The Hub
| In october 2002 toxi and meekmocha released the macronaut, a music video of sorts, using realtime generated 3d visuals, heavily inspired by toxi's background - (the early days of) the demo scene. Macronaut was a proof of concept of some ideas I wanted to try out to create audio-reactive visuals which are aesthetically interesting, as well as responding well to the audio inputstream used. Possibly the biggest difference to more common approaches, the underlying engine does attempt a beat detection - even if very basic - instead of visualizing the raw audio data, like iTunes does for example. | This extra layer acts as “server” of sorts, providing event data and statistics of a sound fragment to the currently active visual module, which is then free to interpret this data in any possible way. Those generated “beat” events are the primary source of change for the visuals. The audio data itself is (so far) only used as additional, secondary input for creating the visuals. As all of the implemented visuals are making use of 3d so far, i also focussed on “filmic” elements like camera changes and cuts as event receivers. |
Live shows
The engine in its current state has been shown and exhibited at:
- AMODA showcase #27 (05/04)
- Dorkbot Ghent VIII (05/04)
- MediaRuimte Brussels (10/04)
- VJ Culture 08 at ICA London(11/04)
- Soundtoys @ Watershed, Bristol (01/05)
this release ever since the first release on k10k countless nights have been spent to explore some of those initial ideas further and create a modular system for audio-reactive pieces. whilst still a far cry from this ideal, the current public version is IMHO generic enough to qualify as experimental music visualization engine. here's a list of all available modules, some of which are included in the binary version of this release.
- rob dougan fractal (2001)
originally, a screensaver produced for the artist/producer rob dougan this module consists of IFS fractals and particle systems
- the well (2002)
the very 1st macronaut module, produced for the Cybersonica 2002 festival at ICA, London and permanent exhibit at soundtoys.net. for more information, please see the project website.
- macronaut (2002)
the 1st released prototype of the macronaut engine is in itself a collection of 12 smaller modules. originally it came with its own soundtrack, removed for this version. more information on the project website.
- liquids (2003)
10 particles are moved by the energy produced by a new beat trigger and deform a “liquid” plane/heightfield.
- voyage (2003)
generative train journey in a minimalist colour scheme. masts and objects moving in opposite directions create an interesting perspective. the general direction of the track is controlled by lissajous curves.
- audio spine (2003/04)
audio sample data is displayed as melting 3d spine created by using the wave data as lathe source to create the 3d sculpture.
- moiree (2003/04)
48 frequency bands are rendered in an op-art style. beats will trigger changes in various parameters of the algorithm, as well as camera and other scene transforms.
- kaleidoscopes (2004/05)
a infinite sequence of kaleidoscopes in 3d space using twisting triangles.
- chained probabilities (2004)
the sequel to the moiree module and inspired by the dutch constructivism of the 1920/30s, this module describes a fully parametric 3D space which is partially reconfigured whenever there's a “drastic” change in the audio. the louder the input signal the more the space fills up with elements. the resulting blackness inverts the space visually until the signal weakens again. all parameters are linked via probability chains.
- dynamic clusters (2004)
a network of nodes in constant flux. the audio triggers growth or death impulse to control the number of nodes in the net and their movement. beat events also influence the maximum clustering distance. neighbouring nodes with that distance will form links between each other and so create a structure of clusters.
