KES Transactions on Innovation in Music

Publisher Future Technology Press
Vol. 1 No. 1 Special Edition - Innovation in Music 2013
 
Article TitlepMix-Touch
Primary AuthorOliver Larkin, University of York
Pages 32 - 40
Article ID im13bk-003
Publication Date 17-May-15
AbstractpMix-touch is an extension of the author’s pMix software[1], which is a composition, sound design and performance tool based on multi-layered preset interpolation, that was originally created as a MaxMSP library (int.lib) and presented in[2].

pMix facilitates the control of VST plug-in parameters from a rich 2D graphical interface that has been designed to provide intuitive feedback and to allow the control of multiple parts of a signal processing graph from one abstract “interpolation space� (hence multi-layered preset interpolation). The software comes with a collection of sound generation and processing plug-ins that have been specially developed with parameter interpolation in mind. The plug-ins cover a range of experimental DSP techniques used in computer music (noise generators, resonators, FM synthesis, formant filtering, frequency shifting). While the main pMix application runs on a computer, pMix-touch uses an embedded web server to expose this interface to a wide variety of client devices including tablets, smart phones or other computers. The interface is rendered using client side JavaScript and the HTML5 canvas[4], which makes it highly portable and allows it to benefit from speed increases that come as result of the “browser wars�. Touch events provide new ways to interact with the preset interpolator by designing, navigating and controlling interpolation spaces using multi-touch gestures. The presentation will introduce pMix-touch and discuss the design decisions, potential benefits and practical issues of browser-based interfaces for remote-controlling audio software.

pMix was awarded the second prize at the LOMUS 2008 International Music Contest[5]. It is available for free on the Mac App Store[1]. It was recently chosen as one of the interfaces used in the Inventor Composer Coaction[3] at the University of Edinburgh.
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