About my Jitter SoundScape…. and Goodbyeeee!
Yesterday I just finished work on my submission for the Jitter section of the module. It basically triggers different sounds depending on the movement of light it tracks through a web-cam. Using two red LED bike lights and a pair of gloves I was able to build the perfect tool for operation of the patch!
The patch works through the use of the jit.scissors tool to split the webcam capture into eighteen different matrixes (6 x 3). Then it is a simple case of using jit.3m to collect data about the amount of red light in each segment. Using a simple ‘If’ command, this data can then trigger a ~groove object.
One complication I came across was that the patch was very hard to use as the web-cam display on the screen was not mirrored, so for the user, trying to move a hand into a certain box became nightmarish as the triggers on the right of the user on the screen would be on the left in real life. However, eventually finding the jit.dimmap object sorted this out.
I wanted the patch to trigger both musical and atmospheric sound elements, but still be reasonably intuitive to use. I also included a bit of background ambiance that starts automatically and loops regardless of the lights. I decided to generally group the musical elements to the bottom of the screen, with their location on the x-axis corresponding to their panning position. This makes it easier for the user to hear what they are triggering with their movements by increasing the strength of the link between the two.
I had everything in place with only one more sample to add to the grid. However this was a sample of a car driving from left to right and I wanted to trigger this sound by having the user move their hand from left to right at a similar speed. I created a subpatch called light_glide which allows the computer to track such a movement across the middle of the screen. This is done by having the first sensor box temporarily open a switch allowing signals from the second sensor box through. This signal opens another switch allowing the third sensor box to be analysed and so on. This means only if the four boxes sense red light one after the other in the right order and at at least the right speed the bang will get through, triggering the sample.
I wish I had had more time to explore this more as the patch could have been alot more interesting if I had implemented this kind of feature on every sound! However, it all still works very well together and maybe using this kind of motion sensing too much would have made the patch to confusing to use in the long run. Overall, I’m very happy with the piece and the module as a whole. Now to burn the DVD, see you all next year!
Byeeeeee
