3/22/23
Music 356 Final Project:
Parameters:
-55 inputs (3 from iPhone accelerometer using MotionSender (iOS) and 52 from PoseOSC from VisionOSC). It's important to note the first 4 inputs are not used as they relate to the specs of the camera and the number of poses (see VisionOSC git).
-5 outputs (Granular synthesis of Samauri Champloo controlling grain position, length, play rate, gain, and tempo)
-Connected with Wekinator combining both inputs together
How the diagram works
Each of the keypoints were used in different ways based on the 5 parameters. The following controls change different aspects of the features used in granular synthesis:
1)Grain Play Rate - Keypoints 0-4 : Tilt head to the left to increase playback rate, tilt head to right decreasae playback rate
2)Grain Position - Keypoints 5,6,11,12 : Moving body to the Left increases grain position, moving body to the Right decreases grain position
3)Grain Length- Keypoints 5-10 : Move hands and arms closer together to decrease the grain length, spread out hands and arms to increase grain length
4)Gain- All inputs : Lift arms and body to the sky to increase gain, drop to the ground to decrease gain
5)Tempo - Keypoints 13-16 : lean to the the left to increase tempo, lean to the right to decrease tempo
Reflection:
Oooooo I wish I had so much more time to work on this final project. It has always been one of my goals at CCRMA to create an instrument or piece that embodies body percussion and dance. I experimented with the idea in multiple classes, but never quite found a great fit/ medium that flowed the way I wanted it to. However, Wekinator really opened up a lot more possibilities for me. I had always imagined creating music through movement, almost as if manifesting percussion or even melodies out of thin air. Whether this was gesturing or tightly choregraphing dance moves, I’ve always wanted to explore sonic spaces in a very physical sense of moving around in my environment. In dance, this idea is typically the other way around. The music usually determines movement and naturally shifts your tendencies toward rhythm, tempo, or even phrases within the melody. However, maybe there is a way to have more interaction between the movement and music that is being played. That is where Wekinator comes in. In essence, Wekinator allowed me to seamlessly build an instrument that began to let me flow between music creation and movement that both were dependent one another. This constant feedback allowed me to explore music creation and motion more abstractly, but also leave room to create beats with my body. Granular synthesis felt like a good fit for this as I imagines the grain as this fluid point in time with the ability to expand and shift. I also really enjoyed the idea that the music that is chosen can greatly impact how this Wekinator tool is interacted with. In conclusion, my project BodyWek helped me go with the flow and invest my full self in the process. Maybe this is what they meant by being in the flow of things.
Acknowledgements: I would like to thank Ge, Alex, and Nick for helping me figure out how to combine multiple OSC messages especially from iOS. I also would like acknowledge the creaters of Vision OSC Lingdong Huang and Nicolas Sauzede and Rebecca Fiebrink for Wekinator.