Tag Archives: csound

Step and Funny Talk for the OLPC

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I spent my spare time last week developing two audio-based activity prototypes for the OLPC: Step and Funny Talk. The whole process was surprisingly quick and easy. I attribute this to Victor Lazzarini’s Csound Sugar GUI toolkit. I do a lot of Csound programming, but I’ve never actually done any GUI work for it. Using the toolkit was as simple as defining widgets and mapping them in Csound.

Step

OLPC Step Activity

Flickr photo be me

Step is the first activitiy I’m developing for the XO. It’s a straight forward eight note step sequencer with synth notes, snare and kick parts. So far, I’ve probably put in about 8 hours on this. Once a user has a pattern they like, they can render the loop to an audio file, which can then be loaded in other activities. It still needs a lot of work, especially the synth engine. Though you can still take a listen if you would like: StepDemo1.mp3.

Funny Talk

OLPC Funny Talk Activity

Flickr photo be me

This is my favorite of the two, as my inspiration for this activity comes from my childhood memories of the Yamaha VSS-30 keyboard. My friends and I used to spend hours playing with that keyboard. Often in a very juvenile manner. I figured if we had such a great time playing with our voices, then perhaps the target audience of the OLPC will as well. Here is “the sound of my voice” being processed with Funny Talk: FunnyTalkDemo1.mp3.

Csound and the OLPC

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OLPC

Flickr photo by me

Since friday, I’ve been learning the ins and outs of my XO computer. I finally got to a point this morning where I can start writing csound-based activities for it.

Using the csndsugui toolkit, I slapped together a primitive step-sequencer in about five hours. It features: An 8-step pitch slider array, two oscillators for notes, AD envelope for amplitude, tempo control, volume control, 8-step kick row and an 8-step snare row. So while it might not do much at the moment, I can certainly see myself fixing it up to a point where it’ll be a fun musical toy in the near future. I’ll post a pic in a few days, once it shapes up a bit.

SineBox

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The Csound Blog
Issue #12

Today’s blog is on SineBox: a “music box” like instrument that plays itself. Once a user starts SineBox with a single i-event in the score, SineBox creates instances of itself, generating multiple sine tones over time. This may not be the most musical piece of Csound technology ever conceived of. It can, however, be molded to fit a wide range of uses, musical and otherwise.

Topics

  • P-Fields
  • if
  • schedule

More at The Csound Blog. For more information about Csound, please visit cSounds.com.

Musiques Pour Cultes

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Musiques Pour Cultes

I just wanted to announce my latest release, Musiques Pour Cultes, written with composer Severine Baron and realized almost entirely in Csound. Musiques Pour Cultes is a collections of abstract music and soundscapes attempting to establish a connection between music and spirituality, between sound and the physical space that surrounds us.

Musiques Pour Cultes was released on Al’s Records and is available for download on iTunes.

– Jean-Luc Cohen (aka Jean-Luc Sinclair)

You can also listen to Musiques Pour Cultes at MySpace.

I have personally listened to multiple iterations of this piece over the years. Musiques Pour Cultes is full of both rich complexity and subtlety. I highly recommend you to sit in a dark room filled with candles and incense while listening to this beautiful illustration of computer music. It is an experience.

The Infamous mcseq

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The Csound Blog
Issue #11

I want to learn morse code. I don’t know why, I just do. So a few days ago, I made it my new year’s resolution. The first action I took to help me accomplish this goal of mine was writing the Csound instrument Morse Code Sequencer Event Generator, or mcseq for short.

Topics

  • Morse Code
  • Event Generators
  • Sequencers
  • String Parsing

More at The Csound Blog. For more information about Csound, please visit cSounds.com.

cSounds.com Gets a Face Lift

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cSounds.com

Csound is starting off the new year with a bang, as the cSounds.com homepage has just launched a new and much improved design. And who do we have to thank for this?

Thanks to the incredible initiative, talent, dedication and expertise of our brilliant new administrator – Cesare Marilungo, over the next few weeks and months, you will enjoy a new look, a new organization, and *many* new features, resources and developments here at cSounds.com! – Dr. B.

And just in case you are wondering what Csound is…

Csound is a computer music programming language with roots extending all the way back to Max V. Mathews Music-N languages. As far as digitial synthesizers are concerned, Csound is as vintage as they come.