This post is a short guide to setting up your own static website based on the Hugo framework using GitLab’s free hosting to serve it either on yourwebsite.gitlab.io or a custom domain you own (helioslyons.com) in my case. Not being a web developer, I took advantage of Hugo’s great documentation, as well as GitLab’s generous tier of free build servers and pre-built Docker images with Hugo installed to speed up development. ...
“If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilisation.” Murphy’s Law of Technology #5 Introduction # If you’ve ever used a modern computer, either Windows or MacOS, there’s a good chance you have come across the following message: “Whatever happens, do not pull the plug or reboot this system until the update has been completed”. Ignoring this instruction will, in a lot of cases, turn your device into a brick. ...
Objectives # This post will discuss a solution adopted during group construction of a Eurorack standard modular synthesizer, which allowed for limited simulation and testing of modules despite members being in isolation. Personally, I built a Triple VCA (Voltage Controlled Amplifier) – used for multiplying signals to create interaction between parameters from various modules – and a Digital Control Voltage Sequencer, designed to program melodies using voltages sent over a timestep determined by the Clock Generator. ...
Aims & Overview # This post serves as background and technical explanation for the Interactive Dance Music II system submitted for a final year 40 credit Music Technology module. It will describe the aesthetic and technical ideals researched to build an interactive music system capable of analysing and reproducing sound-motion relationships, and the historical precedent for this practice. It will also delve into the motion capture techniques used to track movement, and the machine learning techniques which correlate separate gestures and physical patterns to the extracted sound features played simultaneously with the recorded movement, taking into account its temporal and acoustic properties and reproducing the learnt patterns via granular synthesis. ...
Objectives # Building on last year’s Max device, Blue Space, I would like to continue exploring technical solutions for electronic music performance. Blue Space provided an easy way to generate a granular backing track / effect for instrumentalists, with a simple set of grain controls. In this new project I would like to use a dancer’s movements to generate music, extending the ‘ease of use’ theme from Blue Space. I find the relationship between music and dancer fascinating because it makes the dancer into an instrument without necessarily introducing to them to the mechanics of how the music is produced. ...
Introduction # The Entropy Cleric is a synthesizer I built in MaxMSP, including standard synth functionality – MIDI input, oscillators, portamento, variable filter, ADSR, LFO, overdrive, delay, presets – as well as a simple note generation system. This project was a very enjoyable way to gain a practical understanding of synth signal flow and individual module functionality, which will be useful for my 3rd year group project – building a analog Eurorack modular synth. ...
Aims & Overview # In performing harp, I have often felt limited by the timbral possibilities presented in modern DAWs without the need for extensive post processing which cannot be performed in a live setting. Given time any number of transformations are possible; time stretching, texture generation, sample rate automation, etc. In my previous harp performances, the audio output was mostly playback from pre-recorded and arranged material with the live harp as a lead instrument, but one overshadowed by the extensive post processing used – and necessary – to create the rest of the material. ...