Creating Spectrastrobe signal using Kyma software.

I'm a professional sound designer and I'm loving my new Kasina! And some of the included sessions have some stunning sound design, great job Neuroasis & Craig Tice! I'm lucky to have a Kyma system and I'd like to generate Spectrastrobe signals using it. I sent the Kasina sine waves at the appropriate frequencies but all I get is all LEDs flashing. I was expecting to be able to light the LEDs individually. Playing mixed Spectrastrobe sessions from a headphone out on my soundcard works fine so I believe I'm setup correctly. What do I need to send to Kasina?
Thanks!
Doug
difrancopro.com

Hi Doug,
What you are most likely seeing is the Kasina recognizing your signals as AudioStrobe and applying the first ColorSet which is all light channels. In addition to the light channel tones, SpectraStrobe requires a reference track. This track consists of a 18.2khz sine wave that is modulated with a pulse wave at 10hz. In addition the modulation is 180 degress out of phase between the channels.

The easiest way to create the reference is to modulate an 18.2khz sine wave with an autopan LFO set to 20hz, with the waveform being either a sine or smoothed square.

The reference signal acts as an identifier, as the Kasina performs auto-sensing between SS and AS. You will notice the top line of text on the display on the Kasina change to indicate when SpectraStrobe is recognized. The reference track also sets the dynamic range of the signal in a ratio of 4:1. That way, if the user changes the volume of the source (on an AUX for instance) the full range of brightness is still delivered.

In pracitice, the total amplitude of the reference signal is normalized to -36db and each light channel normalized to -24db. This keeps the tones inaudible and allows around -2db of headroom for the soundtrack (which should be normalized to this at max)

You may want to experiment with my Audacity Mind Machine Suite here: https://github.com/scottosx/Audacity-Mind-Machine-Suite It helps to demonstrate how to create light signals as well as provide handy tools.

There is also a set of color signal wav files for samplers here: https://github.com/scottosx/SpectraStrobe-Sampler-Files

I have also created an AVS Color picker that allows you to pick colors and get values for the light channels either in db or linear values as well as more standard values. It is here: https://github.com/scottosx/AVS-Color-Wheel/releases

On each of those github repositories you will want to download the files from the Releases section.

As you can see slowly I am building up a comprehensive set of tools. I suspect that you will be able to put them to good use. I need to make more documentation for those who may not yet have skills with audio production and that is coming.

Thank you very much for the compliments. If there are any further questions I can answer, then I am happy to do so. I look forward to hearing and seeing! some of your work.

Best,
Scott

Hi Scott,
Thanks for all this great info, I'll be checking it all out tonight. I already have MWS and NP3 and I've played with the KBS editor, LUX vst and the MUX's in MuLab. As you can imagine my head is exploding from studying all this software in just the past week. But that's half the fun :icon_cool:. I'd like to be able to map selected parameters to a midi controller for live programming and playback (ideally in OSX). So my plan is to investigate the various methods to find a good workflow. I'm sure I'll have more questions but this is more than enough to get me started.
I've also been going through Craig Tice's blog and finding some good tips for session programming.
Thanks!
Doug

Quote:

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Originally Posted by neuroasis

Hi Doug,
What you are most likely seeing is the Kasina recognizing your signals as AudioStrobe and applying the first ColorSet which is all light channels. In addition to the light channel tones, SpectraStrobe requires a reference track. This track consists of a 18.2khz sine wave that is modulated with a pulse wave at 10hz. In addition the modulation is 180 degress out of phase between the channels.

The easiest way to create the reference is to modulate an 18.2khz sine wave with an autopan LFO set to 20hz, with the waveform being either a sine or smoothed square.

The reference signal acts as an identifier, as the Kasina performs auto-sensing between SS and AS. You will notice the top line of text on the display on the Kasina change to indicate when SpectraStrobe is recognized. The reference track also sets the dynamic range of the signal in a ratio of 4:1. That way, if the user changes the volume of the source (on an AUX for instance) the full range of brightness is still delivered.

In pracitice, the total amplitude of the reference signal is normalized to -36db and each light channel normalized to -24db. This keeps the tones inaudible and allows around -2db of headroom for the soundtrack (which should be normalized to this at max)

You may want to experiment with my Audacity Mind Machine Suite here: https://github.com/scottosx/Audacity-Mind-Machine-Suite It helps to demonstrate how to create light signals as well as provide handy tools.

There is also a set of color signal wav files for samplers here: https://github.com/scottosx/SpectraStrobe-Sampler-Files

I have also created an AVS Color picker that allows you to pick colors and get values for the light channels either in db or linear values as well as more standard values. It is here: https://github.com/scottosx/AVS-Color-Wheel/releases

On each of those github repositories you will want to download the files from the Releases section.

