[integra-dev] integralive case study: "lichtweiss"

[Peter Plessas]

Dear Developers,

I am grateful that integralive (IL) is approaching a more useable status
and thank all of you for your support and work!

I am now using the developers list as a user feedback list. I hope other
people using this application subscribe as well.

I joined the project later than most of you, so please excuse
if I raise questions which have already been discussed elsewhere (and
let me know so).

With all the talk about migrating work, I would like to use the third
piece to be migrated by IEM, Roland Dahinden's "lichtweiss" for solo
string player and live electronics, as a case study to test ILs
availability for use. Regarding DSP technology, it is a rather simple
piece, and fun to play for the musician involved (hence case-study).
The piece consists of five passes (movements) which
are layered above each other by recording and playback. Sounds simple,
doesn't it? So lets see how IL could do it:

Below is a description of the live electronics and a list of
requirements to IL.
This survey was done with IL version [142:10b] 2010-07-09

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Spatialisation of a live input by a four channel random autopanner
without audible latency. This is always "on" and used for the dry
amplification and spatialisation of what is played by the performer.

Record a mono soundfile A (triggered by a single cue) of what the
performer plays in [Movement 1].

Playback a mono soundfile A spatialized through its own four channel
random autopanner, while another mono soundfile B is recorded (all
triggered by a single cue)
[Movement 2]

Playback of mono soundfiles A and B in parallel, with each one being
spatialized through an individual four channel autopanner, while another
soundfile C is recorded (all triggered by a single cue)
[Movement 3]

Playback of mono soundfiles A,B,C in parallel, with each one being
spatialized through an individual four channel autopanner, while another
soundfile D is recorded (all triggered by a single cue)
[Movement 4]

Playback of mono soundfiles A,B,C,D in parallel, with each one being
spatialized through an individual four channel autopanner (all triggered
by a single cue)
[Movement 5]

All soundfiles need to be of arbitrary length.
A visual indicator for the end of each soundfile playback needs to be
included.
Pressing the cue for the next movement has to stop playback of the last
cue with a fade-out.
A 100 msec fade at the beginning as well as at the end of each soundfile
has to be done while recording.
A "stop" cue needs to be inserted to abort all recording and playback
operations. It must be possible to resume the piece at the beginning of
any movement for rehearsals, reusing previously recorded files (recorded
up to this point).
A faderbox (BCF2000) will serve as an interface for an analog footswitch
into MIDI, for triggering the cues listed above.
The playback volume of all four soundfiles A,B,C,D has to be
controllable through the same midi faderbox.
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Results / open issues:

The four-channel autopanner can be three normal panners ganged together
(one doing left/right, and two other panning these two signals
front/back). So far the IL [panner] has no control input, and if a
control input would exist what could be used as a modulation source? A
workaround could be to draw quasi-random breakpoint functions into IL's
timeline? I saw a quad-panner~.pd somewhere in the IL folders...

I did not find a soundfile recorder.

How can the musician trigger four different recordings of a four
soundfiles? as described above?

How can the soundfiles receive a fade in and fade out as they are being
recorded?

How can one load sound files into the soundfile player module?

How can one control the playback of soundfiles from a cue using
soundfiles which are yet to be recorded? A workaround could be to use
empty dummy files which are then overwritten at recording time...

How can I use more than two dac outputs of my computer?

What is the intended use for the clock module?

How can I trigger cues via MIDI?

How can I control volume faders via MIDI?

How was the decision made about which modules are available in the
current version of IL?

One other thing comes to my mind: Frequencies should be input using a
logarithmic scale.

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I am looking forward to hear how I could implement "lichtweiss" using
IL. Plus, I need to determine a realistic time at which IL will be
useable for real stable live work satisfying the above requirements and
I need your help in doing so.

thank you all!

Peter