BN's ITP Blog

With two vive trackers and four speakers, one or two users can control the placement of audio across an “azimuth.”

Demo:

here’s some footage of people’s first experience with the system. after experimenting to figure out how it works, people start playing around.

https://vimeo.com/330636141

System:

Vive > TouchDesigner Open VR node > TD processing & calibration > OSC to Ableton > 2 Ableton Groups > Envelop.

Music: Do it Anyway – Locked Groove (broken into 4 stems, using NI stems + audacity)

Reactions:

• It made people aware of their own body and movement, and they liked that.
• Movement was rewarded with the interaction
• The interaction was limited, it would be cooler to effect more of the sound
• Two trackers per person could be the way to go.

Next Steps:

• hand height controls filter
• create additional ‘gesture that sends a one shot through a ‘multi delay’
• keep working on different tracks to find the right music
• figure out why I can’t get clean ‘elevation’ readings from the tracker
• move ableton to the same computer

For my Thesis, and Sound In Space assignment #2, I am testing how users react when their movements, or how they move with others, impact ‘voices’ in a composition. I’m trying to suss out the proper number of people per voice and the number of voices for my “interactive dance floor.”

Technical setup: Touchdesigner

I created a ‘track control’ component for touchdesigner. The component has a number of options.

• What is the volume level for ‘off’ and on? This allows users to feel their presence impacting the voice when entering the space.
• Does it control a ‘rack’ device? This allows it to control parameters on instruments and effects
  • if so, how many parameters (macros) does it control?
• Does it control clips by switching between them? This allows musical patterns to be changed by the ‘dance amount’

class trackController:
	"""
	trackController description:
	controls one voice in ableton

	in[0] - dance amount
	in[1] - isPresent
	"""
	def __init__(self, ownerComp):
		# The component to which this extension is attached
		self.ownerComp = ownerComp
		
		#does this launch clips?
		self.ClipLauncher = False
		#does this control racks?
		self.RackController = False

		#td ableton track object for volume and clips
		self.Track = op('abletonTrack1')
		
		#clip launcher, initalize it as off
		self.clipControl = op('abletonClipSelector')
		self.clipControl.allowCooking = False

		#rack component for macro control, initalize it as off
		self.rack = op('abletonRack1')
		self.rack.allowCooking = False
		#number of macros
		self.MacroCount = 2
		#store the track id that will be controlled
		self.TrackNumber = 0

		#set the default min/max volumes
		self.minVol = .1
		self.maxVol = .85

		#create a custom menu for controlling this TrackController
		self.MakeMenu()

	def InitRack(self):
		'''
		select the appropriate rack device in ableton
		assumes that its the first device in the chain
		is called every time the TrackID parameter is changed
		'''
		self.rack.par.Device = 1
		self.rack.par.Chain1 = 0
		return
	
	def MakeMenu(self):
		'''
		create custom properties on the comp for controlling the track
		'''
		o = self.ownerComp
		#reset the custom pars
		o.destroyCustomPars() 
		#add page for custom parameters
		p = o.appendCustomPage("Track Options")

		#make par for which track to control
		m = p.appendMenu("Track")[0] 
		#set its menu labels to match the ableton track's labels
		m.menuSource = "op('./abletonTrack1').par.Track"


		#add value for number of macros
		c = p.appendInt("Macrocount")[0] #[0] cuz it returns a tuple
		#set the range of the custom par 'macrocount'
		c.normMax = 8
		c.normMin = 0
		#set the default value
		c.normVal = 1
		#c.clampMax = True
		#c.clampMin = True

		#add value for presence volumes
		v = p.appendFloat("Maxvol")[0];
		v.normVal = self.maxVol
		v = p.appendFloat("Minvol")[0];
		v.normVal = self.minVol
		
		#add toggles to enable/disable clip launcher or rack controller
		p.appendToggle("Rackcontroller")
		p.appendToggle("Clipcontroller")

	def toggleComp(self,comp):
		'''
		turns a component on or off
		returns its latest state
		'''
		c = not (comp.allowCooking)
		comp.allowCooking = c
		print(c)
		return c

	def ToggleRackControl(self):
		'''
		toggles rack component
		'''
		self.RackController  = self.toggleComp(self.rack)

	def ToggleClipControl(self):
		'''
		toggles clip component
		'''
		self.ClipLauncher = self.toggleComp(self.clipControl)

Technical setup: Ableton

In order for a composition in ableton to be controllable. It needs a few things.

• TDAbleton needs a master component on the master track in ableton
• Any track that has rack components must have them encapsulated in a TDInstrument component
• Any clip that is longer than 1/2 a bar and will be switched between needs the ‘Legato’ setting enabled in the clip launching preferences

Composing

Still in progress. Need two more voices, plus considering adding in a drum voice when all voices are fully active to give a reward for collectively moving.

Demo