Looking Outwards 4 MAX/MSP
Versum by Tarik Barri, an artist from the Netherlands, is a real time 3d virtual space, which is controlled by the user. It invites the audience to fly through and create their own musical trip. The virtual world of Versum is seen and heard from the viewpoint of a moving virtual camera with virtual microphones attached. This camera, controlled in realtime by means of a joystick (or any other kind of controller) moves through space. It was the base of many other projects by Barri. One deviation of Versum was where he used his software to visualize tweets in Germany, called Tweetscape, it shows how one project that is as open ended and malleable as Versum can be applied to different spheres.
Inkblot by Amanda Ghassaei is very simple and very accessible to not only use but to build themselves by an average person. It is like a simplified and graceful version of Versum. It produces abstract symmetric patterns and a slowly evolving synthetic drone. It layers the drones on top of each other creating a layered complex sound. With that said, I do feel like its missing something. I am a little disappointed that it creates a soundscape in an environment that has its own sounds, but does not incorporate its environment.
Drawing Machine by Harvey Moon is made from processing, Max/MSP, stepper motors and adafruit arduino. It takes weeks or months to draw a picture. This surprised me because it would take its feed from a live camera from Taiwan and then draw the city real time, incapsulating single moments along the way.
