Alexander Chen transforms the steady pulse of the (actual) New York City subway system into gentle, generative string plucks in his new interactive piece “Conductor.” The visual effect as well as the musical one is mesmerizing, as the subway is viewed in the abstract, sparse geometries of designed Massimo Vignelli’s 1972 diagram.

New York subway nerds and long-time residents will note that the schedule itself is from 1972, hence the appearance of the K train and the elevated along Third Avenue (the 8), one I imagine we wish we still had.

http://mta.me/

The work is also a glimpse of the Web as a canvas (figurative and literal) for this kind of work – your browser as your very own virtual chamber music setting. And it’s a window into some of the challenges (cough, buggy audio implementations!) to making that happen.

Built in HTML5′s Canvas element with SVG vector data and JavaScript, the application must rely on Flash as a back end for audio delivery, though via a very cool JavaScript tool, SoundManager (which also supports HTML5 audio if its implementation improves). There’s also some use of open source sounds of string plucks, via the freesound project.

Important as the technical details are, though, I find what Alexander says about the inspiration for music made from subways to be the most compelling.

He shares with CDM some insight into the process, technical and artistic.

How did this project come about? What made you decide to translate subway schedules into music?

I’ve been kind of interested in turning everyday things into music. I did a project in 2003 called Sonata for the Unaware, where I used security-cam style footage of commuters and generated music from that.

This project sort of started last September when my friend David Lu (velluminous.org) and I were having a conversation about an idea he
had for an illustrated string instrument, where drawn lines turn into plucked strings. This turned into a project (which is still in progress) called Crayong. So I had written code for that. As a violist, I really wanted to duplicate the feel of grabbing and pulling a string, how there’s more tension near the pinned points.

Once I had that string code, I started brainstorming other things I could do with it. My wife and I started talking about a subway map that you could strum. My friend owns a print of the 1972 Vignelli map, which is really beautiful.

I liked the idea of the trains being the performers. And with all of the realtime location-sensitive information we can get now, I thought about a website that starts off feeling realtime, but then time starts unraveling.

How it was put together — good notes on your site, but want to share any tips that you learned in the process? You had to give up on HTML5 audio, it seems; was that in all browsers or just some of them? With Flash for sound and Canvas for visuals, seems the results are at least largely compatible, yes?

I’m excited about HTML5. The graphics went pretty flawlessly, but unfortunately there definitely were limitations in the audio layering. There’s an in-detail post at my site:

Limitations of layering HTML5 Audio

I ran into problems layering multi-shot triggers of the same sample. It could layer a handful of sounds (seemed to cap off around 8), but would increase load time unnecessarily. This was at least happening in Safari, where I could see the HTTP requests. I tried some workarounds but every approach had its trade-offs.

So all in all, I think Flash still performs better for the audio portion of these types of experiments. But I’m hoping that will change, as it would be nice to not rely on any plugins.

For projects where I am triggering say, 30+ samples, I often compile them into one audio file and manually store the start times of each sample in the code. Seems to load faster overall, because each HTTP request has some overhead. (But I didn’t have to do that here, because I only had 20 notes.)

I also think it’s nice to work with technical limitations. For example, Flash has a limit of how many sounds can be simultaneously layered. Instead of trying massive code fixes, I decided to simply use samples with shorter sustain. That’s why I ended up going with cello pizzicato instead of say, a sustained harp. The samples are from the http://www.freesound.org, recorded by user corsica_s.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

About me – Besides doing interactive work, I’ve released three albums as Boy in Static and one as The Consulate General. I’ve toured on-and-off the past
few years, usually performing on viola and vocals. I’m currently working at Google Creative Lab in New York.

Besides various new art and technology projects I see everyday, my wife and I recently found a DVD of Al Jarnow’s stop animation from the 80′s. Incredible mathematical grid-based animation experiments done by hand, frame by frame.

More on Alexander:
chenalexander.com
presentcompany.tv

Music:
theconsulategeneral.com
boyinstatic.com

His day job is at the Google Creative Lab.

What was the most-asked question around new music tech announcements earlier this month, coinciding with the industry’s NAMM trade show? Was it, “What’s the best accessory for my iPad?” Was it, “what was the game changer for music workstations?”

Nope – not among CDM readers, anyway. It was, “can I do one-shot samples with the new loopers?

A one-shot sample – for those of you thinking of True Grit – is just a sample that plays once and then stops, instead of immediately looping. It shouldn’t be rocket science, but makers of loopers are often convinced you want everything looping e. The nice thing about one-shot samples is that they provide more opportunities to be musically expressive and virtuosic than you would if you were knee-deep in never-ending loops.

VOX (Korg) and BOSS (Roland) each had dueling looper introductions – and each, in turn, earned some attention from readers. Those readers wanted to know if one shots were practical on the hardware. The answer: yes.

