Creative Music Technology: Multimedia Project

Creative Music Technology: Multimedia Project Monday 23 October: Basil Jones Orchestral Hall Second-year QCGU BMus Creative Music Technology students perform 5 original audiovisual compositions with computer-controlled lighting, all using node-based visual programming language Touch Designer (TD). In between each composition, a series of 1minute audio-visual sketches created by students of Multimedia Project 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 are randomised in TD, all content is created using TD. The Future of Futurism Morgan Chippendale and Connor Townson Futurism was an early 20 th century art movement that focused on the dynamism of the machine and the change or restlessness of modern life. Futurism glorified the progress of technology, calling for the complete reform of the world order and destruction of cultural institutions like museums and libraries to move the populus into a more advanced world (White J, 2023. Futurism. Encyclopedia Britannica).

Our work explores the notion of a “Post-Futurist” world, where the worship of technology is fully realised in our bleak world. The Future of Futurism embodies the fallout of futurism through the use of timbre and a disjunct visual style. We believe that if the Futurist Manifesto, by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, took hold of the world, it would play out contrary to how it was envisioned, due to the complete destruction of all cultural heritage and the proclivities of the human condition. This bleak world is demonstrated in three interconnected sections within The Future of Futurism.

The first section paints an impression of the desolation of the old world through the interplay of isolated ambient patches. The eeriness of the sound world presented is complimented by an audio reactive monochrome light tunnel, as it is all that is left: light and darkness. This leads into the second section, which introduces the listener to the rapid rhythms and dark timbres of drum and bass. The angst created in this section represents the remainder of humanity: anxious for what is to come from this new world.

The final section combines the bleakness of the ambient patches with the anxious rhythms from the second section to reach the climax of the piece. The Future of Futurism encapsulates the possible devastation that the adoption of Futurism into the prevailing society could have caused through the manipulation of sound world and the accompanying visual matter.

Look Within Joseph Cross & Josh Crawford Musical Elements: The music bounces between two sections — the consistent and dance-driven techno pulses, and the floating, legato waves. Throughout the piece, granular elements are implemented to complement the shapes shown on screen. One of the ways this is done is by grain delay on the classical guitar MIDI sound played by Josh live, which manipulates feedback, frequency and other effects to create artefacts. Various sounds are mapped to objects in TouchDesigner, which gives a visual representation, pulling one in to be immersed in the experience. One of these sounds is the loud, swelling synth that plays short chords at points in the techno beat parts. This encourages the waves of colour on screen to move with more urgency. The “scenes” in Ableton are triggered to shift between sections of a comprehensive structure within the music. They influence what environment the TD network is currently occupying, the parameters of this environment, and even the DMX lighting. A minimal approach has been taken musically, to make room for visuals to spice up the performance and draw one’s attention towards the connections between the audio and the screen. The energy of this performance comes from the bass drum consistency, and the additions of percussion, chords, or effects that arrive unexpectedly, pushing the beat forward and creating interest.

Visual Elements: Like the musical elements, the visuals bounce between three sections that complement each with transitioning. The visuals behind ‘Look Within’ are meant to support the drive and energy behind the Techno elements within the music. The visuals will start out simple with a circle that is pulsing to the kick drum. Whilst this is happening the DMX lighting will be responding to the kick drum placing emphasis on the pulse. You can see the effects that swirl around this circle as Joe has utilised noise features within touch designer to help add movement whilst the piece starts to build up in tension. As we start to transition into the granular section within our song we introduce other 2d and 3d shapes which Joe will be expanding the size, amplitude and offset, through his Novation Launchkey as we start to gather momentum from the music. During the transition into the granular section Joe will also switch the DMX lighting to have a fade in aligning with the rectangle pulses that are projected through the second scenes. As we progress further Joe has mapped the DMX lighting to his Novation Launchkey which will allow him to trigger each light individually to expand on the granular feeling. The visual will finally start to return to the original circle which at this point the DMX lighting with be responding once again to the kick drum.

KING OF THE HILL Jack Bolton & Ethan Waller The conceptual framework of ‘KING OF THE HILL’ is to showcase an evolution of dark and expansive sound design coupled with fleeting yet layered visual motifs. Utilising scenebased thinking, the purpose of the piece is to take you on a journey across a variety of sonic and visual palettes. Whilst involving layers of different sounds and textures, the piece aims to maintain a cohesive and minimal composition, with each element going hand in hand with its visual counterpart. Utilising a combination of saturated leads, distorted bass synths, anthemic strings, pianos, choir vocals and punchy drums this piece allows for meaningful and considered contrast and evolution. Switching between lush sounding textures before returning to punchy and gritty tones provides energy whilst maintaining audience attention.

