Project 2 guribe
Simulating Organic Behavior through Music
Music Visualization: Erection by The Faint
Music Visualization: I\’m a Lonely Little Petunia by Imogen Heap
Music Visualization: Time to Pretend by MGMT
Where the idea came from
When looking at examples of simulations during class, I was inspired by the work of Robert Hodgin. I was interested in the way he simulated organic behaviors that were directly responding to sound. I decided to create a similar project, using my own aesthetic and my own parameters.
My work process
The first step I took in developing this program was finding a library that could analyze sound. I found a library by Krister Olsson called Ess. This library “ allows sound sample data to be loaded or streamed (AIFF, WAVE, AU, MP3), generated in real-time (sine, square, triangle and sawtooth waves, white and pink noise), manipulated (raw or via built-in filters), saved (AIFF, WAVE), analyzed (FFT) or simply played back.” I used it to analyze the sound using Fast Fourier Transforms to isolate the volume components of each freuency.
After discovering this library, I found source code for two other projects that I used to help me program the project: Flocking by Daniel Shiffman and Input FFT from Olsson’s Ess library website.
After reading and understanding the code, I was able to use the basic ideas from these projects in my own work, merging, tweaking, and rewriting the code to fit my own vision.
My self-critique
Although I was happy with the results, there are a few things I would have done if I could work further.
First of all, my original intention was to have the boids flock with one another. However, I adjusted the boids’ velocities to match the frequencies volume in a way that made it difficult for me to figure out how to implement the flocking behavior.
A second change I would make would be to make the visuals appear more spatial. Although I am content with the current aesthetic, it is a bit flat looking.
Overall, I was extremely excited with this project and content with my results.
Hi Gabi – here are comments from the class crit.
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You should port this to OpenFrameworks. You could easily add many, many boids with oF.
This would be cool to do in 3D. I bet OpenGL would speed things up a lot too.
SoundFlower is a tool that allows you to redirect sound from iTunes into the microphone. (http://cycling74.com/products/soundflower/)
Nifty! I can see this projected in a club, at least for the songs you’ve chosen. -SB
It is essentially a music visualizer? yes…
Pretty! I would like to see the feathers floating around in more of an organic way- they still look quite stiff
I see good possibility and potential here. NIce work. It would be interesting to see it in a tangible way too.
I love the cute movement of leaves.
I would also think about how the visuals can change from scene to scene. How to show something different during the chorus, or when there is a guitar solo đŸ™‚
(A) Congratulations — you learned a LOT!!
(B) Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
The mathematical function which relates the analysis signal to the control knob is where much of the art is, and needs further articulation.
-GL