Author: Quran Karriem

The purpose of this assignment is to gain initial familiarity with Max/MSP/Jitter by experimentation and working through the tutorials. Review the tutorials below, and using materials from your project archive, create a simple audio/visual composition. It doesn’t have to resemble what you may imagine for your project. At this stage, the expectation is that, you’ll modify parameters manually (i.e. by clicking/dragging with the mouse)— we’ll develop a good familiarity with how to change the parameters of Max object boxes manually using message and number boxes before getting into automated and interactive methods. 

Assignment parameters: 

Use at least two video clips—they may or may not have their own soundtrack. Referencing the tutorials above, modify at least two of the following parameters: 

• Video playback speed & direction
• Video start, end & loop points (if looping)
• Video brightness / tint / color level modification
• Zoom / rotation
• Relative mix between two or more videos
• Video blend modes

Use at least two audio recordings—separate from any audio contained in the video files. Referencing the tutorials above, modify at least two of the following parameters:

• Audio playback speed & direction
• Audio start, end & loop points (if looping)
• Relative mix between two or more audio files
• Audio relative mix between left & right channels

Once ready, use Zoom to make a screen recording (cloud), demonstrating your experiment—remember to turn computer audio on. Make a recording no longer than 5 minutes, including the following:

• Show how the patch works
• Explain how you’d develop the patch further with more time, or any connections to themes related to your archive that developed for you
• Explain any difficulties you may have had with Max so far. 

Once the screen recording is complete, put a link to it in your Box folder. 

Tutorials & Reference Files

Max/MSP Tutorials: In Max, go to Help > Reference

• Max Basic Tutorials 1—5
• Jitter Tutorials 1—8
• MSP Sampling Tutorials 1—7

It will be helpful to reference the help patches for the following Max objects as you work through the tutorials and as you make your own patch:

• Video (Jitter): [jit.movie] [jit.matrix] [jit.world] [jit.window] [jit.brcosa] [jit.xfade]
• Audio (MSP): [sfplay~] [buffer~] [play~] [groove~] [ezdac~] [ezadc~] [gain~] [+~]
• Control (Max): Number box, messages box, toggles, “bang”, [metro]

Assignment 2: Sound and Video Recording

Using any sound and/or video recording device available to you (for example, a smartphone, DSLR, pocket recorder, etc.), make at least five recordings of at least 30 seconds each, and no more than two minutes per recording. Some ideas: Your recordings can capture indoor or outdoor settings (i.e. nature or cityscapes), crowds of people, machines in motion, or even scripted / choreographed action, interviews or short films. Perhaps the recordings you make will relate to the ideas and files you’ve been collecting in your project folder and journal. Add your recordings to your project folder, and be prepared to share and discuss them in our next class meeting. 

Editing software:

You have access to Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe Audition for audio and video editing. Be sure to edit your clips down to the sonically, visually and conceptually interesting parts. Note that if you’re using a smartphone, it might be easiest to trim your clips there.

Assignment 1: Building a Project Archive and Journal

Start curating an archive of sampled digital materials (audio, video, photos, animations, text), alongside a journal of inspirations and ideas. The purpose of the activity is to start thinking about your artistic concerns, as well as specific materials you might work with. At the next class meeting, you’ll share the materials in your archive, how you’ve organized it, and a bit about why you’ve selected certain files and what ideas they represent for you. You may or may not choose to use these specific materials in assignments and projects moving forward, but the expectation is that you’re updating this archive throughout the course so that you have a ready source of materials that are interesting to you once we start introducing production techniques. Think of this journal and project archive as the conceptual and material basis for the works you’ll produce throughout the semester. 

You will use Duke Box to organize your archive, assignments, and final project this semester. We will demonstrate in class how these folders should be organized.

Here is a demo folder