The BOSS LoopStations offer extensive sample time and memory storage; you can even use them as mobile recorders:
New Boss Loop Stations Add Features, Up to Three Hours of Recording; the Loopers to Beat

The VOX looper lacks that recording flexibility with small sample times, but many readers liked its live performance-oriented features and effects:
VOX Gets in Looping Game with Dynamic Looper – 90 Seconds, But with Live Features

So, about those 1-shots… First, Amanda Whiting confirms the new RC LoopStations each offer one-shot looping. Add that together with other usability enhancements, and I’d say the LoopStations really are looking a lot better.

Second, I asked Korg’s Leslie Buttonow if the VOX Dynamic Looper will do one shots:

Yes, it does because the Looper allows you versatile ways of ending your loops. Ex.—-“Stop at end of a loop; playback; fade out; delay out (like a fade while repeating last note).”

So, using the “stop at end of loop” mode would in essence give people a “one-shot” loop trigger of sorts.

Actually, I’d say that’s not just a one-shot “of sorts” – that there, pardner, is a gosh-honest, one hundred percent-authentic one-shot. Put that in your … sampler … and … smoke it. Erm. Yeah.

There you have it, folks. Each looper looks like it holds some serious potential. Oddly, talking to Roger Linn about his new drum machine with Dave Smith, the Tempest, our conversation turned to looping as an ideal way to translate the act of recording into performance. So, there’s great interest in this stuff. If you put together some fantastic looping performance, whether you’re sampling your singing or your ukelele or your crumhorn, do send it our way!

Digital Trends - In what might be the corniest product tie in since Owl City performed a song in the animated owl movie Legend of the Guardians, game developer Rovio has signed a deal with 20th Century Fox to release a Rio branded version of Angry Birds on Android, iPhone, Nokia (Symbian), and possibly other platforms, this March. The move is an effort by Fox to help Rio, an upcoming original CGI animated film, compete at the beginning of this year’s summer box office season.

Mashable - Music subscription service Rdio recently took its 8 million song library beyond the desktop and mobile sphere with an integration with Sonos's wireless multi-room music system.

Handmade Music is back on the Lower East Side of Manhattan with an epic lineup spanning digital synths to monomes to interactive installations to chip music. It’s a bit like stepping into the music tech world described on the Web. (For the vast majority of you outside NYC, hoping to have good documentation of recent events edited and available shortly.)

We’re moving to Saturday night and doing a proper party. Hack, ask, meet, geek, eat, drink, listen, watch, dance…

Full event details for New York, and plenty to watch and hear online for those of you in NYC and everywhere in the world:

OPEN LAB
3p – 6p, FREE

Come early to get a close look at what people are making, and expect some surprises.

• MeeBlip user gathering for new MeeBlip owners (or those curious) in the NYC area. Check out our open source, affordable, hackable synth, or get help and ask questions.
• mlrv2: Meet the latest-and-greatest from the monome world, the free software that turns grids from MPCs to Launchpads to monomes into live performance sampling instruments. Get a look up close and ask questions before the performance later in the evening. (See our coverage of the news.)
• Bring your project! Building a synth? Got a Max for Live / Pd / Csound creation of which you’re proud? Circuit-bent project? Handmade CD case, band t-shirt, percussion made out of shells and wood? Bring them by, show them off, and share ideas with fellow DIY music inventors!

PARTY + LIVE MUSIC
7p – 2a; $20 cover includes an open bar 7-9p

Enjoy a wine and New York-brewed beer list celebrated by Frank Bruni with The New York Times, order from Culturefix’s excellent small plate menu, and stick around for a packed evening of music.

Culturefix Food + Drink menu

• Diptych: Ben Black and Aiwen Wang-Huddleston’s elegant, sail-like sculptural live digital performance instrument.
• Dissonics: Michael Cohen’s array of pylons form an alien, proximity-based performance.
• monome music: Christopher Gilroy + Philippe ‘Flippy’ LeSaux, Galapagoose, and % tap out live grooves on the monome grid.
• Chip music: Note! and Kris Keyser make infectious 8-bit music on Game Boys, some of the best virtuosos of the form.
• Electronic music: Pulsing soundscapes by Ganucheau on laptop and myself on MeeBlip.

