Max evenings @ANX

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:19:36 +0100

If you live in Oslo and interested in Max/MSP, I’m arranging Max “evenings” twice a month. We meet, we talk, build and learn how to “Max”. It is completely free, the only thing you need is a computer and a running version of Max.
These are not courses, but more like an informal meeting where you can bring your project and spend time talking and patching with people interested in this tool. I will assist, as best I can, with troubleshooting, answering question and teaching what I know about Max to whom ever needs it. The thought is that we will eventually be a big group with a lot of knowledge, so we can share with new geeks wanting to learn to “Max”.
If you are interested in joining, please leave your e-mail underneath this post. The space for the Max evening are graciously sponsored by Atlier Nord.
(Notam as also offered us to use their space whenever ANX is occupied. Thank you Notam)

Tank you! See you there.

udates

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:39:04 +0100

I have been able to work a lot on stabilizing my modules lately. I have also started to make help patches for some of them. I’m going to make a short presentation of the new modules and explain their functions.

jmos.rdp.launchpad
A module for the Novation Launchpad

One of the modules that I am really happy about is the Novation Launchpad module jmod.rdp.launchpad.
You can play and record 7 different midi tracks all at the same time, with the option to save the recorded midi to a file for later use. If you play on bank 1, you can record what you are playing, then skip to bank 2 and start recording on top of bank 1. Then you can skip back to bank one, and the midi updates the buttons light so you can see what you played before you switched to bank 2. This goes for all 8 banks. The last bank is actually a dedicated step sequencer. I am working on a special multi sequencer dedicated to this module, but it is really in the beginning of development, so I do not know when it will be finished. If you have a Novation Launchpad, this jamoma module will make you smile :) And it has a sort of help patch already, not bad!

jmod.rdp.nodes
A module for wandering?

This is a random generator made from the node object implemented in Max 6. I think this is a really great tool to generate random events for controlling parameters. It contains one of my favorite Jamoma objects; the jcom.ramp. This enables you to set different functions on the behavior of how the data is generated. I have completely dropped all LFO~ activity for this sweet baby, less CPU and much more unpredictable. No help patch yet, but post your question here, and I will answer you.

jmod.gen.delay
A module for delay of samples (Max 6)

Using some of the tutorials on net, I have made my first gen~module. This is really one exiting object when it comes to audio processing. You’ll need Max 6 and gen~to run this.

jmod.rdp.sampler~
A module for pitch shifting samples (Max 6)

This is the old jmod.rdp.player~. I have implemented the polybuffer for Max 6, so now you can read the name of the sound file in the state of the module, whereas before you could only se a number between 0 and upwards. you can now read single files as well as folders. I am really happy about the stability of this module, but I have discovered that I might bring the polybuffer out of all modules capable of playback, and create one buffer module capable of broadcasting to all samplers, granulator and so on.

Well, this is it for now. I hope you enjoy the modules, and please do not hesitate to ask questions.

As usuall, all the modules can be found at github.com ricardo78/rdp.modules.

Under construction

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 20:48:14 +0100

I lost most of the content on my site, so I had to recreate most of it all over again. this has taken a very long time, that is why I have not updated it for a while. For the time being the audio links does not work, but I hope to get it up and running at the end of this week. Please report any problems, it so many that I do not have a complete overview yet.

Prada by LG

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 20:23:55 +0100

I have recently finished a video installation for the Prada by LG event. For this show I used Jamoma and Max/MSP jitter and openGL. I utilized the video modules that I have created for the Jamoma framework. Everything went like a dream and the performance I managed to squeeze out of the mac’s I was using, made me really happy. I have taken some snap shots of the video I used, but the quality is not perfect. Again I would like to thank the people behind the Jamoma project for some awesome tools to use in Max. Click on the image above to see more pictures.

Sound-sample of work

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0200

In the beginning of October I’m going to present a new sound piece which I have called “Quiet is distinguished”. I am super exited with the result, so exited in fact that I’m posting a snippet of the upcoming piece now. Hope you come to the show on Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd of October at Union Scene. I have been working on a new module using the Node object. This little thing has wonderful opportunities when it comes to random generative algorithmic composition.

