THE EMOTION ORGAN
PROGRAMMING
NOVEMBER -DECEMBER 2006
Software: Max/msp/jitter 4.6
INTENSE WORK!
Piotr Pajchel helps out with programming of The Emotion Organ, teaching me how to put my max patches together, how to tune sensors and use video filters as data smoothers. We have a big problem porting my earlier max patch work to the new macmini intel, but get help form people on the max/msp developers list, amongst others, Oliver Larkin. Trond Lossius helps out too, but we still lack a USB control patch for the Lanbox, so we use my powerbook to send data from the lanbox to the macmini. It's not a perfect solution but it works for the time being.
During the dark hors we try out various video renderings on the propeller.
Here is the system of mapping all the elements of The Emotion organ:
There are 2 images stored in the macmini - a white circel on a black background and a mask of the dame image. Each of the 6 main and 2 sub-sets of Forte groups are asigned a colour on a chromatic scale of red to violet and white. When a Forte group is registered the hue of the circle changes. It takes 1 second to move across the chromatic colour scale to a new hue position, producing different effects.
Forte groups are also asigned a specific aroma. You have to play at least 3 unique tones in an octave to get a positive response. One finger play results in no colour and no aroma. If you play in one group longer than 10 seconds, you get an aroma from the appropriate airbrush gun.
The sound frequency from the filter factory (coming out of the horns and the sub-woofer) slides up and down depending on how many fingers you have on the keyboard.
The size of the projected imagery is controlled by the sound envelope. Different video effects are controlled by the 8 organ stops. Each time you pull out a stop the rotation of the projected circle changes direction. The more stops you have out the faster the projected circle spins.
The main speed of the fan is controlled by the footpump sensors. However, it is easy to get up speed with 8 stops out, and difficult with 1.
The velocity data from the keyboard controls the two light bulbs in the phonograph horns. They flash brightly on high values, and less brightly on low values. The sound envelope creates a smooth brightness effect in the bulbs in the 2 large horns.
There are 2 hidden keys on the keyboard that produce different effects. The to-p most F key causes the filter factory to change mode from an envelope follower to a random follower effect. A misbehaving key causes luminance and sound frequency to be reversed. It creates a deep sound (vibrations in the stool) and a circle with a hole in it!
It is impossible to capture the visual output of the organ, either with still camera or video. The effects are optical illusions that defy frame rate and shutter speed. It is truley live art!
After a couple of week's work new music composer Bjarne Kvinnsland is asked in to test the programming of the Forte group system. He is asked to play in specific groups and see if they correspond with their alotted colour. As neither I nor Piotr are mucians we have no way of finding out if the stored data is correct, so this was a great help. As far as Bjarne was concerned we had got it right!
Other testers were invited to open studio sessions, and as a result, adjustments to programming were made.
It takes a while for people to find out how the organ works. Becuase the Forte groups are qualitive descriptors of chromatic scales most people first play in the most common harmonic range of western classical/pop/rock and folk music that produce a green and blue colour.
I am as yet undecided as to whether the technology in the back of the organ should be left visible or hidden when the organ is presented in public in January. I think that this could vary for different occasions - you can't see the back of the organ from the front, so perhaps it is good to have it open.......