TouchOSC / Resolume in San Francisco Chronicle

[alan]

Hi,

My group's performance/demo video of TouchOSC controlling Resolume and Ableton accompanies an article in the San Francisco Chronicle that was published a couple of days ago. I had to crank out the video quickly so
the visual elements are fairly simple, but still effective

Natasha and the Reject: http://sfgate.com/ZICY

[bart]

Very nice! What audio software is TouchOSC controlling? How did you translate the OSC to Avenue? With Processing?

[alan]

Hi Bart,

Really glad you like the video

So my setup for this video was running Resolume Avenue on the same PC with
open source software Pure Data (http://www.puredata.info)
and free MIDI Yoke (http://www.midiox.com) The iPhone using TouchOSC app
(http://www.hexler.net) sent the OSC data over WIFI to the PC and then Pure
Data translated the OSC into MIDI and then the MIDI Yoke routed it into
Resolume. Hexler provides free Pure Data mappings for the iPhone app.
I also took the same MIDI data from the MIDI Yoke that was going to Resolume
and sent it to a connected MIDI interface (using MIDI-OX) which then
passed it on to another PC running Ableton Live 8. I could have potentially
used Resolume for the audio except for the fact I wanted to use a vocoder
which required using Ableton.
I basically followed the instructions on this web page and simply applied
them to Resolume:
http://www.gadgetcracker.com/2009/06/ho ... eton-live/
One difference I do have with these instructions is that IMHO it is better
to use different MIDI Yoke ports for the in and out. The guide uses MIDI
Yoke 1 for both in and out which I believe can create a MIDI feedback loop.
One big point I'd like to make is this setup is fairly simple to execute.
I can't write code or tweak patches. All I can do is install software and
follow the instructions on how to configure them. I love the fact it only
took a $3 app and a quick configuration of free software to marry Resolume and Ableton to
the iPhone in a very powerful way.

Thanks for developing some great software!

[gradek]

I wish TouchOSC would allow for custom values. Sure you can send any OSC command you like with a custom layout, but its impossible to send a specific numerical value of 2 or 3 with TouchOSC. all values are from 0 to 1. This hinders the ability to control many things directly within Resolume, for instance the transport controls or beatloopr. Once TouchOSC allows this there will be no need for all this other software. Resolume accepts OSC commands, seems silly to have to convert OSC data into midi with PD and and route it with midi yoke, and then midi map all of the incoming signals. Of course when controlling ableton you have to use midi. So in that case it is necessary.

The best setup would be direct, with a custom layout. Put a laptop and an iphone on the same wireless network set TouchOSC to send to the Laptop on port 7000 and turn on OSC input in resolume, done.

I have created some custom layouts for TouchOSC specifically for resolume that was being translated with OSCulate on a MAC. But instead of converting the OSC data to midi, OSCulate would just correct he numerical value and forward the OSC command directly to resolume. This way there was no need for midi mapping. The setup would work with any computer running OSCulate (mac only) and Resolume. Perhaps I will post my work so that others can modify and improve.


I ultimately ran into problems with how resolume reacts to OSC using cuepoints and issues with audio/video play direction discussed here:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4226&start=50#p22375
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=5818#p22385

[alan]

Hang in there. A couple years from now wireless OSC touchscreen tablets will be the most popular interface for live multimedia performance. The application vendors will get it together once those Apple and Microsoft net tablets start hitting the market next year. You're just ahead of the crowd

[taylorlove]

Great video... and like alan said, way to be ahead of the crowd on this one!