Re: [microsound] director xtras

[Garry Kling <kling007@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

on 17/01/2002 09:32 AM, Christopher Sorg at csorg@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> Another idea is to use dynamic variables in Flash.  I'm not very
> knowledgeable (yet) with outputting files in Max/MSP, but
> I bet you could write a text file out that Flash could check for variable
> changes.  You could do this in Director, too.  This would be probably be
> less effective (read: slower) than a dynamic link over the network between
> Max and Director, so why not embed the Flash file in Director and let it
> do all the work.
> 
> I'm not really into the MIDI solution for two reasons, (1) you can only
> pass MIDI data and (2) you have to purchase an Xtra.  The TCP/IP
> operations are built in to both pieces of software.
> 
> I'll try this out soon and post when I've done something with
> it.

These are some solutions for what you want to do. Let me say again what the
xtra I am developing is. It is for sending Open Sound Control messages from
Director. If you want a complete blow by blow of OSC, go here:

http://cnmat.CNMAT.Berkeley.EDU/OSC/

There is a list of Apps that have Open Sound Control support. That means you
can send OSC messages with my xtra to these applications. I'm currently
testing it with Supercollider, and I'll end up also testing it with Max
since a lot of people seem to use it, just to make sure. OSC messages allow
you to send more information than MIDI via the internet. Right now, my xtra
supports ints, floats, strings, and array. What you do, for example in
Supercollider is you write some code and give it an OSC address, say
"/pitch". You can make it take any arguments you like, say three ints for a
chord. So the message would look like this "/pitch 500 600 750". Whatever
you do with the numbers is obviously up to you. You could just make an
address that triggers the next section of the piece, or whatever. But it
gives you much more flexibility than just MIDI, so I think OSC is cool.

I developed this xtra with my profs here at UCSB, George Legrady and Stephen
Travis Pope, and a student, Andreas Schlegel. We're making an installation
that we'll do at the San Fran Museum of Modern Art in February in some lobby
area before the Sensorband concert as a part of the Activating the Medium
Festival. We're doing some camera tracking which will govern some video
stuff, and through the xtra (OSCar) be controlling Supercollider.

In any case, I will be posting the xtra someplace in a few days. I'm in the
final debugging stage on a Beta version. Please note that as of yet, it will
only send OUT of Director, not in. And it isn't suitable for Net-borne
projectors, since somebody could easily use it for some unsavory stuff.
Anyway, I will send a final (and shorter) announcement when it is out there.
People who want info can email me at: kling007@xxxxxxxxxxxxx .

I hope it might be useful to somebody...

Best,

Garry Kling