The Computer Musician’s Guide to Visual Art in Max/MSP

Adam Rokhsar
Sun, Nov 21, 2010 – noon to 6pm

Want to create music videos in realtime? How about learning new ways to see sound? This class is for musicians of all levels of experience in Max/MSP who want to learn how to bring video art into their repertoires.  We will discuss how to represent sound as moving images, including creating animations out of pitch and beat tracking, as well as performing sophisticated live processing on camera feeds using electronic and acoustic instruments, including the human voice.  Once able to build visuals out of our music, we will explore how to use the video itself to feed back and control aspects of our audio signal.  The last portion of the class will focus on a series of patching exercises customized for the skill level of each participant, leaving you with some powerful tools to begin bringing your visuals to the stage.

Adam Rokhsar is a multimedia artist with degrees in psychology from Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Music Information Retrieval Laboratory, the head coordinator of the Music Technology student interest groups. While earning a Master’s degree in Music Technology from New York University, Adam designs sound for interactive installations, teaches computer music and video programming, and is working on a Master’s thesis on machine learning algorithms. His sound design work can currently be seen in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, and his video work was displayed in the Jakopic Gallery as part of multimedia project Senza Televisione.