PDCON:Berlin-notizen

Notes for the berlin weekend

Equipment

LEAP

• PA from TU
  • ~100Eu insurance
  • transport

To be paid with donations? Who can pick it up the day before?

Events

Pd meeting “Show you patch”

Rules:

• The session is divided in 2 parts: presentations / free exchange

Presentations:

• everyone who wants to present something must register first with name/patch name/tags. The same person can register for multiple slots
• each person has 3 minutes to present their patch
• after a group of 5 persons, there is a small Q+A round
• the next group of 5 comes in, until the time is finished

Free exchange

• all authors that presented something are now in the room, and anyone is free to go to them and ask more detailed questions

Concert with selected works

Weimar has too many pieces, so they asked us if some of the pieces can be played in Berlin. This would be the only event where it would be possible.

Blanc sketch pages collective improvisation

A collective improvisation on foreign terrain:

• one master with 8 mono inputs and a wireless router
• 8 workstations (slaves) on the table
• patches are open from the master folder, and saved when time limit is finished
• when time limit of X minutes for each player in a given workstation is reached, the patche saves, closes, and tells the player to which workstation he should go
• players are always rotating. each player goes through X workstations, and then gets sent out. A new player comes in.
• players are advised to comment on the patches they prepare, so that new players can follow up as soon as possible. please avoid using too complex subpatches

Projection: hijacking of tcl/tk commands and redraw them in the master? Or regular screenshot patch?

Late night open improvisation marathon

"Bring anything you want and can do - audio, video, sensors, ... -, and join in the group. Take an empty slot, and improvise for a while; leave for a drink and give your place to someone else; and so on and so on, until it's morning again."

• performers register a time slot (doodle?)
• define which type, audio, video, both
• one continous improvisation, with varying players.

Brunch

In the rooftop of LEAP. Each one brings whatever he might want to have - drinks, food, ... Chances of cooking will be surveyed.

Installations

Here is the call for installations or content, that can be displayed during the Berlin weekend:

@ LEAP

LEAP wants to host several small installations. These have to be small objects, due to the time and technical restrictions. The details are:

• it's possible to use any portion of the space, as long as it doesn't interfere with the activities. The space is an assimetrical room, with a terrace on top (http://leap-berlin.tumblr.com/thespace). In the lower left corner are the stairs to the terrace.

Not depicted is also a black room of approx. 3x3m.

• the following materials are available to use:
  • 2 active loudspeakers
  • 4 small active loudspeakers
  • 2 Beamers
  • 1 Flatscreen
  • 2 DVD Players
  • Spotlights
  • Projection wall
  • other small items might be available, depending from case to case

• Most elements of the Pd-Berlin group will be in Weimar. So, the assembly of the installation must be done:
  • either before the week of Weimar, or during it, if coordination is possible
  • just after the trip Weimar-Berlin, before the activities begin. The timeframe is only a couple of hours.

Please send your proposals to pd_berlin at googlegroups dot com. Until the 30th of July.

IAMDISPLAY call for content (patches and music)

Jesse's idea, "IAMDISPLAY"

Website - http://www.iamdisplay.com/

Disco Kugel call for content (patches and music)

Call for Content: Diskokugel: Audio Plant

For the Berlin weekend of the PD-Con I will install a preview version of the hardware used in my project called "Diskokugel". Diskokugel will be a sphere made of 200 speakers that can be turned on and of individually. For more information see: http://amphibiousthoughts.com/projekte/installation/diskokugel

For the installation at LEAP gallery, I will have a circuit ready that will allow the switching of 40 speakers. These speakers will be installed around a corner of the room, building a loose grid from the bottom and reaching into the room above head height. I will provide a sketch soon.

The idea is for everyone be able to connect their computer to the installation and feed their audio and control the installation. The control patch will be available on a USB stick next to the installation. People can also send in patches that will be installed on the machine that is connected permanently. These would be played at random when no other input is present.

I have put together a patch that converts a row of 40 ones and zeros into bytes that are then sent to the Arduino via [comport]. A maximum of 8 speakers can be switched on at a time. You can download it here: http://amphibiousthoughts.com/dload/PD/ You'll need gridflow in order to make [#many] work. Suggestions on how to make this better and a x/y controller interface would be highly appreciated!

The installation does not provide 40 channel audio. It is just one mono channel that can be switched on or of for each speaker. For that, 5 bytes are sent to an Arduino via the [comport] object. The Arduino will then activate the switching process once the audio signal is in zero phase. This prevents the speakers from cracking when switched on or off. This is not yet working completely, which is probably due to some current leaking somewhere in the circuit. Cracks can be heard, especially when switching very fast and using pure sine waves.

It is possible that, instead of connecting directly to the Arduino, there will be a network cable and the numbers will be sent via [netsend] or osc to a machine already installed. This will prevent PD crashes when disconnecting the Arduino without closing the [comport] connection.

Rules:

• the interface I provide must be fed with 40 separate binary numbers (1 or 0). Use [drip] to separate lists.
• the maximum checksum of these 40 numbers is 8, i.e. a maximum of 8 speakers can be on at a time (due to limitations of the voltage supply).
• send your Pd patches and/or music until the 30th of July to felix at amphibiousthoughts . com, for us to make a selection for display.