1. The Art of Digital DJing
Mixing Music,Video, and Technology
Lecture 4. Feb 20, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
2. Agenda
• Finish student sets
• HID Devices
• OSC
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• iPhone/iPad
Sunday, February 21, 2010
3. MIDI
• Instrument to Instrument
• Low resolution (7 bits = 128 values)
• Number based addressing
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• 16 channels, 128 controllers each
• 30 years old
• Versatile
Sunday, February 21, 2010
4. OSC
• IP-based (runs on a network)
• High resolution
• Values can be referenced by name
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• Rare, but gaining ground
Sunday, February 21, 2010
5. OSC
• OSC = Open Sound Control - a protocol for
communication among hardware
• OSC exploits modern networking technology
(Ethernet, UDP/IP); developed at UC Berkeley
Center for New Music and Audio Technology
(CNMAT http://cnmat.berkeley.edu)
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• OSC, like MIDI & HID, is a hardware communication
protocol but they all differ
• MIDI vs OSC: http://www.midi.org/aboutmidi/midi-
osc.php
Sunday, February 21, 2010
6. HID
• USB device protocol
• Not much music support
• But some hobbyists are figuring it
out
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• Values can be referenced by name
• Usually found in game controllers and
computer perhipherals
Sunday, February 21, 2010
7. HID Devices
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Sunday, February 21, 2010
8. HID Devices
• HID = Human Interface Device
• Most HID devices are USB
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9. HID & Ableton Live
• To use HID Devices with Ableton Live, we must
translate HID signals to MIDI signals
• Quartz Composer & JunXion are examples of
software that can route HID inputs into MIDI outputs
and vice versa
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• QC is free and available on all Macs; JunXion is $60
and a little more user friendly
Sunday, February 21, 2010
10. iPhone/iPod Touch
• There are a few music related controller apps available on
the App Store, but we recommend Touch OSC ($4.99)
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Sunday, February 21, 2010
11. TouchOSC
• TouchOSC gives you lots of different touch controls to
send/receive messages
• As the name implies, TouchOSC is built on the OSC
communication protocol; i.e. it sends OSC formatted
signals
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• Faders, Buttons, XY Pad, LEDS, and more
• You can even create your own control layouts!
• Visit http://hexler.net/software/touchosc for complete
documentation
Sunday, February 21, 2010
12. TouchOSC and Ableton Live
• To use TouchOSC, or any OSC device with Ableton, we
need to translate OSC signals to MIDI so Ableton can
understand the hardware input signals
• We can use QC, JunXion, or OSCulator (an OSC based
mapping software) to do this
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• QC is free but more manual labor; OSCulator costs $20
and works seamlessly with TouchOSC and several other
hardware devices with easy to use templates
• http://www.osculator.net/ to download (free trial
available)
• TouchOSC ($4.99) gives you a low cost (assuming
you have an iPhone or iPod Touch already) extra MIDI
Sunday, February 21, 2010
13. TouchOSC + OSCulator Usage
• Launch OSCulator and Load your preferred TouchOSC
preset (weʼll use “Beatmachine”) - these presets are in
OSCulator / Samples Library
• Make sure your computer and iPhone/iPod are on the
same WiFi network
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• Launch TouchOSC
Sunday, February 21, 2010
14. TouchOSC + OSCulator Usage
• Under Network, youʼll find your computer with “OSCulator”
name near it.
• Leave outgoing port 8000
• Incoming can be 9000
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15. TouchOSC + OSCulator Usage
• Go back and select Beatmachine layout for this example
• Click done
• now do your Ableton MIDI mapping as usual; Make sure in
your Live preferences (see next slide) that OSCulator is
activated as a MIDI input
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• Sanity checks - your MIDI indicator light in Ableton flashes
when you touch a control on the phone;
Sunday, February 21, 2010
16. Live Config
• Youʼll see OSCulator
show up the device
section
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• Make sure Track and
Remote are lit up for
OSCulator Input /
Output!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
17. TouchOSC + OSCulator Usage
• Make sure you hit run
• In OSCulator, youʼll see
the messages light up
too when you touch a
control on the phone
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18. junXion
• versatile translator of
communication
protocols (MIDI, OSC,
and HID input to MIDI
or OSC output)
• Built by STEIM and
available here: http://
www.steim.org/steim/
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junxion_v4.html
• Costs 60 Euros; Free
version only works for
20 minutes and no
saving of your work
Sunday, February 21, 2010
19. junXion- quick guide
• Launch junXion
• In Ableton Live, make sure in your preferences that JunXion is setup as a
MIDI input
• Plug in some HID device like a Wii Controller
• In the “Patches” View, refresh your HID Device list by hitting ⌘R
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• You should see your device show up on the junXion list
• Press some buttons on the device to see the messages toggle in the list
• Drag the message of interest into JunXion Input Sources column
• Now switch to Ableton and turn on MIDI mapping - map as usual
Sunday, February 21, 2010