The technical aspects pertaining to the piece includes the utilisation of 2 MacBook’s, one running Touch Designer and one running Ableton Live, and 1 Ableton Push. The purpose of this is for each performer to look after one component. The Touch Designer laptop providing visuals as well as controlling the specifics of the DMX lightning. The second Ableton laptop is playing the entirety of the composition with the Ableton Push device being integrated as well and used to control the processing of certain elements, as well as doubling as a drum machine. The instances of DMX lighting being used relate to the rhythmic and emotiveness of certain instruments/sections, helping to further communicate the emotion and meaning of the sections. Across the entirety of the composition both the consistency and colour of the DMX lightning changes to illustrate the contrast occurring, with the meaning behind the colour change being linked to the underlying thematic motifs of the piece. The instances of Touch Designer based visuals allows for a more illustrated understanding of the conceptual with several notable changes being made to when and what visuals occur. Starting off simply, matching both the colour and tempo of the lights and composition, the visuals grow to change over time to reflect where exactly the journey is taking the audience. The visual symmetry in conjunction with the lights and composition work to fully encapsulate the mind of the audience, providing a fully immersive journey. The utilisation of the Ableton Push Controller allows the piece to incorporate a non-programmed element that furthers the general energy and vibe. The parameters of the push allow for not only latency free finger drumming, it also is an excellent tool for DJ esc effects processing. From the Push everything from being able to dial in filter sweeps, delay, saturation, and compression is at your fingers, allowing for both pre-determined changes as well as any improvisational events I may want to include depending on the point in the performance.

Supernova Ellee Chapman and Liv Gadenne In the realm of music and technology, the boundary-pushing collaboration between Ellee and Liv shines bright in Supernova. This original interactive music performance unites the talents of two visionary artists who have harnessed the power of Ableton Live and TouchDesigner to craft a mesmerizing audio-visual spectacle. Supernova promises to take its audience on a journey through a galaxy of music and visuals, intricately woven together in a dazzling fusion of sight and sound. Ellee will sing throughout the performance whilst triggering various synths and bass on the Ableton Push, whilst Liv controls lights and plays live drum patterns on a Novation LaunchKey. Their synergy will create a seamless connection between sound and vision. In a departure from CMT’s "traditional ambient performance style”, Supernova embraces a pop-inspired composition, distinguishing itself from the norm. The inclusion of lyrics, narrated by Ellee's vocals, will tell a cosmic story throughout the performance. Supernova maintains a core of electronic music, but with a pop-infused structure, it bridges the gap between the two genres. This deliberate choice makes for a dynamic and relatable experience for the audience, ushering them into a fresh realm of music and visuals.

Brought to life through Ellee and Liv's creative prowess with TouchDesigner, their digital canvas will display a mesmerizing galaxy of planets coming to life, swirling and reacting in harmony with the music. This dynamic synchronization between sound and vision adds layers of depth to the composition. Complementing the mesmerizing audio-visuals are the meticulously synchronized lights. The lighting design, carefully crafted to resonate with the rhythm sections of the composition, adds another layer of awe-inspiring visual engagement. While their predominantly purple, blue and pink colour scheme will remain consistent, their shades and intensity will evolve with the music, enveloping the audience in an intergalactic aura that resonates with the theme of the performance. Supernova is an original and innovative interactive music performance that defies the boundaries of conventional music and visual experiences. Ellee and Liv invite you to embark on a multisensory journey where audio and visuals combine to create a breathtaking spectacle. Join them on an extraordinary expedition through sight and sound and be part of an experience that will feel out of this world.

Untitled James Madden, Caitlin Mills, Eden Shepherd BACKGROUND: For our Audio-Visual Concert, we have developed a multimedia project outputting video from Touch Designer and audio from Live. Our project is reminiscent of “walking simulator” video games, as camera movement is freely controlled by a member of the audience, allowing the universe we have created to be traversed in real time for the duration of the project.

AESTHETIC AIMS: Perhaps the most obvious aesthetic parallel for our project is the Playstation game LSD Dream Emulator (1998), as our project also consists of a dreamlike landscape which may be traversed freely. We have additionally drawn inspiration from Testuya Mizuguchi’s work (Rez, Child of Eden) in our use of particle effects and surrealist, retrofuturistic landscapes. Visually the performance will be surrealist, dreamlike, and futuristic yet nostalgic. This will be achieved by incorporating psychedelic visual effects, disparate 3D objects, and free-flowing camera movement into our TouchDesigner project. Compositionally, the piece has been written and produced in the style of folktronica, which is a portmanteau of its genre combination. The song opens with a series of heavily manipulated samples and develops into an ambient bath of acoustic guitar and arpeggiators with an unorthodox 6/8 breakbeat. The influence of glitch music also permeates through the piece as the warping of the percussion transitions distortedly into its latter half. This is built over an ominous and overdriven common-time sample - a second of percussion taken from a 70’s R&B song. This opens up into a guitarled crescendo tinged with post-rock and shoegaze. Its psychedelic soundscapes are intended to pair itself with the PS1-inspired visuals and the surreal source material of Dream Emulator.

TECHNICAL PARAMETERS Audio and video will be outputted from a single 16” Macbook Pro through Ableton Live and Touch Designer respectively. This laptop will be plugged into an audio interface, with James’s electric guitar connected to one of its inputs, then being fed into Live through an audio track. The laptop will also be plugged into an Ableton Push and Launchkey 49, being controlled by Caitlin and Eden respectively. The Push will be used to control Live, whereas the Launchkey will be used for Touch Designer. A wired gaming controller will additionally be connected to the laptop, being used to control TouchDesigner by a member of the audience. This will be brought in by us on the day of performance. Furthermore, Live and TouchDesigner will be connected using TDAbleton, allowing for visual elements to morph according to musical elements.