Enjoy.

Sébastien Roux and others

Sun, 7 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0200

The last couple of days I have been listening to Sébastien Roux on Spotify. It is kind of strange, or maybe it is not, that most of the artists that i enjoy listening to in the genre of minimalistic-electronic music actually is present there.

To list some of the things that I have found extremely interesting is:

Sébastien Roux – Pillow
Sébastien Roux – songs
Christophe Bailleau – Air Resort
Neal Williams – Tilleul
Stephen Vitiello – Something On My Back
Célia Houdart – Car j'étais avec eux tout le temps
Sébastien Roux – The Island
Sébastien Roux – Defight (Sebastien Roux remix)

Developing

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0200

It has been a while since I had the time to update my site. I have been traveling a lot and spent quite a lot of time developing my next installation. On my travels I’v recorded hours of sounds from all over, it has become an extensive library. One of the biggest problems dealing with such an extensive collection of sounds is to manage them. How do you keep track of all the sound, and how can you easily edit them fast and easy. Since I joined twitter I have received a lot of great tips from other artists. This is what lead me to Audio Finder. This app is one that I can recommend if you have an extensive sound library.

Studio Fuse article

Tue, 18 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Audra Wolowiec has written about the studio visit I was given by a great group of New York based artist. Thank you Audra. Check out the article here. The photo above is taken by Audra Wolowiec.

The end of New York

Sat, 20 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0100

On this residency I’v been working on how to work with different types of algorithms to generate sound and video events in realtime. It has been an educating experience and one that I’ll hope to share in the near future in the for of a brand new and wonderful installation. I’v also released the Jamoma version of Video Projection Tool, which you can download from my software page. If you don't know Jamoma, then check it out by going to jamoma.org. During my stay I’v had three studio visits with a lot of different people. I is really a crucial thing to get some feedback on your work in the process of development, i would just like to thank everyone that stopped by and had a chat with me. Thanks.

For my last day here in New York, which is on Tuesday, I’m going on a date with Joanna Newsom at carnegie Hall, you can not imagine how much I’m looking forward to that concert. Some of my friends in Norway wondered if it was possible to forward her, like a chain letter, I’ll se what I can do ;)

See you around!

Check out some more pictures here.

Open Studio

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Nearing the end of his two month residency at PointB in Williamsburg, Norwegian sound artist Ricardo del Pozo will hold an Open Studio on Friday evening, showing his work in progress “The Singularity”.
Through digital real-time processes and spatialization techniques Ricardo’s work aims at addressing the formal aspects of sound and video and their inherent properties as artistic value.
Ricardo’s work explores the borderline between installations and electro acoustic music, existing somewhere in between categories. The work deals with formal questions concerning the sound and the moving image and how the relationship between them creates virtual, physical and mental space. The installation you’ll see at the open studio is a work in progress where Ricardo has been exploring algorithmic composition for both video and audio, and in what way these generative systems, to an extent, dissolve the perception of time.

Contact the artist.

Ricardo’s residency at PointB is supported by USF Verftet in Bergen, Norway
PointB Worklodge Phone+Fax 001 . 718 . 599 . 5999 / 71 North 7th Street / Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY 11211 / www.pointb.org / info@pointb.org

Wanton Fluctuation

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Work in progress at Point B

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0200

Trying to figure out how to build comprehensive patches that allows flow and dynamic is really a challenge. Simplicity is the word, I think. Being able to keep things simple is a challenge, especially if you patch, you have so many possibilities and the directions you could take, endless!
I’m pretty occupied with formal questions, I tend to think that within abstract/formal sound/music and image, there is always the mind narrating the incoming stimuli.

While working with my first audiovisual piece, I wanted the visual language to pick up on the language of graffiti. For years I have been taking pictures of graffiti works and I think that the visual elements, the colors, are very appealing to me and I want to explore how this can be fused into my installations.
All the hours of photographing graffiti did have a purpose after all.

