Blog Comments

  1. neuroasis's Avatar
    Thanks Robert! That is a symptom of the waveform not being rectified. For DC offset I am simply adding it to final value which raises it along the Y axis. Could you verify if the waveform output of the Procyon is rectified or not? I will continue to think on how to approach this. Suggestions are very welcomed..
    Updated 05-25-2011 at 11:57 AM by neuroasis
  2. Robert Austin's Avatar
    What a monumental effort! Very cool, and I've been throwing a variety of values at it. One think I've noticed is, the DC offset on the Procyon becomes fully on at 255, but shows as still having a wide duty cycle on your spreadsheet, though it correctly shows the waveform clipping. Basically, at 255 the bottom of the waveform will have risen to meet the top, flat-lining there. Thanks for your work on this!
  3. Robert Austin's Avatar
    One of the things I like about the wavedrum is the use of a real drum head and tensioners, so I can tune it in the same way as a standard drum. The physical models sound quite good overall, and I like the ability to bend notes by applying pressure to the head... the tabla sounds are quite good in this regard! The snare drum sound is a bit artificial, but I'm used to the sound of real snares on my kit. Overall, a lot of fun and flexibility, with plenty of presets. I wish they had added a USB port and PC or Mac software for modding the sounds, but maybe that's their upgrade path? Well built, overall with metal on plastic, and the metal rim is usually mapped onto an instrument. Hope that's not too quick... :-)
  4. neuroasis's Avatar
    Ok so you have helped me to rethink what I am trying to do. I want to show the overall shape of the waveform. 2 periods are required to show the effects of interpolation. The total time duration is not really important. It is only important that the graph represents 2 periods of the lowest Hz wave. If that is 2Hz then the graph should show 2 cycles of the 2Hz wave and all larger Hz settings are compared to this.

    That should show the full shape of the wave regardless of the duration. Now the x axis shows the wave shape at fractions of the period.

    I have now adjusted the calculations to consider the lowest Hz setting. I have also turned off the Labels on the Horizontal Axis as they are not really relevant. Because the scale of the horizontal axis is automatically calculated now, Excel shows some padding to the right of the graph.

    This is version 0.11 .
    Updated 05-25-2011 at 08:08 AM by neuroasis
  5. neuroasis's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Andy
    You mean 2 seconds of waveform?
    It is not really 2 seconds exactly. It is 2 cycles of a 1Hz frequency waveform. Of course that would be 2 seconds. However, at other frequency settings especially those with interpolation like the wave starts at 4Hz and ends a 1Hz it is showing the full waveform created by the morph compressed into this 2 second (or 2 cycles at 1Hz) period. Is the term period more accurate?

    For this reason I am saying that this program is really just visually showing the shapes of the waves and how they interact. The actual value at any given moment of time is not being considered yet.
  6. neuroasis's Avatar
    Right 2 secs.

    In Excel, you are calculating for the value at a point along a series of segments to plot it. In this spreadsheet there are 200 segments. A Square Wave is simply a Min and Max value of the plotted point. So you are rounding up to the Amplitude setting or rounding down to 0. That is fairly straight forward.

    However, when you introduce a Duty Cycle calculation into the mix now you have to have some fraction of the values adjusted. So Duty Cycle is basically 'turning off' or 'turning on' a known subset of the values. Because I am basing the calculation on that of a Sine wave and then rounding the values it is challenging to make these adjustments for any given cell.

    When using Excel you are thinking in a very different way than straight formula calculations. (or at least I am) There is quite a bit of trickery involved to get the desired result out of the functions that are available.

    I am not saying I am doing it the very best way that it could be done but that is why I have released it. If there are better ways I am totally open to it.

    I have added a Procyon Sandbox with Reversals to our shared folder. The Square wave graph is in the last columns.
  7. Andy's Avatar
    You mean 2 seconds of waveform?

    What is the trouble you're having with duty cycle on the square wave?
  8. neuroasis's Avatar
    Right. I still had the Phase setting as degrees. That has been fixed now. Please download again. I really wish it would display as degrees in the editor. It complicates matters to do all these conversions to the 0-255 scale.

    No segment length setting yet. Just think about it in terms of viewing 2 cycles of the waveform. For visualization purposes to gauge the interaction, the exact position of a key point at a specific time is not as high on the priority scale as seeing the shape of the waves.

    I will add these calculations to select time for the next version.
  9. Andy's Avatar
    Neat the way it works, but it sure looks complicated. The graphs look nice!

    Are you sure that a phase setting of 180 is 180 degrees? I haven't looked at the docs, but since a max is 255, I would have thought 255 = 360 degrees so 127 = 180 degrees, but I could be wrong...