Hear and see the artists…

I’ve never been a fan of chip music for the sake of it; I really like to hear stuff that’s well-produced, compositionally interesting, and can stand alongside stuff that isn’t chip music. And I really like Note! (Christophe Richard) and Kris Keyser; there’s some great stuff, and it’s easy to point people who think they don’t like chip music or music made with Game Boys to this. Have a listen to Christophe’s most recent album, the free 12345:

http://note.monoanimal.com/

And Kris’ music:

We also have videos to give you an idea of the installation/interactive performance creations and monome music. First, premiering at NYU’s NIME (new instruments in musical expression) course:

Galapagoose plays live:

Some terrific audio and (with dementoid) visuals) from “owner/operator” (%) — “album” art for these electronic releases below, as I’m really digging it:

mezos by owneroperator

cognitives by owneroperator

Music from actv / Christopher Gilroy (CC-licensed, too):

03 Watching Records Spin by actv

Check his free EP, too:

A collection of four songs of various types, most were performed in the fall/winter of 2010. Made using Ableton, Arduinome 64, NI Maschine, and various synths. Mixed in Harrison Mixbus. Ella made it look pretty.

http://cargocollective.com/active#927812/Failed-Houdini-ep

And here’s the last time Ganucheau and I played together, with the Grant Sisters for Diana Eng’s fashion show.

Open Lab 3-6p
Party 7p-late with 7-9p open bar
Saturday, February 5, 2011

Presented by Culturefix NY
9 Clinton Street
New York, New York 10002

View Larger Map

http://culturefixny.com/

Touchscreens? Good, old-fashioned faders, knobs, and pads? Why not just use what suits the job – especially when you can choose both on the cheap?

Nay-Seven shares some of his latest work with Usine, the brilliant, modular and touch-centric tool for Windows. It’s a futuristic rig that’s also down-to-earth. Touchscreen monitors can be had for around US$300 street, and the Akai LPD8 and Korg nanoKONTROL controllers each figure under a hundred bucks. Usine, the software, is a bargain for its depth at EUR120, and free and educational versions are available.

Cost aside, though, this also puts sound making directly under your fingertips. Even aside from live performance, that means making sound kinetic — essential in the studio, too.

I asked Nay-Seven to comment on how he’d thought through this particular set of controllers – coming just as we cover the work done on grid-based sample control with mlrv2 and fader-based control in Max for Live:

Yeah, was funny to see your article at the same time I was working on this video..

My actual reflection is about the best place of a touchscreen in a set. And I join you in the idea that software has added a layer to the hardware.

Here, I use the LPD8 and the nanoKONTROL as an instrument, because we all prefer to use real pads and push-buttons to play, but it’s so fantastic to customize those tools to our own needs. And it’s more and more easy and quick. I’m using here the next version of Usine (it will be public soon), which adds polyphony in sub-patches. You create a sampler with the switch, add the buttons you need, change the polyphony of this patch to 5 and it’s done — you have a 5-voice polyphonic sampler !

I suppose the future will be a balance of all this, some customizable tools for users, more and more easy-to-use, real pads, keys, and faders so we can feel our musical expression, and a touchscreen to provide new tools like graphics and physical models.

Heaven, in fact.

More from the video description:

Here’s a work where I use the sequencer of Usine not to sequence audio or midi but patches: patches appear only when I need them, an easy way to have only the controls you need on the screen. I also associate here works with faders and pads via personal patches for [Akai's] LPD8 and [Korg's] nanoKONTROL and the use of a touchscreen . Made with Usine ( sensomusic.com ) thanks also to Michael Ourednik for his great vst Argotlunar

Note: Argotluner is free and open source (GPL) and has both a Windows and Linux (32-bit + 64-bit) build. Someone could build it for Mac, too.

nay-seven also uploads some patch images, so I’ve included those here. The granular patch, top, controls Argotluner. LPD8 and nanoKONTROL patches, bottom, connect to hardware (see callouts on the Korg image).

All images courtesy Nay-Seven – be sure to check out his excellent Flickr account.

Bonus: here’s a nice video demonstrating the touch side of things, posted in September.

Digital Trends - For the audiophile who places bass at the utmost important level, Sony’s new MDR-XB1000 headphones should please the ear. The headphones, which look about as intense as they should sound, pack whopping 70mm drivers to give listeners the ultimate in headphone bass. The headphones play music at an impressive 2-30,000 Hz frequency range. The headphones are currently only on sale in Japan, for about $377, but audio nerds should keep an eye out for imports, or suffer and wait for a U.S. release date.

Appolicious - Enjoy some musical education wtih Decoded by Jay-Z, an app packed with content about the rapper and the songs that have made him a legend in his industry. Fans will want check it out, but if beat-heavy dance music is more your thing, you might enjoy the streaming capabilities of Play.fm. We’ve got all the details on those and more on today’s Fresh Apps list.

PC Magazine - Apple's media player, iTunes 10.1.2, is ready to sync with the Verizon iPhone.

Macworld - Apple on Thursday released iTunes 10.1.2, a stability and performance update for everyone’s favorite media-playing / iOS-device-syncing / app-shopping tool.