I’v made this demo-video (bottom of the page) that is a really crude work in progress, the sound is not finished and neither is the video material. If you want to download the VPT and the modules that I’v been using to create this please go to the software section.

New updated rdp.modules

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0200

Lately I have been trying to patch together a set of modules that could work as a host for metadata, in this case a large quantity of sound files and video files. I run into some problems on the way. Du to the fact that most of my modules has a lot of parameter these parameters takes up a lot of patching space quickly. I decided to pack all of the UI into panels so that I would save patching space.
I redesigned the modules so that they would be coherent and easy to use. You can grab them all here.
Not all of them are converted yet, but they will be soon enough. I’m very pleased with the result.

Here is a screen shot.

Jamoma VPT

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0200

I have finished the VPT help patch and the the VPT is ready to be used.
The reason why I made the modules so small and packed all of the UI into the panel is because you want to have as many as your frame rate allows you to have of the jmod.vtp.mesh% module.
Layers upon layers. And if you have all of those UI’s visible all the time that is going to take up you screen pretty fast. Also, running this live and you might have it hooked up to some LFO’s, you might not want to use a lot of CPU for updating your UI elements. If you really need to se what your doing, hook them up to you favorite midi controller so you can call on the specific window as you need it.

In the help patch I’v included the jmod.vpt.brocosa% module which lets you blend the layers in a quite fascinating way, and also the jmod.vpt.videobank% which reads a folder of files into RAM.

Grab the whole thing here: VPT Jamoma.zip, or get the source from git.hub.
Enjoy.

If you have any questions or comments, please post them under “Add a Comment”.

One-Second Music

Sat, 9 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0200

This morning I got up early. I had been working on the spectral filtering module yesterday and I didn’t quite mange to make it work. Today I finally made it work perfectly. I made this piece which I called One-Second Music. This is actually a final pice of music and not a test, for once:)
What is happening is that different frequencies are being filters through one second at a time, constantly changing and creating a musical composition as it goes through the 253 filters one at a time. Over and over again.

New York

Thu, 7 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0200

This past week has been amazing. I haven’t spent much time sightseeing or going to galleries, I’v actually spent most of the week just sinking into my own work and making huge progress. In a week! This place is truly inspiring and the studio is fantastic. I’v spent a few hours on the lfo~ conundrum and manage to come up with some basic ideas that has huge potential for development. I’v started hooking this up to different parameters and I’m fascinated of the richness it outputs.

I made this short mp3. It is basically recorded material from some of my test runs. This is a crude test, but if you listen to the richness in both amplitude, dynamic, movement (although only stereo) and timbre you can hear the potential of further development. New York, the streets are filled with noise!

Mp3 excerpt of adaptation/volume

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0200

I’v added a mp3 stereo version of “adaptation/volume”. The rendering does not, in any way, represent the spatial field created within the 16 speakers and ViMiC, but it functions more as an insight into to the sounds used in the installation.
Find out more about this project? Go here.

Work, paper, money and art

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0200

Today I received Bergen Municipality Grant for newly established artists. I was very pleased about this and it will make my residency and research in New York so much more enjoyable. This has been a great day at work.

I’v also started working on the Borealis project with Anna Wignell and I have high hopes that this will be both spectacular and great. Anna is one amazing artist with a keen and precise eye on things.

On an end note; the “adaptation/volume” paper can now be downloaded. I’v to put to words, to some extent, my thoughts and inspirations regarding this installation.

Download link: adaptation.volume.2010-bib.pdf

NZEMS 2010 Aftermath

Mon, 6 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0200

When I woke up today I was uncertain to actually where I was. I had been traveling for two days and had a major jet-lag. The NZEMS 2010 symposium went great. I was really happy with the feedback I got from my installation and the content of the other keynotes. I’v written down my presentation into a paper and it will be published on my site in a week or so. It will also be used in an upcoming radio-show made by Susan Frykberg. I’v had great help from Emily Meine to correct my horrific grammar. Thanks Em.

