Coventry University

110EPA- Technological Music Composition

Claudiu-Adrian Blanaru

1

Student: Claudiu-Adrian Blanaru
Module Tutor: Adam Collis
Assignment 2: Collaborative Project
Group Members
Aleksei Krjatsok
Claudiu-Adrian Blanaru
Samuel Whitehouse
Zeph Chan
Reflective Essay Assignment 2- Live Performance with MAX/MSP
INTRODUCTION
Aims and Objectives:
Develop a music performance using Max/MSP software and other hardware
technologies.
Collaborate effectively with members of the team

The second assignment of this module consisted of a collaborative project where
we had to perform live an electronic piece of music with instruments designed in
Max/MSP software.
From the beginning, the main idea was to include in the performance interesting
methods to produce and control the sound, and for me was a very interesting
experience to see the other members giving original and creative ideas that at first
seem to be unrealizable. Yet we decided to stick with ideas that we thought few
colleagues will apply in their performances, so we decided to use a variety of
techniques from sound recording to OSC protocol.
From the Sound Synthesis and Sampling module I learned about the working
principles of a Granular Synthesizer and it seemed like a slightly hard instrument
to do in Max/MSP rather than a simple synth based on different synthesis methods.
Coventry University
110EPA- Technological Music Composition
Claudiu-Adrian Blanaru

2

I researched the Cycling 74 website for information about the structure of a
Granular Synth and I learned lots of new things from this research that helped me
to understand better the functions of some Max/MSP objects such as the [phasor~]
object, [thispoly~] object and many other Max functionalities.
Personal contribution:
My personal contribution to the project was to design the Granular Synthesizer and
to design a mixer interface for TouchOSC application that would control every
parameter of the performance.
TouchOSC is an application that allows the user to design his own layout
containing faders, knobs, encoders, buttons and many more which can be the
routed via Max/MSP to control different parameters.
TouchOSC only needs to be connected to the same network in order to work and
using the [udpreceive] object in the patch, Max can receive its data. The next step
is to separate the messages into individual paths for each different fader, knob or
filter through the [route] object as seen in Fig. 1

Fig. 1
The mixer has 12 channels that allowed me to control the volume of each
instrument during the performance as well as 2 effect channels for delay volume
and reverb of the synth. This custom layout has also a master fader and an On/Off
button that are routed to the master volume fader in Max and 4 push buttons that
set the delay time for the synthesizer.
Coventry University
110EPA- Technological Music Composition
Claudiu-Adrian Blanaru

3

Another interesting feature of our patch is a lowpass filter controlled by the
accelerometer of my Samsung mobile phone. TouchOSC is able to recognize and
send data from the accelerometer to Max. Because the values of the accelerometer
changed really fast the filter parameters changed really fast as well. Having applied
the [listfunnel], [coll] and [metro] objects as shown in the Fig. 2 to smooth the
accelerometer output values the filter run smoother and performed better.
Fig. 2
The granular synthesizer has 4 parameters that can be controlled via TouchOSC:
Size of the grains, Pitch, Offset and Range as seen in Fig. 3





Coventry University
110EPA- Technological Music Composition
Claudiu-Adrian Blanaru

4

In the making of the Granular Synthesizer I used as resurce the Cycling 74
website and Youtube. The synthesizer consists of two main parts or two engines.
The two engines uses a principal [buffer~] object and 2 [play~] objects. The first
engine uses a [phasor~] connected to the [play~] object. To it, you will find a
[sah~] (sample and hold) object. Everything is then multiplied by a sub-patch
which contains a [cycle~] object that smoothes the steep ramp of the phasor. This
has the role to prevent the clicks that can appear in the playback of the sample
when it loops. The second engine of the granular synthesizer is almost made of the
same objects as the first one the only difference being that the phasor has an offset
of 0.5 in order to overlap the first [play~] object to create a denser sound.
See Granular Synthesizer screenshot attached at the end.

Personal Experience:
For me the most relevant aspect of this project arose from the opportunity of
working with other people and having a satisfactory result with the performance as
I felt like everybody participated with ideas and work throughout the whole period,
although sometimes I had the feeling other members could communicate more and
be involved more in the making of the patches.
We had meetings in which we worked on the patches and do the research for our
ideas. Personally I had a great experience making my patch and using it in the
performance. I strongly believe each member has learned a lot more through this
project and especially we improved our skills in Max/MSP by imagining and
making our own instruments.
Collaborative Experience and Evaluation:
The project required the involvement of every team member equally in each step
of the development process of our work but this did not necessarily happen as
more communication was required.
After the performance the reflective thinking started to kick in, and we detected
problems that we had not realized before.
Coventry University
110EPA- Technological Music Composition
Claudiu-Adrian Blanaru

5

Due to some technical problems we had on the day of the actual performance we
could not do anything but only to be rushed to come up with an idea that would
save us from postponing but nothing sparked in our minds. The second time it went
smoother but I admit that our performance was under my expectations. Due to the
lack of practice we did not have a solid structure for the music piece and we had
not every instrument performed as we expected. Also due to the lack of time we
did not adjusted the levels prior to the performance and we believe drum samples
and especially the guitar could have sounded louder in the mix.

Conclusion
I personally believe that the presentation was a success and the most important
thing that the experience from this project gave me is a new horizon in Max/MSP
and the skills I achieved from doing this assignment. Overall I think the project
went well and the feedback from other groups reflected our true image and
performance. We received marks from excellent to good and compliments
about the different controls used and samples selection. Moreover, I think that I
learned how to work better in a team, how to communicate and support my ideas
from simple thoughts towards applying them in real scenario.









Coventry University
110EPA- Technological Music Composition
Claudiu-Adrian Blanaru

6


References:
Granular Synthesizer Max/MSP forum:
http://cycling74.com/forums/topic/granular-synthesis-in-maxmsp/
TouchOSC software:
http://hexler.net/software/touchosc

















Coventry University
110EPA- Technological Music Composition
Claudiu-Adrian Blanaru

7

Annexes:
Granular Synthesis patch screenshot
Performance patch, Edit mode and presentation mode



















Coventry University
110EPA- Technological Music Composition
Claudiu-Adrian Blanaru

8


Granular Synthesizer Patch Screenshot





Coventry University
110EPA- Technological Music Composition
Claudiu-Adrian Blanaru

9










Presentation Mode Entire Patch