Sampler•Balls - Audiovisual Processing Portfolio
Sampler Balls is a project that combines elements of music composition, sound design, sampling as well as a fairly "gaming" atmosphere. It suggests an organic, jazzy and electronic feel and at the same time a naive,childish and nostalgic mood.
produced by: Petros Velousis
Sampler•Balls
A zipped file of the main project in GoogleDrive
Sampler Balls is a DSP project, which is visually based on the simple bouncing balls example.
The structure of the project consists of two grids, which divide the screen in 8 equal columns and rows respectively, formed by vertical and horizontal lines. Each grid appears separately on the screen, one at a time, alternating each other. Every grid functions as a sampler piano roll, where recorded audio samples of single instrument notes have been mapped on every row and column, in each instance. The vertical one holds 8 notes of a real music box, while the horizontal contains 8 notes of an electric piano(fender rhodes). On top of the grids, there is a number of different properties balls, that “travel” across the screen, while bouncing against the boundaries endlessly. As they are moving over the vertical and horizontal grids, the balls are triggering the notes of the sampler instruments, resulting in random melodies, harmonies and rhythms.
Moreover, the balls trigger 4 bass samples that correspond to each side of the canvas and while touching the left boundary, the grid instantly switches from vertical to horizontal and from the music box to the electric piano. In order for the grid to change back to its original state, the balls have to touch the top side of the screen. In addition to all, there is also a small static rectangle, located in the middle of the canvas, which has bouncing sides for the balls to trigger its 8 alternating jazzy drum samples. Every ball carries individual and different properties (size, location, velocity and color) resulting in a wider range of musical possibilities. While the balls continue triggering sounds and the viewer listening to new potential combinations, it is given the chance to select between 3 presets, as well as increase and decrease the number of balls, which on top add variation both musically and sonically. The overall sound manipulation include delays, filters, timers, frequency and amplitude modulation with the use of the ofxMaxim addon.
Along with the aforementioned, sonic and visual properties are combined and interchanged to “drive” both the sound and the graphics. The motion and direction of the balls may contribute in controlling the sound, while sonic elements, as the rate of a tremolo effect is adding extra visual qualities on the graphics, like the dynamic control of the balls radii, thus adding an additional sense of synchronicity.
A note for the 4 DSP tasks. Assignment 3&4 contain audio samples.
One zipped file of 4 DSP Tasks in GoogleDrive