VPT development for Jamoma

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0200

Finally I’v started some more work on my adaptation of HC Gilje’s Video Projection Tool. I’m used to working with the modular framework of Jamoma, so it was an obvious choice for me to port the code to Jamoma. I have decided to incapsulate most of the UI objects in panels because I’m using the VPT mostly for installation work and hooking the modules up to different LFO’s and other neat things, so I really don't need to see the UI’s all the time. Saves screen space.

Due to the fantastic interview on cycling74’s web site, I discovered Kurt Ralske’s auvi objects. Needlessly to say it would have been nice if they were all shaders, but they are really powerful objects. Maybe I should have a look at how to write more complex shaders? If you would like to check the modules out you’ll find them here.

This is a little demonstration video I did. It shows two independent layers of video.

Jamoma Audio Graph

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0200

Needless to say that I’m looking forward to this!

Jamoma Audio Graph is a framework for creating graph structures in which unit generators are connected together to process dynamic multi-channel audio in real-time. These graph structures are particularly well-suited to spatial audio contexts demanding large numbers of audio channels, such as Higher Order Ambisonics, Wave Field Synthesis and microphone arrays for beamforming. This framework forms part of the Jamoma layered architecture for interactive systems, with current implementations of Jamoma Audio Graph targeting the Max/MSP, PureData, Ruby, and AudioUnit environments.

Anna Wignell

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0200

I’m really happy that I’ll be collaborating with Anna Wignell on the Borealis 2011 project.
She’s a Stockholm based artist working with light, text and digital media.
She’s coming to Bergen in September and we are starting the preliminary sketches of the work at this point.

Image is from her work called Sorting, 2005, from her exhibition at bonnierskonsthall.

Sorting, 2005
Programming: Anna Wignell, Tore Nilsson and Loove Broms.
In the work, a camera films the exhibition space and its visitors. The image is projected on the screen in real time but manipulated so that the image is reorganized. The image’s pixels are sorted according to color and organized from left to right, from top to bottom in the image. As in a traditional landscape, there is a gradation from light to dark, which changes based on what happens in the space.  “I hope that Sorting can concretize something in the process of how we produce our reality.” Anna Wignell

NZEMS 2010

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0200

I will attend the New Zealand Electro Acoustic Music Symposium (NZEMS) 2010. The presentation will focus on my latest work "Adaptation / volume" and the use of Jamoma as tool for artistic expression. NZEMS is arranged by The University of Auckland and will be taking place between September 1 to 3.

In connection with NZEMS 2010 (The New Zealand Electro Acoustic Music Symposium), I have been asked to give a presentation of my MFA work, "Adaptation / volume". The presentation will include the use of Jamoma as a tool for development and production of artistic expression and ideas.
The presentation will also reflect BEK’s involvement in software development, and how the collaboration with BEK constituted an important part of my MFA project.
This presentation was supported by BEK.

Some new sound

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0200

So the summer is almost over, at least here in Norway.
I’v been working like mad all summer and I’m finally getting somewhere with my new installation.
I’v decided to go in a even more musical direction with the sound, while formulating my reasons for doing so. I’m finally getting closer to the point of creating interesting generative algorithms for these modules, which was something I felt that I did not spend much time doing on my MFA.
This is a test I was really happy about. Some pre-recorded sound and real-time algorithms.

Enjoy listening.

Brooklyn, New York

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0200

To my surprise and bafflement, I was granted the Bergen Municipality residency for Brooklyn, New York 2010. So I’m off to the big apple for October and November.

This summer

Sun, 6 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0200

I’v finally started working with some songs again. It has been a while, but now I’m back in the groove. I’v decided that during June and July I’m going to finish three tracks for my upcoming album. I’m having difficulty choosing a title though. I guess that a tittle might come at a later time. I’m not sure the direction of the album yet. Either I’m going to work with vibrations and contact microphones or I’m using instruments which I’ll record an then process in Max. I’v made a litle taste of some of the work in progress. Please let me know what you think. This is all real-time processes in max. No mixing afterwards.
Happy listening.

