Max MSP project – Cornerman

Ongoing construction

This week is all about the construction of my creative space. As this is going on for a week at least, I am not really finding the peace I need to make music. Which is ok, what I am doing is researching studio layouts and acoustics. Which is fun, and acoustics are a world of its own. Maybe this is better suited when I am actually aware of problems in my mixing.

It was fun researching anyway. The layout will be pretty flexible, I am planning a table where I can build setups and use for other creative activities and a fixed workplace where I plan my computer, a controller, sound card and speakers.

There will be a bookcase for all my books, and other items I use for inspiration and studying. And if there is some room left, a couch. We will see.

Max MSP projects, notes and ideas

What I have been is organizing my notes and ideas for Max MSP projects. So far I have only build and expanded a looper project. And making notes on ideas for projects I want to figure out. Learning while doing, as to not get stuck in manuals and books all the time.

I have taken the time to work out some of the concepts into short descriptions of functionality and made lists of the order in which I need to build it. So it makes some sense from the start. The danger with Max MSP is that I start somewhere and end up somewhere which is miles from my original idea. Which in most cases isn’t a bad thing. But whenever I return to a patch to work on it some more, I first need to figure out what I did in the first place.

Working more focussed towards a goal and making sure I document the steps and the patch I will be able to get stuck in every session, without figuring out what is was the patch is supposed to be doing.

Planning for the coming weeks.

The main focus will be finishing and decorating the creative space. After this is all done, I will be able to start and finish projects more easily which I am really looking forward to.

Max MSP a learning journey

As some older followers of this blog know I have been learning Max MSP. Which now has more focus since I can work on projects without sound. I have been looking at various ways to keep it going and not having to stop due to insufficient cognitive energy.

I have been working on a new way of daily planning which involves shorter time frames and more of them, which has some advantages and disadvantages. The biggest advantage is the continuous workflow. The short instances the biggest drawdown.

Max MSP itself for me has a steep learning curve, although the help files and the various books on it are great, I am going to try and fund some one on one teaching to get up to speed. Hopefully this will help.

I have dusted off an old looper project, my first idea for building tracks based on loops recorded from a Eurorack system. It was a pretty big system I had in mind which I now scaled down to make it functional as soon as possible.

Momentum is key now, otherwise I will keep trying to bite off more than I can chew. I will also try and compose and share some stuff from this setup.

The music journey – Making an album (week 27)

Still going, this was a hard week. Most of the time showing up is not that hard. This week however it was. My cognitive state didn’t allow for much activity at all. Most of the time I am good enough to be able to switch between activities.

If reading is a problem, I switch to editing samples, making a patch or just messing about with loops. This week was different. I could not perform any of the tasks I normally do. I did however give it a go a few times. So I managed to read a chapter in this phenomenal book on ~gen in MAX MSP. It’s called Generating Sound & Organizing Time by Graham Wakefield & Gregory Taylor

I probably mentioned it in another post, but it’s recommenced reading. Even if you are not into Max , it’s just good getting an understanding of what this does in terms of musical ideas and seeing things in a different perspective.

It’s about working with the ~gen functionality within MAX and what you can achieve with, and it’s a lot. For me a bit difficult to get my head around but it’s really intriguing. And I will probably have to read it a few times and work with it to fully get to grips with it.

So it was a bit of a frustrating week and not what I had in mind. Eventually that is life as well.

The music journey – Making an album (week 24)

Another week done. Time sure goes pretty fast. Especially when working on fun things. So this week has been all about MAX MSP. Partly due to having problems this week with listening too sound over a longer period of time, and partly because I had it planned.

Besides learning the workings of MAX I got into learning short cuts, basic workflow stuff that’s all over this software. I am more and more seeing the use of memorizing all this in order to gain some speed in my workflow. With my limited cognitive energy it’s vital for me when I able too handle sound I can can get ideas out quickly. And finish them fast as well.

Muscle memory is key in that it skips thinking about were I can find a certain function, it becomes like riding a bike. It’s not the most exciting bit of this journey but a very essential one. Getting to know your equipment and making sure using it becomes second nature.

