by Hannah Albrecht -

“ontextC” – Technical Diary 8

What happened so far?

After building a working signal chain with the vb.stretch~ external, I worked on fine-tuning some bugs that I had noticed in the patch, but so far had not been given priority treatment because the signal chain had not been fully functional previously. This included adjusting the filter indexes in the parametric EQ to reflect the features I wanted for my production process (1 – low shelf, high pass, 2 – bell, 3 – bell, 4 – high shelf, low pass), correcting the units and patching in the pitch shift unit to reflect semitone and cent adjustments separately, and implementing a line object on the reverb faders to remove crackling while changing a parameter. Then I started working on the patch in presentation mode to represent only the parts of it which I also wanted accessible during my production process. To do this, I worked with my initial sketch from the first semester, the GUI capabilities within Max and Max4Live for cross referencing the result. I also tried to somewhat make the signal flow (in series) clear through the interface, but it definitely still needs some cleaning up. This necessity was also reflected during my first testing session with a Max4Live export in Ableton Live, but it was good to see that the parameter selection was already working quite well for my production process, as I had hoped. I also managed to set up a simple preset function (but I am hoping to advance that as well with proper dropdown menu presets).

Rudimentary GUI loosely based on my original sketch, using internal Max GUI tools.

Ongoing

Off the basis of this patch, I am starting to plan out the look and feel of the exhibit version, where only one parameter will be adjustable (probably the stretch factor). Considerations for this endeavour are: usability, how playback of the source sound and the processed sound should be triggered, an index number for survey content and a volume adjustment to cater to individual hearing sensitivity.

Results and Reflection

This stage of the process was very exciting! The testing stage made me remember why I had wanted to set out on this process in the first place, and it was very satisfying to hear the first working results playing back through my DAW. Since it was also my first time seriously working on a graphical user interfaces, that came with new challenges and insights, and I look forward to where my GUI research and testing will lead me.  

Objectives for Next Time

  • create mockup for exhibit version
  • figure out an effective play/stop mechanism for alternating between the processed and original sound
  • test GUI and figure out which changes to make in which order (also consider typography, style…)
by Hannah Albrecht -

“ontextC” – Technical Diary 7

What happened so far?

While I managed to get a (very imperfect, but at least audible) signal through my phase vocoder pfft patch, changing the FFT size manually and incrementally while playing the audio was not possible within its framework. I researched options for this, and found that something similar to the block~ object in pure data might help fix this problem, but unfortunately all the equivalents or similar objects I found during my search did not work for this purpose, so I had to look into other options. I briefly considered writing an external, but quickly realized that this would require a whole new toolbox and set of skills, which would not work within the timeframe I had set for myself. But during the time I studied max patches from others I stumbled across a promising option: Volker Böhm’s vb.stretch~, an external which is based on the Paulstretch algorithm and provides the parameters I had wanted to include in my compiled plug-in anyways. I was not entirely sure why I had not stumbled across it earlier during my research, because I had already looked for externals once, but decided to try it out in the context of my patch and came up with sounds results that were so far the most similar to what I was looking (or in this case listening) for.

Exploring the parameter options of the external

Ongoing

With a working patch, now the plan is to fine tune parameters, iron out inconsistencies and get a more refined prototype with a simple GUI working.

Results and Reflection

Honestly, while I was glad to have found a solution with sound results I liked, I initially felt a bit disappointed and discouraged that my intended solution did not work out the way I had wanted it to, since I had already put so many hours into exploring and setting it up. But that is part of an iterative process, and it is a process I have learned a lot from – much more than had I immediately found the external. The current setup allows me to more freely explore and improve other aspects of the patch, and gives me more time to work on usability and actually using and testing the patch in my own productions.

Objectives for Next Time

  • fix EQ inconsistencies and pitch shift units
  • look into and start setting up a (simplified) GUI for testing in the form of a max4live device
  • plan which parameters might be best to explore for the exhibit