Max/MSP/Jitter :
Critical Tool Use.
Due
1) Download Max/MSP and Jitter from www.cycling74.com
-- you can use these products for 30 days free. You will need an Apple Mac
computer.
Max/MSP is a "graphical data-flow
environment" for the creation of sound and music. Within this paradigm,
algorithms are graphically built, and graphically presented, as a network of
processing boxes between which messages and signals flow. Jitter is a set of
extensions to this environment for manipulating and creating video. Thus,
through using Jitter, these networks or "patches" can connect sound
and video in real time.
2) Locate the Jitter examples and tutorials that come
with the installation.
3) Construct a simple patch, perhaps based on these
tutorials. This patch should take sound in and use it to manipulate video in
some way.
As an example, one might take the signal flowing out
of a microphone box, connect it to a box that finds the amplitude of this sound
and, in turn, connect this to the speed of a quicktime
movie.
4) Write up a short one page discussion of: what kind
of sound / image relationships you are aiming for; and what are the constraints
and pressures placed on you by this software tool and this software paradigm.
For those of you more familiar with these tools this
exercise is a chance to reflect critically on the limitations and forces inherent
in this way of thinking about the sound / image problem; for those who have
never seen such tools, this exercise is an introduction to the software and
ideas that dominate this particular area.
Marc will provide a hands-on introduction, guidance
and several Macs during his office hours -- which will be Tuesday and Wednesday,
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