I am still very much interested in the laser oscilloscope I showed in class last week, however, I’m still figuring the best way to showcase the shapes the laser makes from frequencies.
Over the weekend, I spent some time experimenting with user control of the sound. The simple solution was to send OSC (open sound control) data from my phone to Max MSP. Each axis of the phone’s accelerometer could control a voice of a pitch, which would allow for a chord to be expressed.
The first test just scaled the data to a band of frequencies from 200hz to 1500hz, an area that the laser seemed to respond to well. It combined all three axis to a single voice.
The second attempt used mapped frequencies for each axis by storing pitch information inside of a [coll] file. This would ensure that pitches did not float absolutely, but instead were snapped to ranges that resemble a piano playing all white keys. A line object allowed floating between these points as they activated, because the “detune” or wave offset of frequencies caused more motion in the laser. It was a bit underwhelming.
Lastly, I ended up scaling all chromatic notes between the axis for more fine tuned control. It still was a bit underwhelming. Other data from the phone, like the light sensor or gyroscope could be interesting, or a combination of the phone data with other controllers like standard MIDI controllers for a “performance” could be more captivating. But ultimately, I don’t think this is compelling.
So for my recalibration, I will focus on composing a piece of music around the shapes the laser produces and filming it. Some questions to ask are, does the music have to sound good? Can it be “non-functional” and thus not harmonious, but just based on the shapes the sound produces? What kind of signal processing effects could be used? Could I combine a precomposed piece that focuses on those frequencies, but “perform” it as a DJ of sorts using the phone accelerometer to manipulate effects and other parameters?
What recording of the sound and visuals will be best to archive this project? Is there a better medium to project the laser on still? Can I combine the recorded video and sound from the laser and further process it with jitter, or is that cheating?
Looking forward to experimenting more.