Monthly Archives: December 2011

Using Konkreet Performer and TouchOSC in a host?

Spending some time with Lemur since its launch, one of the neatest features is the ability to script 14 bit MIDI, to give higher resolution control over various parameters. This is essential in instruments like Loupe and Mirage, where regular 7 bit MIDI just doesn’t give the fineness I want to set loop points. It’s too steppy and jumpy.

I’m working right now on creating Lemur templates for my ensembles, but I’d also like to do version for Konkreet Performer and TouchOSC. This would involve running a Pure Data patch and rerouting PD’s output, which is an extra step, but it would enable fine grained control within a host. As you may have noticed, Reaktor’s OSC capabilities are missing in the plugin versions (for the love of God, why?!)

Anyhow, vote in the poll above if this extended capability for Konkreet, TouchOSC and my instruments interests you.

Update: I’ve hit a few performance issues with Pure Data so I’m going to do the OSC translator as a custom Reaktor patch. Here’s what you do: run Reaktor standalone alongside your host with the translator patch, and redirect its MIDI output to your host. This is easy on Mac because programs can share a core audio interface, but a bit sticky on Windows where ASIO access is exclusive. One solution could be to redirect Reaktor’s output to a different sound interface, or set it to use the DirectX driver. I’m open to suggestions from Windows users.

So, how about it – Reaktor as a translator?

Update 2: things are coming together…

First Lemur Template

All reety then, after buying Lemur for iPad the other day and sifting the PDF manual for the chunky bits, I spent a few hours today crafting my first Lemur template. It’s a hybrid OSC / MIDI creation that borrows the stock drum pads, adds a sustain latch, and also five bouncing balls with individually adjustable speeds, friction and scaling. 

The scaling turned out to be especially important, as setting the balls loose on their full range of travel then mapping them to Reaktor controls is a bit sloppy. So using the X and Y scale controls, you can specify a range of travel for whatever control you map them to. That way, you can specify that your filter cutoff stays within a useful range, or open it up to the full range of travel for crazy wildness.

The MultiBalls output both OSC and MIDI. The OSC signals look like /Multiball/X1 etc, and the MIDI CCs are in the range 17 to 26. There are X and Y lock toggles to make MIDI learn easier.

There are probably better ways to address the creation of variables and math formulas than what I’ve done here, but give me a break, this is my first try! If you’re a longtime Lemur demigod, I welcome your criticisms.

The HolyBallz template can be downloaded here. I’ll be adding templates more specific to my own ensembles soon.