September 2009
1 post
smule releases an auto-tune app - looking forward... →
August 2009
1 post
March 2009
5 posts
Stanford iPhone orchestra
Check this out. Much better than the MGMT cover.
Pretty Amazing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADEHmkL3HBg
Beat Blocks
A low tech approach for generative music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jug3iYAuJes
iPhones as Instruments →
This is exactly what we’re looking for…
Dr. Robert Moog, inventor, on keyboard...
excerpted from music theory for dummies
I think sound generation is a mature technology.
Between analog and digital technology, you can
make just about any sound you can imagine
cheaply and easily. What we don’t have cheap
and easily yet are really good, new player interfaces
— we’re still working with the same old
electronic organ principle. The same keyboards
that were put into...
February 2009
33 posts
let's can the canned feedback
in my music seminar now, listening to people who really know what they’re doing critique each other’s work. (big contrast to me; i’m an amateur at music)
the conversation is just too lively and varied for canned feedback to work. you’d need 100s of items making the feature useless.
maybe the better goal is to inspire conversation, not direct it.
Tangible Interaction
During the design review, one person mentioned that we should not limit ourselves to teaching music theory/music composition in the traditional way (reading sheet music, circle of fifths, scales, time signature, etc…) on the iPhone. Instead, we should exploit this opportunity to design GroupLoops to develop something novel: our own way of teaching and interacting with music.
I was really...
up/down, left/right, shake
Have some new thoughts, need a place to put them…
- Would be interesting to 8 notes visible at a time.
- It sucks when you want to play a note with a slightly higher or lower pitch than whatever’s on screen. (Simpsons theme, I’m thinking about you)
- Flick up/down to move hrough octaves. Then customize each individual note by flicking left/right. Have three C notes on...
Design Review Audio
I have the audio. I tried to email it to everyone, but I spelled a couple of emails wrong. It takes a while to upload the files to email, so I’ll give it to you on Thursday when we meet. Also, I tried to post it on here, but I kept getting error messages.
df
ReacTable
Check out this interactive table designed and developed in Barcelona, Spain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vm_FzLya8y4
http://mtg.upf.edu/reactable/
Ideas from Interview Discussion
Screen Sharing - learn from watching others
Pubic / Private - Sharing compositions on individual terms
Canned Feedback - Predetermined responses for critiques that encourage openness
Hum to Compose - Translate microphone pitch to MIDI
Interactive Walkthrough - Do tasks to learn software
Capture Context - location, image, people, time of day, etc.
Another great email Interview
Investigation by David Fienup
Introductory Questions
How old are you? 43
M or F? M
How would you characterize you education level? Graduate Student
Do you own an iPhone / iPod Touch? Yes
If so, have you purchased any Apps from the App Store? Yes
Have you used any Music playing apps on the iPhone / iPod? Yes
Do you play any instruments (physical, virtual, computer-based)? Yes, Yes, Yes
...
Another Interview
Today I interviewed Mary Siciliano while she babysat her granddaughter. I recorded the interview and took notes afterward. I found this to be a good method. It kept the interview short, and the conversation rolling and more personal.
Very interesting Email Interview
Myself and the gentleman who gave me the responses below couldn’t find a time to meet so he emailed the answers back. Interesting stuff. He’s a VERY interesting professor. I didn’t feel it was good to use his name in the blog for confidentiality.
How old are you? 50ish
M or F?mostly M
How would you characterize you education level? Doctorate with Masters degrees from...
DrumSteps
DrumSteps: A great (free) tool for kids and adults to teach drum patterns and musical timing.
-Jacek
Interview
Just to let you guys know (this doesn’t need to be put into the main blogging) - I’ve emailed Steven Rush, Alvin Hill, Andrew Bishop, Mary Siciliano, and Matthew Fienup for interviews.
Steve Rush - UofM professor, musician, collaborator
Alvin Hill - Media Arts Student, musician, collaborator, teaches at the Neutral Zone
Andrew Bishop - UofM/Albion College professor, musician,...
January 2009
10 posts
Jam Meeting Thoughts
Here are some thoughts from working with the track in FL Studio with the team today.
-There should be a secondary task that you can perform while you wait for a team member to finish making an addition to the song you are working on.
-“Figure out the key that I’m playing in, or suggest one I can use” button in the music application
-Rely on headphones to “isolate”...
iTouch Design Impediments
One of my co-workers was using my iPod Touch to play around with a drump pad application that I showed him.
He was making some interesting beats, but had difficulty creating some complex patterns due to the rounded back panel of the iTouch. The device kept lifting off the table surface on which it was set on. It also kept on sliding around the table.
Solution 1: I placed a mousepad upside down...
Different Levels of Interactivity
I have been noticing different levels of interactivity with various iPod Touch music applications. Here is a very interesting app:
Balls - Balls fall based on gravity, depending on which way you hold the iPod. When balls hit each other or the edge of the screen they create a sound. User cannot choose sounds, but can make the balls move faster or slower, and can “throw” them in...
Interesting iTouch Music App Design Ideas
Surface DJ - Interesting way of conceptualizing musical loops as tangible/dragable “pebbles”
Tap Me! - A good example of a recording system for a drum pad
__
-Jacek
Another Annoyance of Landscape Mode
The thing that always annoys me when using the iPhone in Landscape Mode, especially when I’m playing games, is that while attempting to hold the phone I inevitably cover the speaker. Because the iPhone only pumps sound out of one speaker, the sound is severely dampened almost to the point that you think something is wrong with your phone.
You can imagine how covering the speaker while...
Thoughts on Free iPhone Music apps
Last week I was loaned an iPod Touch for the semester. (thanks GROCS) I’ve endured a rough seven days in the name of research, downloading about 20 free music apps, to get a better understanding of iPhone interface patterns and the design of existing music apps. So far I’ve only tried free music apps, but will shell out some cash over the semester to try out what I assume is the good...
