forward to learning MAX/MSP. I have some experience with "Computer Music", mostly with Rick Taube's Common Music and Grace, but I am interested in learning more about the real-time potential that MAX/MSP offers. Plus, I'd much rather program with a patch-based GUI than remember all of the LISP syntax. No Offense, John McCarthy. Anyway, compositonally my interests include memory, humor, repetition tolerance, and other associated junk. I think MAX/MSP will be a good tool for expressing these interests in a significant way.

SEE YA'LL SOON.

-Alex

Hi there! nice to meet you guys.

Hello,
I'm Ming-ching, a Taiwanese guy came to UIUC 2 years ago. I got my master degree in music composition in spring and will stay here for some more years to get a DMA. I've been trying to learn Max/MSP by myself for a long time, but I'm just too busy (or maybe too lazy). Since I'm taking the class this semester I hope I can finally learn it with some external pressure. :P By the way, I think It will be a lot of fun working with other people in this class. See you on Monday!

Ming-ching

Class schedule

Week 1
8/25 Introduction: how to use Max help
8/27 Introduction to MSP and Jitter tutorials
8/29 Introduction to other learning sources: Berkeley’s Max materials and the Cycling 74 forums

Week 2
[9/1 Labor Day - no class]
9/3 How to set up mics; avoiding feedback; working with digital audio interfaces;
Assignment 1 due - progress through the tutorials
9/5 Taylor, seven microworlds and Pulse Aria; digital delays; Assignment 2, working through tutorials (Max #15, MSP #6)

Week 3
9/8 More on delays; user interface and presentation mode
9/10 Special guest Ben Smith, composer/violinist;
Assignment 3, working through tutorials (Max Basic #22, Designing equations; MSP #11, Frequency modulation)
9/12 Assignment 4 due: customize your digital delay

Week 4
9/15 Taylor, Nebulae - special guest Ann Yeung (tentative)
9/17 Assignment 5 due: perform in class with your patch
9/19 Collaboration: start finding colleagues to work with

Week 5
9/22 Sound design and playback: Taylor, Silent, Black, Outside - intro to the Lemur control surface; finish up Assignment 5
9/24 Assignment 6, more tutorials (Max, Data and Interface tutorials; MSP #17, Sampling review)
9/26 Taylor, Agoraphobia (with special guests Ann Yeung and Jonathan Keeble)

[Saturday, 9/27 - Bang On A Can Marathon]

Week 6
9/29 Plan details for Project 1 - Beckman performance;
10/1 Assignment 7, more tutorials (Max, Patcher Storage and Javascript tutorials; MSP #26, Frequency domain signal processing with pfft~; Jitter #10, Chromakeying)
10/3 How to do laptop improv - special guest Jimmy Bunch and his 16-step sequencer

Week 7
10/6 Assignment 8, using other processing and synthesis (vocoding, granular, pitch shifting, etc.)
10/8 In-class improvising in teams (Assign. 8 cont.)
10/10 Assign. 8 cont.; Improvising vs. composing

Week 8
10/13 Assignment 9, complete MSP tutorials (#31, Comb filter); Jitter tutorial #14, Matrix positioning
10/15 work on Project 1
10/17 continued - possibly breaking out into small group rehearsals

Week 9
10/20 more rehearsals
10/22 Project 1 due - dress rehearsal for Beckman
10/23 Beckman performance, 12:20-12:50 pm
10/24 post-Beckman discussion

Week 10
10/27 Jitter week - Assignment 10, Jitter tutorial 21, Working with live video and audio input
10/29 (work up to Jitter tutorial 25, Tracking the position of a color in a movie)
10/31 Assignment 11 - in-class improv, combining audio and video

Week 11
11/3 Prepare for Project 2 - performance in Krannert Art Museum - other gig possibilities?
11/5 (At some point in the semester, maybe around here, I see the class morphing into an ensemble/improv group, rather than a class on how to use Max - so the rest of the semester may resemble a rehearsal schedule more than a class syllabus.)
11/7 Special guest Mei-Fang Lin, on her work Multiplication virtuelle

Week 12
11/10
11/12
11/14

[Fall break, 11/17 - 11/21]

Week 13
11/24
11/26
11/28

Week 14
12/1
12/3
12/5

Week 15
12/8
12/10 Final performance - KAM, others?

