Swaying Oak - 7255 Proposal
A few years ago, during my Masterâs studies, I became especially interested in the richness afforded by musical systems that promote dynamic, semi-predictable behaviors. In settings with acoustic instruments, this is often represented by improvisation, aleatoric or chance composition, or extended instrumental techniques. It could also be argued that the very nature of an acoustic instrument satisfies the requirement of a dynamic system â even in the hand of an experienced master, the timbre or resonant response of a cello or clarinet may change in different spaces and climates.
As my Masterâs work was in music technology, these interests lead to an extended investigation of the possibilities of such a system using electronics. The search for this depth, unpredictability, and dynamic behavior in electronic or digital instruments has been the subject of much moderately successful research in the field and continues to present a conundrum for practitioners. My own past efforts towards this goal include the use of audio feedback and erratic mechanical apparati in instrument design, composition, and performance.
Studying at LSU has resulted in two primary new sources of inspiration. The first is that of physical modeling through software â a specialization of our department â to generate both audio and control signals for composition or performance, which presents new opportunities for designing dynamic digital instruments and musical systems. The second is a wildly different sense of place and identity. Before moving to Baton Rouge in my mid 30s, I had only lived in states bordering Lake Michigan, squarely in Midwestern culture and habitat through all of my formative years and well into adulthood. I regret sounding like a naive Yankee, but no amount of previous travelling compares to the day-to-day experience surrounded by Southern â specifically Louisianan â people, places, climate, and custom.
These notions of place and identity can be expressed symbolically â representative images that instantly conjure the community or sensual experience of home. In Wisconsin, it may be gently rolling green hills, basement rec rooms, wood panelled taverns, or the miles of evergreens in the northwoods. In Louisiana, shotgun houses, live oak trees, and crawfish boils fill similar roles. There is nothing like the latter in the former, and vice versa. Even the very basic relationships to wind and water can vary greatly - a Midwesterner fears tornadoes and blizzards and welcomes a spring rain, while a resident of the bayou may never see a snowflake but deals with more than their fair share of water.
This project aims to combine these two primary inspirations and realize a performable dynamic digital audiovisual system using symbolic representation. I will be creating a 3D model of a live oak tree that can be âplayedâ using physically modelled behaviors through a haptic interface.
Past work designing the aforementioned erratic mechanical apparati has been influenced by Swedish artist Zimoun â http://www.zimoun.net. Zimoun designs audiovisual mechanical installation pieces that often create the illusion of a living, organic system through a sense of scale, repetition, and iteration. While his work is almost exclusively mechanical, the same aspects may be realized in the connected and progressively smaller branches of a swaying virtual tree.
Musician and designer John Bowers is a respected regular in the New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME) community. His projects and papers often buck the contemporary research trends of NIME, focusing on minimalism and deconstruction over novelty with an almost punk-rock approach. His 2014 project with Annika Haas â âHybrid Resonant Assemblagesâ â examined the performance possibilities of a feedback-based instrument constructed with miscellaneous materials in real time by the performers â http://www.nime.org/proceedings/2014/nime2014_438.pdf. I hope to mirror the use of non-traditional (virtual) materials to construct an instrument with similarly dynamic behavior.
Preliminary construction of a 3D live oak tree model has already begun using ZBrush. Photos were referenced throughout the process, though simplifications and modifications were made for practical purposes e.g. to preemptively facilitate instrument mapping. Completion and subsequent rigging and animation of the model will follow the schedule of ART4230.
Instrument design will be accomplished through Synth-A-Modeler (physical modelling compiler) and Max.
Jitter (within Max) will likely be used for realtime animation. Preliminary testing animating a 3D model using Jitter was inconclusive. If results are not satisfactory, Unity will be explored as an alternative, with OSC providing communication between the visual (Unity) and audio (Max) components.
An installation that I designed and built last year, the ghostbox, will be re-purposed as a haptic interface for his project. The ghostbox features 4 DC motors with rotary encoders that can be used as force feedback haptic devices.
Early October - finish live oak tree model
Mid October - rig live oak tree model
Late October - finalize realtime animation environment setup
November - sound design and composition, animation improvements
Early December - recording and/or performance of composition
