Abstract animation and synthesized sound by Lou Cohen (loucohen AT jolc DOT net). Software used: Grain and Csound for sound, Motion for animation
Author Archives: Jacob Joaquin
Das Kombinat Multimedia
This is the musicvideo of Das Kombinat to the title ‘Multimedia’ from the CD ‘Betriebssystem’. The real life footage was shot 1998 on Hi8 video, but the quality was so low that it couldnt be keyed in a good way so we stored and forgotten about it. In 2002 videosoftware made such advances that we tried a new application and imedantly bought a license because it saved our material. Keying is still poor but much better now. We combined the footage to 3D animations we created. The sound is complete rendered digital with the opensource csound back around 1996. The video was shown several times, for instance before Notstandskomitee concerts, but also included into the blue screen issue of the Berlin CDr artzine t.i.n.a.h. .
By far the coolest video I’ve watched all morning.
Drum Sequencer Event Generator
Getting lost within a list of instrument events is sometimes less desirable than being able to place events on a grid or lattice. This is especially true when working with rhythms. I’m a firm believer that the interface influences the compositional process. This is why I’ve begun development on dseq, an instrument that allows me to input drum patterns in a manner that is much more user-friendly.
Topics:
- Strings
- Drums
- Sequencer
- Event Generators
More at The Csound Blog. For more information about Csound, please visit cSounds.com.
The Loudness War
Big-name CD manufacturers are distorting sounds to make them seem louder. Sound quality suffers.
Video posted to YouTube by LoudnessWar.
Poor Little Robot
“Poor Little Robot” is a piece of music orchestrated for Banjo and Csound Theremin. And I absolutely love it!!
Composer Joseph Sanger wrote the following description to the Csound mailing list:
I have just posted an mp3 on my myspace site which uses Csound in a small way and wanted to share it. It’s not particularly highbrow but you might find it amusing, it’s a rather poignant duet for Banjo and Theremin. I modelled the theremin in Csound (not complicated) and played it with a MIDI keyboard, recording it live into Ardour via Jack, so no Csound score exists.
A Micro Intro to Macros
“I’m continuing with what I started in the last blog ‘Adding Zak to the Mix.’ As promised, I’m breaking down the zak mixer into its respective modular components, beginning with Csound macros.”
Topics covered:
- Macros
- #define
- #include
More at The Csound Blog. For more information about Csound, please visit cSounds.com.
Patch Jungle
Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles Video
Uploaded to YouTube by ConsolewarsBecks
I’m sort of a nut for anything zombie related. Which is weird since I’m not really into violent/horror films. However, I play a lot of video games. Which, I guess, are loaded with the ultra violence.
One of favorite franchises is Capcom’s Resident Evil series. In particular, I love the Resident Evil 1 remake and Resident Evil 4.
The next title in the series, Umbrella Chronicles, mixes things up a bit, as it is going to be an on-rails shooter that utilizes the wiimote for placing the undead into your cross hairs. More shooting, less adventure. There is plenty of message board outcry over this new format. However, I couldn’t be more pleased for a couple of reasons. One, it’s nice to see older franchises taken into new territory. Two, Resident Evil 5 is in the works, so we’ll still be getting a true sequel.
If you’re interested, you should read IGN.com’s initial hands-on impressions of Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles.
Future Crew – Second Reality
Uploaded to YouTube by stormblast0891.
The PC demo “Second Reality” by Future Crew, one of the most well-known demos ever.1st place at Assembly 1993.
Though today’s tech can easily render similar styled graphics without blinking an eye, Second Reality still holds up after all of these years thanks to Future Crew’s outstanding art direction and hypnotic soundtrack.
Not only is Future Crew responsible for the definitive demo, they also had their hands in developing one of the most historically important pieces of music software, Scream Tracker.
“Scream Tracker supports up to 100 8-bit samples, 32 channels, 100 patterns & 256 order positions. It can also handle up to nine FM-synthesis channels on sound cards using the popular OPL2/3/4 chipsets, and, unusually, can play digital and FM instruments at the same time.” – source @ wikipedia
To this day, it still boggles my mind that this demo ran in real-time on a 386. The music has secured a permanent spot on my ipod.
Adding Zak to the Mix
“It has been too long since the last Csound Blog. This is why I’m personally excited to announce this newest edition, ‘Adding Zak to the Mix.’Today’s topic is how to model a studio mixer in Csound using Robin Whittle’s zak opcodes.[1] I will actually be stretching this subject over an unspecified number of blog entries, as I couldn’t possibly cover every significant nuance in one write-up. What I’m presenting here today is merely an overview, while in the following issues I will break down everything into its respective modular components. Not only will I cover the design of this zak mixer, I will present new ways in which you can organize your orchestras, along with how to unlock the potential of your patches using control instruments.”
Topics covered:
- Zak
- Model of a Studio Mixer
- Macros
- Signal Routing
- Organization
More at The Csound Blog. For more information about Csound, please visit cSounds.com.