dj Max style: Time Tunnel XL e Ms Pinky

Time TunnelXL sono due oggetti esterni per MaxMsp (a breve dovrebbe esserci una versione anche per PureData) che decodificano il timecode di un vinile (attualmente riconoscono solo traktor scratch vinyl) e lo eseguono attraverso un ricampionamento. Il flusso derivato può essere utilizzato per ‘scratchare‘ suoni, video qualunque altra cosa sia stata programmata in MaxMsp per ricevere tale informazione.
Gli oggetti possono, ovviamente, essere integrati in Ableton Live attraverso Max for Live.

Un’altra scelta è invece Ms Pinky, da poco anch’esso integrato in Max for Live.

In Max/MSP, the audio signal from your turntable as it plays the Ms Pinky vinyl is analyzed with the use of a highly optimized tracking algorithm that provides nearly instantaneous velocity and absolute position information. In other words, you know when the turntable is moving forward or backward, and at what speed.. and you know exactly where in the groove the needle currently is. Ms Pinky’s MPTCFS~ object is a compiled code extension for Max/MSP that takes audio input from adc~ and turns it into turntable velocity, power, and absolute position signals. The velocity signal has a positive value when the turntable is moving forward, and negative when it is moving backward. The higher the value, the faster the speed. The power signal ranges between 0.0 and 1.0, and provides a useful “muting” signal to stop spurious velocity values from disrupting subsequent processing when the turntable velocity approaches 0.0. The third signal is an instantaneous absolute position indicator. Ms Pinky’s vinyl records contain approximately 155 unique position stamps per rotation, and no position stamp is repeated on the record. This works out to a totally unique position stamp being calculated and made available to your Max/MSP environment approximately 86.12 times per second when the vinyl is played at 33-1/3 rpm. The time lag or latency is about 11.6 milliseconds for the absolute position information. The latency for velocity and direction information is only about 1.5 milliseconds.
Using the limitless possibilities of Max/MSP’s modular building-block design, you can apply these three signals to control audio file playback, synthesis, filtering, DSP effects, video, MIDI, and more. With Jitter, you add a comprehensive video environment expressly designed to be responsive to live performance. Since you can add other kinds of MIDI-based controllers, the turntable can be just one element of an amazing performance application. Max/MSP isn’t for everyone, but for those whose imagination can’t be constrained by prefabricated software, nothing else will do.