Mapping and Visualization with SuperCollider

Marinos Koutsomichalis

• Publisher: Packt Publishing
• Year: 2013
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781783289677
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Data Visualisation
• Index: Computer Science

In Detail

SuperCollider is an environment and programming language used by musicians, scientists, and artists who work with audio-files SuperCollider has built-in graphical features which are used in conjunction with the sound synthesis server to create audio-visual mapping and sound visualization. If you wish to create data visualizations by acquiring data from audio and visual sources, then this book is for you.

Digital sound artists need to analyze, manipulate, map, and visualize data when working on a scientific or an artistic project. As an artist, this book, by means of its numerous code examples will provide you with the necessary knowledge of SuperCollider's practical applications, so that you can extract meaningful information from audio-files and master its visualization techniques. This book will help you to prototype and implement sophisticated visualizers, sonifiers, and complex mappings of your data.

This book takes a closer look at SuperCollider features such as plotting and metering functionality to dispel the mysterious aura surrounding the more advanced mappings and animation strategies. This book also takes you through a number of examples that help you to create intelligent mapping and visualization systems. Throughout the course of the book, you will synthesize and optimize waveforms and spectra for scoping as well as extract information from an audio signal. The later sections of the book focus on advanced topics such as emulating physical forces, designing kinematic structures, and using neural networks to enable you to develop a visualization that has a natural motion with structures that respect anatomy and which come with an intelligent encoding mechanism. This book will teach you everything you need to work with intelligent audio-visual systems to extract and visualize audio-visual data.

Approach

This book is a standard guide with numerous code examples of practical applications. It will help you advance your skills in creating sophisticated visualizations while working with audio-visual systems.

Who this book is for

This book is ideal for digital artists and sound artists who are familiar with SuperCollider and who wish to expand their technical and practical knowledge of mapping and visualization. It is assumed that you already have some experience with the SuperCollider programming language and are familiar with the fundamental audio synthesis techniques.

Mapping and Visualization with SuperCollider

---

Table of Contents

Mapping and Visualization with SuperCollider

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewers

www.PacktPub.com

Support files, eBooks, discount offers and more

Why Subscribe?

Free Access for Packt account holders

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Downloading the example code

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. Scoping, Plotting, and Metering

Plotting audio, numerical datasets, and functions

Using plot and plot graph

Using plotter

Using SoundFileView

Scoping signals

Scoping waveforms

Scoping spectra

Metering levels

Monitoring signals

Monitoring numerical data

Nonstandard and complex visualizers

Nonstandard visualizers

A complex scope

Summary

2. Waveform Synthesis

Waveform synthesis fundamentals

Time domain representation

Waveform species

DC, amplitude, frequency, and phase

Custom waveform generators

Wavetable lookup synthesis

Using envelopes as wavetables

Custom aperiodic waveform generators

Waveform transformations

Waveshaping

Unary operations

Binary operations

Bitwise operations

Summary

3. Synthesizing Spectra

Introducing the frequency domain

Spectra

Fast Fourier Transform in SuperCollider

Creating and manipulating spectra

Aggregating and enriching spectra

Sculpting and freezing spectra

Shifting, stretching, and scrambling spectra

Using the pvcalc method

Visualizing spectra

Limitations of spectral scoping

Optimizing spectra for scoping

Summary

4. Vector Graphics

Learning the vector graphics fundamentals

Drawing primitive shapes and loading images

Complex shapes and graphics state

Introducing colors, transparency, and gradients

Abstractions and models

Objects and prototypes

Factories

Geometrical transformations, matrices, and trailing effects

Complex structures

Particle systems

Fractals

Summary

5. Animation

Fundamentals of motion

Motion species

Using UserView

Animating complex shapes and sprites

Fundamental animation techniques

Trailing effects

Interaction and event-driven programming

Particle systems

Advanced concepts

Animating fractals

Adding dynamics to simulate physical forces

Kinematics

Summary

6. Data Acquisition and Mapping

Data acquisition

Dealing with local files

Accessing data remotely

Using OSC

Using MIDI

Using Serial Port

Machine listening

Tracking amplitude and loudness

Tracking frequency

Timbre analysis and feature detection

Onset detection and rhythmical analysis

Basic mappings

Preparing and preprocessing data on the client side

Preparing and preprocessing data on theserver side

Basic encodings and interpolation schemes

Sharing and distributing data

Summary

7. Advanced Visualizers

Audio visualizers

Trailing waveforms

Spectrogram

Music visualizers

Rotating windmills

Kinematic patterns

Visualizing and sonifying data

Particles and grains

Fractalizer

Summary

8. Intelligent Encodings and Automata

Analyzing data

Statistical analyses and metadata

Probabilities and histograms

Dealing with textual datasets

Advanced mappings

Complex and intelligent encodings

Neural networks

Automata

Cellular automata

Game of Life

Summary

9. Design Patterns and Methodologies

Blackboard

Methodology

Model-View-Controller

Handling multiple files and environments

Threads, semaphores, and guards

The View

Clients and interfaces

Implementation

Strategies and policies

The Model

Aggregates and wrappers

Software agents

Introducing software actors and finalizing the model

The Controller

Game of Life

Finalizing the Controller

Summary

Index

Mapping and Visualization with SuperCollider

Copyright © 2013 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the authors, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: November 2013