However learning these things is very straining, which I didn’t really expect. I know I have too get trough this phase of the learning curve in order too speed up the music making proces. To be continued. Onto next week.

The music journey – Making an album (week 19)

This week was all about 1 Eurorack module, the MakeNoise Morphagene. A module based around samples (reels) which you can manipulate and have lots of fun experiments. It was an impuls buy in a way, I had been eyeing the Morphagene for some time and watched numerous YouTube videos, but managed to postpone purchasing it.

Until a moment of weakness arrived and I pushed the buy button. And found a world of sound design possibilities. I started learning this module a number of times, reading the manual & watching tutorials. But never really made a focussed project around it. Which led to me forgetting half or more of what I was learning.

It’s still fun just patching it, and using it and turning the knobs and finding interesting sounds. But I got the feeling I was stuck at the surface of what it can do. Time for taking a project approach. It will be the same as the Album project and the ideas I have for that. Just in a smaller scale and thus more manageable.

The Morphagene project

Goals in the project are, first of all learning to use the morphagene in depth, second goal is developing a Max MSP patch which modulates & sequences the Morphagene, This should result in a 3 track EP. This smaller specific project is an exact replica of my big Album project. But allows me too learn and get results. Without having the big picture in mind, and getting on in that workflow. Adapting and changing the workflow for the Album project as I go along.

Mostly my time was spent reading the manual, and sketching the functionalities of the Max patch. And finding a workable way documenting the project.

There was also some time left for simply patching and having fun with the Morphagene. Make Noise has a great ready to go system based around the Morphagene the Tape & Microsound Music Machine which is also a great way to get into Eurorack. Might be a bit more specific and complicated than your standard 1 oscillator , envelope generator and filter starting point. It has all that functions , but it goes a bit deeper and geared towards working with samples.

The system in itself has the promise of a lifetime of experimentation and sounds design. As soon as I am done with the EP, I will make some of my work available as an Open source project on a GIT. To see what other people do with it.

This was a very productive week, hopefully next week will be as good as this one.

The music journey – Making an album (week 8)

Another week gone by, and this week not much happend in the way of music making. Still have problems with processing sound in my brain. So this week I had to shift my attention back to reading manuals and books on music.

Which is fine but overall progress in my album project is stalled at the moment. As this sort of periods go with the territory of my brain damage I started looking towards ways in which I can write or draw ideas down in a systematic way.

So I can still work on music without the sound. I already write down lots of ideas and draw as well. But my method keeps varying , then when I come back to an idea I can’t always figure things out. So it has to be via some sort of system that works quickly in use and I can recall easily after.

That isn’t as easy as it looks. My second option is working on non sound stuff , in comes Max MSP, which is lot’s of programming without sound necessary and has a systematic way of doing things because of the nature of the program.

I am not yet fluent with Max, but in the period I am currently having , working on Max & the system for writing down ideas is a good alternative to keep going.

The music journey – Making an album (week 2)

Week 2 in the house, time flies when you’re having fun. And fun it is. Week 1 resulted in my project framework for what I want to achieve. For this week my goal was to start building my sample library for my tracks.

Firstly, I want to talk about time management. I don’t have a lot of quality time due to my brain damage , so I can’t be at it for hours on end or listen to a lot of sound for a long period of time. So my schedule is an hour of intense activity at a time.

Which means making actual sounds for sampling , listening to loops etc. Working with sound basically. Learning and reading is easier on my brain so I can do that more often. So it’s preparation , and then making the noise.

Things like building my Max MSP patches, Eurorack ideas and learning both Max MSP and Ableton are at the forefront at the moment. And about 2 hours of sound design and sampling.

Another thing I got to do, is make a moodboard of my influences for the album. Which is fun to do, it has also brought some new angles to the project in ways of getting it all together.

One thing I have noticed is that it’s way more fun to have a goal. I enjoy simply sitting with my gear and making sounds, this really gives it an edge. Being not solely a tool to escape but to really create is something I have never done.

Not all the planned stuff got finished this week, and maybe my initial goal is something I need more time to accomplice , but for now I just keep at it.