As you can see slowly I am building up a comprehensive set of tools. I suspect that you will be able to put them to good use. I need to make more documentation for those who may not yet have skills with audio production and that is coming.

Thank you very much for the compliments. If there are any further questions I can answer, then I am happy to do so. I look forward to hearing and seeing! some of your work.

Best,
Scott

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Doug,
Ah, I see you jump in with both feet. That's awesome. It can be a deep pool at first.

A good way to get started with MIDI controller mapping is to use the sampler files at your preferred sample rate. Map them to keys without transposition as you don't want to change the pitch. There are 6 files so a logical mapping is C-Red D-Yellow E-Green F-Cyan G-Blue A-Magenta and what I do is repeat a half volume Red at B. If you create slow attack envelopes and releases on these you can get all kinds of excellent color mixing by poking around. Put a limiter on the colors track to tame the levels. Have a separate looping reference track.

Use an arpeggiator and with pitch transpositions you can easily get nice auto color transitions.

For pulse rates a good method is to use an LFO doing amplitude modulation or a tremolo with its speed mapped to a mod wheel or transposed by octaves on the keyboard.

Some of the most interesting 'base' light tracks (which you subsequently build upon with other layers) can be obtained by analyzing audio with envelope followers. The Mulab MUX does a nice job of this. I'm sure KYMA has this built in? If not you can also try some Mac plugins I created and use here: https://github.com/scottosx/SpectraS...elope-Follower

I use Ableton Live as my main DAW and have created nice workflows for it.

Best,
Scott

Neat that you are using Kyma, Doug... just as a historical note, we used a Capybara/Kyma to create the AudioStrobe tracks for our CDs... back in the 90s. Very robust system, though the version I used was about 2 generations back. Curt and Carla at Symbolic Sound are an amazing team!

Looking forward to experiencing some of the fruits of your creative work,

Robert

Hi Scott and Robert,
Thanks again for being so generous with your help. I'm trying to create the Spectrastrobe signals using Ableton, and after some poking around it looks like it's working! This is going to be lots of fun!
Cool note about using Kyma many years ago! You can imagine how far it's come since then. They just released a new major update, Kyma 7. It's an amazing tool, though not my most used. I mostly do sound design for TV promos, so it's Pro Tools, Izotope RX, Ableton, Native Instruments, blah blah blah. And yes, Carl and Kurt are wonderful and such geniuses, there is nothing like Kyma. Of course it's a natural match for Kasina content creation. At the moment I'm overwhelmed with the various tools and deciding what I want to do. In the meantime I'm going through the included content and creating some therapeutic sessions with MWS. I didn't expect the Mind Art sessions to have an effect but there have been a few occasions where a big "Wow!" popped out of my mouth after I removed the glasses! I had fun with Sanguine today.
Hopefully I'll have some experiments to share soon.
Doug

Hi Doug,
Since you are working somewhat with Ableton I've attached a packed session that has the sampler layout I discussed above with a reference track created with Operator. I put an Autopan on the other side of the Sampler to get a starting base for modulation.

Tell me if you are able to open it. It is an Ableton 9 session (als)

Best,
Scott

Hmm, reply doesn't show up here? It's working great now, playing through USB. I had a thought,use a Wi controller for modulation control. Or maybe an iPad, tilting in each direction can control speed, phase, etc.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dougdi

Hmm, reply doesn't show up here?

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I see this reply.

Probably means reply to the notification email doesn't automatically post.

I lost a reply, probably didn't hit post. I am wondering how to change pulse width using Ableton.

Edit

I found some M4L devices that look promising.

Yeah, M4L is the way to go. Use an LFO to automate the volume of the sampler or an Operator oscillator. I use L.LFO a lot here: http://www.lokua.net/lokuaforlive

A fast gate or a transient processor can do it too, with a different character. Still volume automation is best to avoid clicks.

Also, it is worth mentioning that pulse width (duty cycle) is a big key to creating 'geometry'. You have already honed in on this it seems.

BTW, the controller I get the most use out of for light work is the one: Numark Orbit It is wireless with a USB dongle and has 2 axis tilt, engaged by buttons, so very useful. 4 banks and modes, 16 buttons, a huge smooth jog wheel, long battery life, good mapping software, pretty lights...

Get an TRRS extension cable to leave the Kasina console hooked up to the computer but extend the glasses across the room to a comfortable spot... http://amzn.to/1AtSin0 ... and it is tweaker's heaven.

For iPad I use Lemur. Awesome, but I like the tactile feel of the Orbit.