Syllabus

MaxMSP: Computer Music for Performers and Composers
Music 404B, Fall 2008
Instructor: Stephen Taylor
MWF, 10 - 10:50 am
CAMIL I lab (MB 5047)
School of Music, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Office hours: Monday and Wednesday at 11 am; room 5042.

Course Description:
Composers and performers will collaborate to create interactive works for instruments and singers, using Cycling 74's software MaxMSP.

Course Objectives:

• Learn the basics of amplification, microphones, mixers, digital audio interfaces, and midi
• Learn how to make patches in Max/MSP
• Learn the basics of Jitter, a set of video extensions to Max
• Collaborate with your colleagues to make new music
• Perform your completed works in December
• For performers: learn Max well enough to make adjustments and small patches yourself, and perform without requiring someone to set up equipment for you.
• For composers: make your patches bulletproof, so performers can use them without having you there to help them.
• For everyone: learn how to collaborate with others, make suggestions, accept criticism, and try new things.

Required materials:
MaxMSP, available from Cycling74 for Mac and Windows. MaxMSP is a graphical programming environment for music, audio, and new media. It's installed on all the computers in Camil I, but you are welcome to use it on your own computer if you have one. There are student discounts (including a $59 9-month authorization) here. Also, you can download and try it for free for 30 days.

Max has a steep learning curve. Because it is a powerful program that lets you do almost anything you can imagine, it doesn't force you into one way of doing things (for example, pressing "Play" or "Record"). But Max comes with massive (and fun) documentation, and they have just released version 5, which is quite a bit easier to use. There are lots of good online tutorials:

• Cycling74 has some good tutorials on their website - if you already know a little about Max, this tutorial by Andrew Benson is an excellent intro to some of the new features in Max 5.
• Also on Cycling74's website, check out the Max/MSP forum.
• www.maxobjects.com, a directory of thousands of external objects created by Max users around the world.
• Perhaps the single best tip: to get help on any object box in Max, you can option-click it.

As an alternative to Max/MSP, you can try the open-source Pure Data, developed by Miller Puckette, the original creator of Max.

Although we will supply microphones to use in the CAMIL lab, you need to bring your own headphones to listen to your computer output.

Evaluation:60% projects; 40% assignments. I hope for this course to be an opportunity to explore, meet new musical collaborators, and have fun. But I also want you to work hard! I'll give you verbal feedback on each assignment and project, and after the midterm project I will email you a written evaluation to let you know how you're doing in the class. If you have any questions on your grade or anything else, please ask me anytime.

Performance opportunities:
The main goal of the class is to make new music, both performances and improvisations. We’ll perform both for each other in class, and in venues on and off campus. If any of you know of opportunities - coffee shops, etc. - please let me know.

Our first public performance will most likely be in October. During the semester there is a series of lunchtime concerts at the Beckman Center on south campus. I would like us to present a plugged-in concert there, combining improv and composed music. We'll have to bring our own equipment; it also pays up to $75 for each performer. Performance date (tentative): 10/16.

Assignment 1

I would like everyone in the class to be contributors to the class blog; you should receive an email inviting you to be a member. Please follow the instructions in that email message, and sign up to be a contributing member to the blog. Then, please write a post about yourself - your musical background, and what you hope to gain from this class.

For next Wednesday, Sept. 3, please read through tutorials 1-9 for Max (up to "Mouse Drawing"), trying out the patches and tweaking them. Also read "MSP Introduction," "How Digital Audio Works," "How MSP Works," and "Audio I/O." Finally, read through the first five MSP tutorials (this is where you actually get to make sounds - make sure to use headphones); if you have time, try out the first couple of Jitter tutorials also. We should get through these tutorials quickly, so we can spend more time making music and art!