Production Reference: 1191113

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Livery Place

35 Livery Street

Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78328-967-7

www.packtpub.com

Cover Image by Aniket Sawant (<[email protected]>)

Credits

Author

Marinos Koutsomichalis

Reviewers

João Martinho Moura

Joshua Parmenter

Phil Thomson

Acquisition Editor

Vinay Argekar

Commissioning Editor

Poonam Jain

Technical Editors

Kunal Anil Gaikwad

Iram Malik

Shruti Rawool

Copy Editors

Roshni Banerjee

Gladson Monteiro

Deepa Nambiar

Karuna Narayanan

Shambhavi Pai

Project Coordinator

Joel Goveya

Proofreaders

Mario Cecere

Stephen Copestake

Indexer

Monica Ajmera Mehta

Graphics

Ronak Dhruv

Abhinash Sahu

Production Coordinator

Pooja Chiplunkar

Cover Work

Pooja Chiplunkar

About the Author

Marinos Koutsomichalis (Athens, 1981) is an artist and scholar working with sound and a wide range of other media. His artistic work interrogates the specifics of site, perception, technology, and material. His academic interests include computer programming, generative art, new aesthetics, and environmental sound and noise. He has widely performed, exhibited, and lectured internationally and has held residencies in miscellaneous research centers and institutions. He has an MA by research in composition with digital media by the University of York and, as of writing, he is a candidate PhD in Music, Sound, and Media Art at the De Montfort University. He is in the board of the Contemporary Music Research Center (KSYME-CMRC) and also the director of its class of Electronic Music and Sound Synthesis. As of writing, he is a research fellow in the University of Turin.

I would like to thank Packt Publishing for offering me the amazing opportunity to write this book, and in particular Shreerang Deshpande, Joel Goveya, Poonam Jain, Kunal Anil Gaikwad, Iram Malik, and Shruti Rawool for guiding me through the complexities of such a task. I would also like to thank the reviewers of this title, namely Josh Parmenter, João Martinho Moura, and Phil Thomson, for their invaluable comments and suggestions. I would also like to thank my parents, Anna and Georgios, as well as my sister, Danai, for their long term understanding and support. Part of this book was written in Milatos, North Crete, while being accommodated by my partner's parents, Maria and Michalis, who deserve a special mention for making me feel comfortable during my stay there. Last but not least, I would like to express my profound gratitude towards my partner, Phaedra Logariastaki, for her unconditional support and for spending the whole of her summer vacations watching me sitting in front of a laptop instead of being with her. Without the support of all these people, this book would have been impossible to finish.

About the Reviewers

João Martinho Moura is a researcher and media artist born in Portugal. His interests lie in digital art, intelligent interfaces, digital music, and computational aesthetics. He was invited as a professor at the Master Program in Technology and Digital Arts at the University of Minho, Portugal, teaching Programming for Digital Arts.

In 2013, he received the National Multimedia Award-Art & Culture from the APMP Multimedia Association in Portugal.

He has presented his work and research in a variety of conferences related to arts and technology, including:

• The International Festival for the Post-Digital Creation Culture OFFF (2008)
• World Congress on Communication and Arts (2010)
• SHiFT—Social and Human Ideas for Technology (2009)
• International Symposium on Computational Aesthetics in Graphics, Visualization, and Imaging CAe (2008)
• ARTECH (2008)
• ARTECH (2010)
• Computer Interaction (2009)
• ZON Digital Games (2007)
• International Creative Arts Fair (2008)
• ZON Multimédia Premium (2008)
• Le Corps Numérique-entre Culturel Saint-Exupéry (2011)
• Semibreve Award (2012)
• TEI International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction (2011)
• Guimarães European Capital of Culture 2012
• Bodycontrolled Series LEAP—Lab for Electronic Arts and Performance Berlin (2012)
• Future Places (2012)
• The Ars Electronica Animation Festival (2012)
• SLSA Conference-Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts (2013), xCoAx—Computation Communicat...

Table of contents

• Mapping and Visualization with SuperCollider