    Where is the segment length set?
  10. neuroasis's Avatar
    Robert, you are going to get me in trouble I had pushed the Wavedrum re-release out of mind until you reminded me... So now I see them on eBay for under $400. Hmmm... I have a Roland Handsonic and have used it to trigger Oasys models and that is really versatile and cool. I wonder how many of those sounds are available on the Wavedrum and if they would be even more playable and responsive. Mind sharing a quick review?
  11. Robert Austin's Avatar
    The Korg Oasys has long beckoned me... excellent piece of kit, and likely easier to program than the Capybara, as the Kyma software controlling it has a somewhat MAX-like interface (and tangental remembrances to Max Matthews, father of Computer Music programming languages, who passed on recently). I'm definitely a fan of physical modeling, and bought a Korg Wavedrum last year, which has some great percussion models.

    Alas, my Capybara 320 has been superceded, but I hope soon to boot its 16 DSP chips back into service... :-)

    Had a look and listen to Neurostream last night, and kudos to you for running that! I ran avantgardemusic.org for a year or so, but was spooked by the RIAA and royalty requirements, though the avangardeproject eventually superseded that concept. I favor the idea that out of print titles be made available freely online, unless and until the copyright holder decides to put it back 'in print'.
  12. neuroasis's Avatar
    Totally agree about psychoactive sound. I create drone based ambient music and have been doing work with pulsed LFOs and time transformed environmental sounds. I think that the current Synchromuse piece Solar Neighbor is a good example of what can be done with entrainment integrated in the soundscape itself, not superimposed on top. It has inspired my experiments in this area. I am guilty of being too much of tweaker so I'm trying to build myself up just to release some stuff even if I don't consider it complete. The blog format helps this because I can add caveats.

    I was always on the edge of purchasing a Kyma but could never get the credit card down enough But the Korg Oasys with all the Harm Visser physical models fulfilled my needs nicely.

    Just again for background, I ran an ambient Shoutcast station for years, Neurostream. It is the one you see on the MindStereo screenshots on the Transparent site. Changes in legislation and royalty payments made it impossible to continue. Drone Zone from Soma FM still fills the niche quite well though.
  13. Robert Austin's Avatar
    I've mainly used it for sound design that I've done for a Seattle composer over the years, as well as pieces for my own amusement, but have been doing some experiments with ambient music as well--my experience of music and sound has been that it can be very psychoactive in itself, leaving aside binaural beats and pulsed sound. The 'wave organ' short piece used in the Synchromuse tutorial was made from samples of a... wave organ on a little isthmus off downtown San Francisco, near the Golden Gate bridge. It starts out with straight samples which undergo a transformation into something strange, and then back again, which can be a powerful symbol, arcing out at the extreme to the sorts of Hero's Quest that Joseph Campbell so eloquently documented.
    I made the AS tracks on our main five titles (vol 1) using an early version of the Kyma/Capybara system, which I used for sound design before Metasynth came along and spoiled me.

    I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the fruits of your experimentation with light and sound! :-)
  14. neuroasis's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Robert Austin
    Great kit! Was that a Metasynth tutorial on one of those screens? My favorite piece of audio software, especially with the last update, running native and not on Rosetta. :-)
    Wow, good eye! I used Metasynth for years on Mac OS 9 (which I still keep running for BlissPaint, Korg Oasys PCI, and a few other goodies that never made the transition to OS X) and they just recently offered me a $149 upgrade price... so that was a no-brainer. I am working with creating Audiostrobe and Entrainment audio with it... so you will see some posts about that upcoming. Have you ever used it for this purpose before?
  15. neuroasis's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Andy
    That's a great setup. Looks like a great place to get things done.
    Thanks Andy. Everything has a place and everything in its place... at least in theory
  16. neuroasis's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Marisa
    Cool stuff on your wall! Love the big screen monitors.

    I'm too embarrassed to take a picture of my work space. Maybe when Andy gets me a spanky new desk.
    Believe me, I cleaned up before I took the pictures

    As far as the monitors they were best investment ever. The main one the 32 inch studio monitor keeps you focused on what you are working on as you can make it rather large, even enough to somewhat fill your peripheral vision. Also you can place multiple apps on the screen at the same time to build 'dashboards' which can be productive as well. The portrait mode (rotating on arm) is a fairly new addition but I wish I had done it years ago. A full page for reading fits so nicely on it and with the arm you are able to pull it close to you.

    I love metal sculptures and have many pieces throughout the house.

    Thanks for commenting!
  17. Robert Austin's Avatar
    Great kit! Was that a Metasynth tutorial on one of those screens? My favorite piece of audio software, especially with the last update, running native and not on Rosetta. :-)
  18. Marisa's Avatar
    Cool stuff on your wall! Love the big screen monitors.

    I'm too embarrassed to take a picture of my work space. Maybe when Andy gets me a spanky new desk.
  19. Andy's Avatar
    That's a great setup. Looks like a great place to get things done.
  20. Robert Austin's Avatar
    Welcome aboard, Neuroasis! Delighted to have you blogging, and you're encouraging me to polish up my rusty writing skills. Would love to see any especially interesting sessions you've created, discussions of experiences you've had, etc.
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