event
Synth Design Hackathon 2023

xySee

seeing harmonies
MaxMSP
Teensy Microcontroller
prompt
A subtle stirring
category
Performance instrument
category
Performance instrument

Coaches & collaborators

institute
Design Academy Eindhoven
Two lines suggest the existence of another dimension in the music we hear. The lines take shape as they follow the vibrations of guitar strings. One influences another. Together they visualize the relation of harmonies we hear - we feel, but usually can’t see. Does a pleasing visual also sound nice? In this project two guitar players find balance and harmonies between their sounds with the support of a real time visual reacting to their jam. Suddenly this session invites another kind of play and search, as technology allows the participants to alter their audiovisual experience on another level.
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the tech

How does it work?

The soundwaves from two electric guitars come into max msp. The two signals are used to identify the place of a line that is created using jitter. One of the guitar signals determines the x-value, the other the y-value. The signals are also subject to a pitch detection, that recognizes the last played pitch and creates a new sinusoidal wave from those values. In this way, both the raw signal with its harmonies are visible, as well as the relation between the most dominant notes. Different filters and adjustments can be made to both the audio and the visual by turning nobs and switches that communicate with max using a teensy as a midi device.
Open source code
Click here to grab this project's code
MaxMSP
Visual programming language for music and multimedia
Teensy Microcontroller
About the instrument
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