Fun stuff! The Orbit looks good, how's the latency/consistency? Nice thing is it's midi, I wouldn't have to map through Osculator. And the price is reasonable.
I did find L.LFO as well as another one, I'll give them a shot later.
And I forgot I have Lemur as well as the Wii. No lack of choices :)

Here's something cool I did tonight. I bought this Max4Live device https://sellfy.com/p/oBgM/ to use with the Interaxon Muse EEG headset.

I mapped the power of the EEG bands to SpectraStrobe signals created by an instance of Operator. Theta to blue volume, Alpha to green volume, Beta to red volume. As I was training for increasing theta the goal was primarily to lessen the red. So I wanted blue-greens with an emphasis on blue. People with ADHD or depression might do the opposite of this.

In another instance of Operator I mapped Alpha to 200hz, Beta to 400hz, Gamma to 800hz and Theta to 100hz in that stacked order from bottom to top. Then I used the 3rd FM algorithm to mix them. A super long reverb created an immersive ever changing ambient soundscape. I just droned a C3 midi note on infinite repeat.

As these are my first tests, it worked really well, and used little processing power as only 2 Operators were active. Obviously, you could go much further than this but this was immediate gratification. I only played with putting shallow flicker on the output for interest with a sample and hold AutoPan.

If you have the Muse, Ableton Live Suite and the Kasina then there is major fun to be had for the additional $5 this M4L device costs.

BTW, on this device I had to use the older Muse SDK which is included in the download. The newest one didn't work for me. I'm going to contact the developer and let them know that his beta is no longer working, at least for me.

Enjoy,
Scotto

That is very cool indeed! I haven't played with neurofeedback yet, but I'm intrigued. Post a sample if you could. My original thought was to do something with Kyma and MWS and have live control of the stimulation and the sound content. However feedback is a whole other animal. I could afford a Neurosky Mindwave, is that worth getting? Or is it more of a toy?
I've postponed my experimentation for the moment, hopefully I'll get back to it soon. In just a few weeks of using the Kasina, I really feel like my hearing is better (I'm 60 and still like blasting music on occasion). I'm hearing more detail on recordings and out in nature. I still have tinnitus, I'll work on that soon. It was a very unexpected benefit!

The Neurosky MindWave isn't a toy per se (I mean it is with the MindFlex and Star Wars Force trainer, both of which I have). There is a user on this forum who is using it in serious research and he attests for its accuracy. There are apps that convert its output to OSC like: https://github.com/dlublin/BrainOSC . So with mild effort you could pipe that into a DAW and map it. Later I guess I'll try some more experiments with that.

With MWS of course you can map Neurosky devices as well. Just not quite to the potential level of audio expression that you could do with virtual synths and samplers. SpectraStrobe control though is very powerful in MWS.

I'd use the Neurosky for Alpha training with MWS to start with. I don't see using it as a controller, I think it would be more than frustrating. But if the Mindwave is somewhat accurate it sounds like a smart purchase. Why is there never enough time in the day for all these experiments :)

Using EEGs as feedback and controllers is basically the same thing. It depends on what you map them to. Audio pitch, volume, etc.. is one form of feedback. Light color, brightness, phase, etc... would be another.

One thing about Neurosky though it is only one channel. So you can't compare the activity between the hemispheres. At three times the price for the Muse you get 4 channels. The Emotiv Insight will be shipping to the public soon as well. MWS will most certainly support that. I don't know if they'll add support for the Muse or not.. but am hoping. The affordable EEG space is opening up fast.

Just found this thread after receiving my Kasina in the mail today. Wow, you guys have gone deep. Thanks Scott for all of the resources you have made available here. I am wondering if you have created any other devices for ableton? I produce music using Live (and am moving more and more into live production rather than DJ'ing pre produced tracks) and have been toying around with the project you posted here and am getting some pretty interesting results already. Super interesting manipulating the visual field in this way.

I tried to use your envelope follower but it doesn't show up in my VST's after following your steps. I am in a 64 bit set up so I suppose that is the issue. Have you updated it to support 64 bit as well? The main thing I am trying to accomplish at this point is some sort of combination of the ColorOrgan feature and the SpectraStrobe tools you have gifted us here. Ideally I would like to have the realtime analysis that the ColorOrgan supplies with the SpectraStrobe on top, potentially with the option to choose the dry/wet level of each of the two to find a good blend. Have you experimented with or accomplished anything similar?

I am also wondering if you have sound files for the 7 primary colors? (red/orange/yellow/green/blue/indigo/violet) I see you have created files for some, but not all of these colors and I still don't really understand how I could do it myself.

Oh, and if you want to check out some of my music: https://soundcloud.com/mose_robert

Thanks!