#interactive – Vincent Goudard

The Brain Orchestra – neural activity sonification

Neural activity data-sonification, with Sébastien Wolf of the ENS Institute of Biology.

Data sonification could be an effective tool for neuroscience research, complementing data visualization. Recent advances in brain imaging have made it possible to record the activity of tens of thousands of mammalian neurons simultaneously in real time. The spatial and temporal dynamics of neuron activation can be translated into sound triggering, according to the functional groups to which these neurons belong.

We have developed software to load such datasets as binary matrices and translate them into MIDI messages, triggering notes whose velocity is a function of neuronal activity. In order to process this vast quantity of data — several tens of thousands of neurons over several tens of thousands of samples — the software enables neurons to be associated in sub-groups, such as those proposed in common atlases, or in an arbitrary manner. The same interface can also be used to sonify continuous data sets from electroencephalography recordings of human brain activity.

This software, developed with Max, can be used as a stand-alone program, but can also be loaded directly as a plugin into the Ableton Live digital audio workstation. This makes it easy to get to grips with the software, enabling you to test different mappings between neural activity data and musical values: which chords, which harmonic progressions, which orchestration, etc. translate the neural activity data set in the most interesting way from the point of view of their scientific understanding and/or musical aesthetics.

AIM-Framework

Designing a complete in-car audio experience requires rapid prototyping solutions in a complex audio configuration, bringing together different areas of expertise ranging from sound-design and composition, down to hardware protection, with every conceivable layer of audio engineering in-between, up to A-B comparisons setups for end-users perception evaluation in real demonstration vehicules.

The AIM project started as a request from the Active Sound eXperience team at Volvo Cars Company to meet such goals.To this end, it was decided to develop a framework on top of Max/MSP, so that dedicated audio processing modules could be easily created, with the ability to store presets for various configurations, and to take advantage of Max’s modular design to distribute the complexity of audio engineering among the various expert teams involved in the project.

The core part of the package (building blocks) was presented at the Sound and Music Conference (SMC’22) organized by GRAME in Saint Etienne, France.

Summary: https://zenodo.org/record/6800815

mp.TUI — a Max package for multitouch screen interaction

mp.TUI is a Max package with OpenGL UI components ready for multitouch interaction (using the TUIO protocol).

It was presented at the ICLI’2018 conference in Porto and was used in a series of projects including the Phonetogramme, Xypre and FIB_R.

Sources available on Github : https://github.com/LAM-IJLRA/ModularPolyphony-TUI

L’arbre qui cachait la forêt

Sisyphus in the anthropocene hamster-wheel.

L’arbre qui cachait la forêt is a multimedia installation originally proposed for the Festival of Lights of Lyon (FR) happening on december 8th. The theme was about ecology and artists were encouraged to make use of little and/or renewable energy.

The installation consists of an interactive video projection of a tree, with the screen placed precisely where the filmed tree is located. The screen offers a view that corresponds to the perspective of the global environment. In front of this screen, a giant hamster wheel awaits a visitor. The rotation of the wheel causes the video to progress from the current date of the festival, close to the winter solstice, when the tree is apparently dead, to the summer solstice at midday, when the tree is fully green against the deep blue sky. But as soon as the visitor stops running after that desired blue summer sky, the video rewinds to the cold winter night.

Prior to the installation, the tree has been shot with timelapse photography technique during a whole season.

Vincent Goudard - L'arbre qui cachait la foret - Project preview — On-site installation preview.

Giant hamster wheel draft for the project — Giant hamster wheel draft design by Ulysse Lacoste.

fuite de points

Continue reading “fuite de points”

cyclescape

Scrolling the landscape with an indoor bike.

Recycled indoor cycle, hacked dynamo, arduino and custom electronics, old PC running a pure data patch.

An indoor cycle is perched in front of a projected video screen, whose wheel rotation controls an interactive video. When the rider is cycling, the landscape is scrolling at an exagerated speed. When driving slowly or at rest, the screen displays abstract moving images from the limbos.

Cyclescape was made for “Vanité #10 : Visible Invisible” by Luis Pasina & co, during Nuit Blanche 2008, Paris.