My slides from the SoundHackers Meetup #5 "Controller Crazy!"

1. Leif Bloomquist
Soundhackers Meetup #5 “Controller Crazy”
@ New Adventures In Sound Art
Artscape Wychwood Barns, Toronto, ON
June 26th 2014

2. 1. Introduction
2. SonicWear SoMo as a MIDI Controller
3. LEAP Motion as a MIDI Controller (demo)
4. MIDI Interfaces for the Commodore 64 and VIC-20 (demo)
5. midifire16 MIDI-controlled flame effects controller
6. Organic Evolution: MIDI-Controlled Pipe Organ concerts series
7. MIDIMapperX
8. Contact info
Controller Crazy!

3. • “Classically trained” in clarinet and percussion including several summers at
the International Music Camp in North Dakota, USA
• Have been dabbling with music, composing, and technology since the 1980s
• Moved to Waterloo in 1992 to study Systems Design Engineering
• Moved to Toronto in 1997 and discovered the Ambient Ping, Riot Art and
other experimental music communities
• Occasional “live” gigs as Schema Factor / Interweaver
• Playing with the tech is half the fun!
• In general I release my tools and techniques open-source
• Enable other electronic musicians to build on ideas!
• “Day job” in software engineering at MDA, creators of the Canadarm
Introduction

4. • Some early experiments with Arduino-based
accelerometers and MIDI (NAISA TransX 2013)
• Discovered Loretta Faveri’s SonicWear project at OCADU in
2013
• Exactly what I was looking for!
• Wrote some Arduino code and found some open source
applications to adapt it to a MIDI controller to use in any
audio software
SonicWear SoMo as a MIDI Controller

5. SonicWear SoMo as a MIDI Controller
SonicWear SoMo
Wireless Serial/USB Driver
loopMIDI
(Only needed on Windows)
“Hairless MIDI Bridge”
DAW
(Ableton, FL Studio,
MAX, etc.)

6. • Interactive input device
that tracks hand and
finger positions through
infrared sensors
• Music is a natural fit!
LEAP Motion as a MIDI Controller
• Several music apps in the LEAP “Airspace” store:
GECO, Chordion Conductor, AirHarp, AeroMIDI…
• Chose GECO MIDI, simple and intuitive ($9.99)
• Windows or MacOS

7. LEAP Motion as a MIDI Controller
demo

8. LEAP Motion as a MIDI Controller
LEAP Motion
LEAP Motion Driver
loopMIDI
(Only needed on Windows)
GECO MIDI
DAW
(Ableton, FL Studio,
MAX, etc.)
LEAP MotionVisualizer

9. • I adore my Commodore 64!
• The C64’s longevity has
been in part to its innovative SID
(Sound Interface Device) chip and
its distinctive sound (specs next page)
• SID chip was designed by
Robert "Bob"Yannes, who went on to found Ensoniq
• Highly sought after by DJs and composers
• Subculture of remixing classic game tunes
• “Chiptunes” music generated by classic video games and computers
(Nintendo, GameBoy, Atari, Commodore…)
• There were several MIDI products during the heyday, with more coming
Commodore MIDI Projects

10. • Three separately programmable independent audio oscillators (8 octave range,
approximately 16 - 4000 Hz)
• Four different waveforms per audio oscillator (sawtooth, triangle, pulse, noise)
• One multi mode filter featuring low-pass, high-pass and band-pass outputs with 6 dB/oct
(bandpass) or 12 dB/octave (lowpass/highpass) rolloff. The different filter-modes are
sometimes combined to produce additional timbres, for instance a notch-reject filter.
• Three attack/decay/sustain/release (ADSR) volume controls, one for each audio oscillator.
• Three ring modulators.
• Oscillator sync for each audio oscillator.
• Two 8-bit A/D converters (typically used for game control paddles, but later also used for a
mouse)
• External audio input (for sound mixing with external signal sources)
• Random number/modulation generator
MOSTechnology 6581 SID Specifications

11. • “MIDI SID Software Integrated Applications and Hardware” released in 2006
• Based on the previously released Prophet64 cartridge (no MIDI)
• Sequencer
• Mono Synthesizer (TB-303 style sequencer)
• Bassline (TB-303 style sound)
• Drummer (TR-909 style interface)
• MIDI Input
(I have no involvement in this, just a satisfied customer. www.prophet64.com )
Commodore MIDI Projects – MSSIAH 64

12. • Brand new MIDI cartridge for the Commodore 64 coming August 2014
• Includes:
• Synthesizer software Pro 16 by Steinberg
• MIDI version of Cynthcart synthesizer
• SID-WizardTracker
• Much more
(I have no involvement in this either, I just think it’s super cool and supported the
successful StartNext campaign: www.startnext.de/en/kerberos )
Commodore MIDI Projects - Kerberos

13. Commodore MIDI Projects -VICMIDI
• The Commodore 64 is well served by MIDI interfaces, but what about its
predecessor, the VIC-20?
• VIC-20 has its own distinctive sound
• Three pulse waveform channels and one
“noise” channel
• Create some incredible drones and beating
frequencies
• 15 new waveforms were discovered by
“viznut” (Finland) in 2003

14. Commodore MIDI Projects -VICMIDI
• No commercial MIDI interfaces were ever made
• “Electronics,The Maplin Magazine” published schematics
and some simple code for MIDI back in the 1980s
• Francois Leveille and David Viens (Montreal) built a
prototype several years ago, which I took over
• Code updated to be a full-featured MIDI implementation
• Hardware design was picked up by Jim Brain of
Retro Innovations (2nd Prototype shown)
• Gearing up for a small production run “soon”
Updates: www.go4retro.com

15. Commodore MIDI Projects -VICMIDI
demo

16. Organic Evolution
• St. Andrew’s Latvian Lutheran Church in downtown Toronto (College/Jarvis)
• Casavant Frères pipe organ built in late 1800s
• Refurbished/upgraded a few years ago by Classic Organ Works (Markham)
• These upgrades included MIDI control of the organ!
• Concert series demonstrating the technical and artistic possibilities 2007-
www.organicevolution.net

17. midifire16

18. • Solid-State Relay board for controlling Flame Effects
• Hardware designed by Seth Hardy of Site 3 Fire Arts /
Propane and Electrons
• Controlled through MIDI – 16 channels
• Note On to turn flames on, Note Off to turn flames off
• Safety features: Separate power, triggers, timeouts
• Arduino compatible
• Open Source: Board designs and code on GitHub
• Live tests this summer!
• “What could possibly go wrong?”
midifire16

19. MIDIMapperX

20. • VST (Virtual Synth Technology)
• Use with any Digital Audio Workstation
• Allows you to specify and “map” custom MIDI messages
• Convert Note On/Note Off or CC messages to any other
MIDI message (even SysEx!)
• Great for controlling custom hardware
• Currently Windows-only, but working with VST Library
developer for MacOS/Linux port (built on .NET/Mono)
• Open Source [MIT License], code on GitHub
www.schemafactor.com/midimapperx/
MIDIMapperX

21. • www.schemafactor.com (music)
• www.jammingsignal.com (blog)
• www.facebook.com/SchemaFactor
• @schemafactor
• leif@schemafactor.com
Looking for opportunities to collaborate!
Contact Info