Sound Controlled Animation – Cem Alemdar

I started this project with a lot of ambition. I wanted to make audio control fractals created using Jitter. Using this paper to create the fractals: http://peterelsea.com/Maxtuts_jitter/Fractals_in_Max.pdf

This video was my inspiration:

I was not able to get any of the fractal examples given in the paper working in MAX. After spending two hours trying to make it work, I started from scratch, and try to draw ovals using the audio as an input. I was able to get an interesting, abstract shapes with many different colors. The system creates an oval if the audio input reaches a certain threshold. While the colors and the size of the ovals are also affected by the “meter” object looking at the audio input. I wanted to use more audio data, but couldn’t normalize those numbers to be used in creating the points for the ovals.

I also used the presentation mode so the user had one toggle that turns on the system, a button that clears the Jitter window with a new background color, an audio playlist to give input to the system, and the meter object that affects everything. Here is what it looks like:

6 Comments Add yours

  1. Sorry you couldn’t get the fractals working. Not quite the same as your example, but you might enjoy experimenting with this: see Recipe 53: FlyOver https://cycling74.com/tutorials/jitter-recipes-book-four

    Nonetheless, I find your oval visualizer quite visually satisfying.

  2. Ryan Doyle says:

    Looks cool. Reminds me of the rainbow snakes in slither.io. Wish we could hear the audio that is triggering the animation.

  3. Tom Towadros says:

    I literally saw that same fractal video yesterday and though it was really cool. Good to know YouTube isn’t sending the cool stuff only to me. I would have liked to hear whatever audio inn generating the ovals. At least if it’s pleasant. Otherwise I think this is a cool idea. Reminds me of a the many window pops you can get from a computer virus (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSgk7ctw1HY).

  4. Colin Ancalmo says:

    :0 I Love Sintel!!! (The music artist in your reference video. They just put out a new bundle of songs called “Ten most Epic fish of all time”, would recommend!)
    I like how the ovals keep their positions even when the sample changes or reset. It might be interesting if the ovals bounced off the edge of the screen.

  5. Joy Tartaglia says:

    The ovals create a colorful trail as they keep layering on top of one another and it’s interesting to watch them and see how they shift their dimensions.

  6. Daniel McDonough says:

    Amazing inspiration. You nailed the generative aspect of the shapes. Given more time you could have introduced a more complex generative structure. But the simple geometry is also pleasing.

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