[sdiy] Environmental, Concept, and "Subscription Modules"

[Cynthia Webster]

Hi JBV!

Your ideas here are really great because it seem that you actually know
how to really implement something like this.

There is something about the fact that all of these voltage are based in
reality that appeals to me over arbitrarily random voltages.

I especially like your idea of Synthesists around the globe all
participating in a realtime interactive musical event via the net!
(sort of like the SETI project)

I believe that Gordon Mumma is one of the early EM composers to incorporate
sensory and environmental data into his music?

http://www.brainwashed.com/mumma/

http://www.lovely.com/bios/mumma.html

(or was that Otto Luening?)

http://www.newmusicbox.org/first-person/nov99/ottoluening.html

Anyway I believe one of these gentlemen built electronic musical circuits
into a top hat that made um, "funny noises" based of sensors incorporated
into the hat itself.

What could be done here now, mercury switches and accelerometers,
humidity, Polaroid sonar bounce for distance from other objects, video
camera, what else?

I have heard of others creating performance spaces where visitors
movements within the space itself create patterns in the sound,
(kind of like setting-up an elaborate "haunted house" for Halloween!)

One of my favorite pieces was a performance or rather an "installation"
of Composer David Behrman's that I saw at Mills College in the 70's called
"Cloud Music" with speakers distributed all around the campus.
There was a black and white video camera with a wide lens aimed at the sky,
and as clouds drifted in and out of it's field of view, they would pass by
photo sensors taped to a grid on the surface of a television monitor and
thus control the music.

http://www.lovely.com/bios/behrman.html

Simple, elegant, and quite beautiful

Cynthia


>> Hey, somebody has to defend Cyn, here!
>> 
>> The idea has artistic merit,
> 
> Yes, it's interesting from an artistic point of view (especially theconcept of
> using VERY slow variations events to drive musical processes,
> just like a random LLLLFO)
> 
>> You can use a PC to grab the data off the Internet and send out the
>> corresponding MIDI data. A MIDI/CV converter completes the job.
>> 
>> The trick is reading HTTP and writing MIDI, but it's *theoretically* easy.
>> Internet and MIDI functions are built into Microsoft's Software Development
>> Kits, for one. If I had the tools, I'd try it.
> 
> IMHO this can be achieved in a much simpler way : the idea is to use one of
> those cheap Ubicom chips that can handle protocols
> such as HTTP or SMTP. Each sound module would feature 1 of these
> chips and therefore have its own IP address. The chip would make a request
> over the net, which would actually trigger a CGI script on a server.
> That script would grab all necessary data over the web, process them and shape
> 
> them as a suite of ASCII values. Those values would then be sent back to the
> chip that made the request. The CGI script could even shape these values
> into ready-to-use MIDI Ctrl data, and therefore would free the Ubicom
> chip from further processing...
> Well, there might be only 1 IP per whole synth... The idea is to have all
> data grabbed & processed externally, so that the data loaded by the synth
> is as slim and ready-to-use as possible...
> 
> Yes, this idea has an artistic value, but still quite limited : it is actually
> 
> very closed to 2D or 3D display of data grabbed on the web, except that
> 2D/3D is replaced by sound synthesis and/or processing. What I mean
> is that it's quite straightforward and linear.
> 
> OTOH I think some more interesting things can be achived with various
> electronic modules / instruments featuring some of these Ubicom chips,
> located in various places on the planet and hooked to the net.
> Some kind of realtime worldwide musical collaborations... Which could
> also include some data grabbed here & there on the web, or locally...
> I haven't brainstormed much on this, but the basic idea is to define a
> limited set of musical rules and let things evolved into more complex
> structures...
> Of course, this kind of thing can be done locally, but I have the feeling
> that adding the net to process might add some nice & unexpected features
> to the process... Especially if it's an open process into which anyone with
> his/her home-made and unique sound modules & processors can plug or
> unplug as he likes, and therefore adding the contribution of his/her gear
> anytime and anyhow he likes...
> 
> A few months back I posted a suggestion about the benefits of having an
> IP address for each piece of gear and connecting it to the web, but didn't
> get much response...
> Just like often on this list when it's not about pitch shifters of expo
> converters...  **SIGH**
> 
> JB
> 
>> 
>> 
>> Now, you wanted that PC in a Modcan-compatible module, right...?
>> --
>> john
>> 
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "harrybissell" <harrybissell at prodigy.net>
>> To: "John L Marshall" <john.l.marshall at gte.net>
>> Cc: "Cynthia Webster" <cynthia.webster at gte.net>;
>> <cgs_synth at yahoogroups.com>; "DIY" <synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl>
>> Sent: Wednesday, October 01, 2003 10:01 PM
>> Subject: Re: [sdiy] Environmental, Concept, and "Subscription Modules"
>> 
>>> Yeah definately !!!
>>> 
>>> "I'll have what the lady on the FLOOR is having...."
>>> 
>>> H^) harry
>>> 
>>> John L Marshall wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Cynthia,
>>>> 
>>>> Too many triple lattes.
>>>> 
>>>> Take care,
>>>> John
>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> www.sound-photo.com
>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> 
>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>> From: "Cynthia Webster" <cynthia.webster at gte.net>
>>>> To: <cgs_synth at yahoogroups.com>; "DIY" <synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl>
>>>> Sent: Wednesday, October 01, 2003 12:54 PM
>>>> Subject: [sdiy] Environmental, Concept, and "Subscription Modules"
>>>> 
>>>>> (from a thread on the CGS list)
>>>>> 
>>>>> Environmental,  Concept and "Subscription Modules"
>>>>> 
>> [big snip]
> 
> 
> 
>