The past few days

Sun, 30 May 2010 00:00:00 +0200

The last few days I’v spent in the company of an South African artist called James Webb. He is here on the AIR Bergen residency at USF Verftet. We’v been traveling around bergen “collecting“ religious prayers and chants for a site-specific sound installation.

From the website:
The Bergen curators Trond Lossius (BEK), Maia Urstad (Ant Projects) and Malin Barth / Sissel Little Bostad (Gallery 3.14), as an extension of an exhibition at the Johannesburg Art Gallery in autumn 2008 with Scandinavian and South African artists, invited three South African artists to an exhibition at the Gallery 3.14 this summer. The work will be the result of their residency at AIR Bergen.
The artist James Webb, Marcus Neustetter and Stephen Hobbs will during their stay in Bergen develop new site-specific works to be presented to the public. In addition, 11 South African video artists have been invited to exhibit their works in the gallery. The exhibition opens 4 June.
James Webb’s starting point is a sound installation that he has called «The Prayer», which has previously been shown in several countries. The idea is to develop the installation, to adapt it as a site specific work to Bergen and Gallery 3.14. The work will continue to Copenhagen and Nottingham for Bergen.
Webb has started to collect information on religious groups in and around Bergen - and has already come up in a list of nearly 50 different churches. He wants to make recordings of people from different local communities in prayer.
More about James Webb: http://www.theotherjameswebb.com/

Mixing layers in OpenGL

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0200

Last couple of day I’v been trying to make a CPU efficient shader for mixing layers, or mesh layers, in OpenGL. I have succeeded and I’m happy with the result.
If you want to download the modules just post a comment with your mail address.

The Mosquito and The Ruler

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0200

The opening at Kunsthall went fine, although my installation experienced some minor problems.
I’v been over at the exhibition today to try to solve the problem and I thing I’v got it fixed, but I’ll have to wait until the morning to be sure. The problem seems to surface after running about seven to eight hours.
I’v posted some pictures and you can also download my MA thesis if you like to read it.
It’s in Norwegian though. But It will be translated in the near future.

Last days before the final exam

Thu, 1 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0200

The adaptation/volume

The installation «adaptation/volume» is my final work on my two year Master degree. The work deals with the aspect of acousmatics, space and the idea of the musical structure / composition as a spatial and sculptural form, the way a musical piece achieves a body, a form, through spatialization techniques.
It is a study into how virtual space is overlapping the physical, auditory perception of space and visual perception of space, one superimposed on the other. Through digital processes and spatialization techniques I’m emphasizing the importance of space and how it affects how we listen. It is about generating and distributing sound in space, creating space through sound. It is about the inner density and quality of digitally processed recordings and how these recordings gain new significance through these constructed environments.
The title «adaptation/volume» refers to how the recorded material is malleable and how it adapts to digital realtime processes. The realtime processes is what I would define as clay. Your approach to the material at hand is not on fixed linear time scale. You can start working on the material from several angles at once and if your not satisfied, shape it differently without ever destroying the original material.
Time becomes an intricate part of the pice, but not only as a linear thing.
The word «volume» represent the idea of the space, and how it grows and shrinks within the frequencies. It also describes the volume of one sound in relation to another in terms of their character and, of course, their amplitude. This pice is a very formal sound installation.

I’m sitting here and listening to the final «draft». It sounds good. Some minor fine tuning regarding the in-fade and the out-fade is needed, but over all I’m satisfied. I think that it is pretty dynamic in terms of how the sound relate to each other and how it leaves room for each sound to dominate the sonic image at different points in time.
For me this work is taken two years in the making. Being able to understand how to program and utilize spatialization techniques has been time consuming and quite hard.

I’m going to use my last days on fine tuning everything. This is the tricky part. :)