Using the built-in microphone or connected piezo microphones for recording the source material for the granular synthesis and using environmental sensors for controlling parameters, Kyra helps the user with creating sound designs out of and inspired by their surroundings. This enables the user to customise the controller exactly to their needs and make it into a playable instrument. Using a routing window, the user can decide freely which encoder or sensor is controlling which parameter of the synthesis engine. The connection between the Kyra controller and the Kyra synthesizer is where it gets interesting. The additive synthesis is much simpler and can be used as either background for a lead sound generated using the granular engine or as a lead sound over a background created by the granular engine. Max has great depth in its use for visuals and education, though I shall be focusing on it’s audio applications. Other effects featured are: filter (high pass/low pass/notch), pitch-shift (not MIDI controllable), saturation, feedback delay, rhythmic delay, reverb and GAZE (a frequency delay developed by other students). Max MSP is a visual audio programming language, written in C/C++ using the JUCE platform, this makes it an incredibly versatile tool, able to accommodate the needs of artists and engineers alike. A powerful feature is the ability to use a MIDI pitch effect for playing the granular synthesizer using a MIDI keyboard. After recording or choosing a sound file, the user can adjust the parameters of the granular synthesis and build a modular effect chain to alter the resulting signal. Via the GUI (graphical user interface) the user has access to all parameters needed to use the synthesis engine on its own. We'll leverage the ability of MSP to play sample data from the same buffer at multiple arbitrary speeds and time points to explore the technique of granular synthesis. It was coded using Max/MSP by Cycling 74. In this tutorial we'll look at using the poly object to generate large amounts of polyphony in order to play the contents of one buffer of sample data.
#Max msp granular synthesis software#
The software which Kyra was primarily designed for is a synthesizer featuring granular and additive synthesis.