Ableton live is a Digital Audio Workstation(DAW) that allows the creation and live playback of music. It is a very versatile DAW that allows its users to customise almost all of its features, this software even has a development community that create new plugins or accessories for this DAW using MaxMSP. Additionally, this software is very malleable when it comes to hardware. Due to Ableton being a live performance tool, it is universally accepting of most hardwares that are plugged into it. I hope to use this versatility with hardware when it comes to creating and developing my own project.

https://www.ableton.com/en/

This example of repurposing older technology goes to show that everything can be recycled. This video shows a series of floppy disks being used to create music. They are all externally hooked up to a computers processor and have been programmed to move/ make a sound in time, to create music.

This piece of tiny tech is an Arduino, a microprocessor designed to handle a series of simple inputs and outputs. This Arduino board has countless functions thanks to its open source nature and simple user interface. Many everyday objects use Arduino or its descendants, because they are small, compact and easy to programme, with some simple C++ commands. I believe that this small piece of hardware would be invaluable in the creation of my project, however i plan to use its smaller descendant, the Teensy.

https://www.arduino.cc/

My next piece of software that has a lot of potential and could be relevant to my own project is MaxMSP. This software is an object oriented programming language, based off of C++. This program allows a huge amount of flexibility when it comes to using a custom built external microprocessor with multiple MiDi/Analogue control sensors attached.

I believe that this piece of software will be vital in creating my project, as it will allow me to programme my sensors with MiDi and Analogue controls.

https://cycling74.com/

This multi-sensor breadboard setup was created to show that the Teensy can also control analogue data signals. I rigged up a simple sine wave generator and mapped the sensors to two different values that control the pitch and loudness of the note.

https://connectglosac-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/s1710897_glos_ac_uk/EebYsgJpPh1IvfpkuUev6UMB7DGFAbIAQVGnQejWfVzXcA?e=jnacfn

This experiment was to manipulate MiDi CC data to control Ableton Live. In this video i have rigged up a light sensor and a potentiometer to my breadboard and am using them in tandem. I have one controller set up to control the bpm and the other to control the pitch if the sounds played. This experiment shows how simple it would be to set up a large array of sensors to control a multitude of functions within a DaW.

https://connectglosac-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/s1710897_glos_ac_uk/EZh9R_0oC1dFuEx-R_NR3g8BawnQI-FtlA5-bHNjm8cSPA?e=K0Fbp9

This task is my first look at using Max. I connected a few simple objects together to see what i could make. I placed a random number generator above a sine wave generator to produce a random wave every time i pressed the button to trigger the random number selector. I also added a slider bar to control the parameters of the random number selector.

https://connectglosac-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/s1710897_glos_ac_uk/EbtQfY31PktLkmWli1l_S0oBtLRF9slUYQeRVbvyOYlIrg?e=9GuJgs

A creative and relevant use of a passive infrared sensor to detect changes in temperature, allow the control of a simple trigger in this simple music playing breadboard setup. This setup will be useful for me to appropriate into my project proposal of a MIDI controller. This simple combination of a passive infrared sensor and a breadboard setup, will allow a trigger to play a sound or jingle whenever it is triggered. A simple yet efficient setup.

https://www.hackster.io/make-photons-great-again/motion-activated-music-player-ad8878

I have found a creative use for musical instruments within a game that i find completely ingenious. The game animal crossing for the Nintendo switch has some simple in game instruments, that only play a few select notes.

This experiment with using the existing hardware of animal crossing with the use of and existing DAW for some small pitch and note changes, the creator of this piece has shown that a small amout of effort and collaboration can create a master piece.

My first research will be about a simple use of pressure sensors. The fun theory, supported by Volkswagen, created a set of stairs that play a musical note with each step. First created in Sweden, to try and promote health and fitness, by combining it with some musical fun.

I feel like this is an interesting use of pressure sensors, that i could adapt to my own benefit. By using this kind of sensor to control the velocity of a note within a midi controller.