Mapping Tools Virtual Workshop 2022

On 1 September 2022 we held the third annual workshop on the mapping tools project (libmapper and surrounding tools). This year we had presentations and discussions covering:

• recent related projects and publications, including ForceHost and Mapper4Live
• updates to libmapper, language bindings, and user interfaces
• integration with FAUST and Ableton Live
• (re)release of the pySignalPlotter utility
• a proposal for adding quaternion support to the libmapper expression engine
• a proposal for a standard MIME type for referring to libmapper objects, enabling drag-and-drop mapping between signals
• a proposal for expression-language extensions for supporting “self-timed” periodic map updates and synchronized transports
• a proposal for adding support for “datasets” to libmapper

Video documentation of the workshop will be posted at a later date.

T-Stick Concert Videos

The Input Devices and Music Interaction Lab has uploaded videos from a concert held in February 2020, in which participating composers from the CIRMMT T-Stick Music Creation Workshop presented their new works. The videos linked below show some of their amazing variety, including installation-like pieces in which the T-Stick is fixed to a stand, works for dancers, laptop ensembles, and interactive visuals.

Article Published in IEEE Multimedia

Now available online: Joseph Malloch, Stephen Sinclair, and Marcelo M. Wanderley. “Generalized Multi-Instance Control Mapping for Interactive Media Systems”. In IEEE MultiMedia, 25(1), January–March 2018. DOI: 10.1109/MMUL.2018.112140028

We articulate a need for the representation of temporal objects reflecting dynamic, short-lived mapping connections instantiated from a template, in tools for designing and using interactive media systems. A list of requirements is compiled from an examination of existing tools, practical use cases, and abstract considerations of node connectivity and information propagation within a graph of connected devices. We validate the concept through implementation in the open source software libmapper, and explore its application by integration with existing controller/synthesizer software and hardware.

Concerto for T-Stick and Two Laptop Orchestras

Here’s a video from way back in 2011 that I only recently noticed on YouTube. It features D. Andrew Stewart playing the T-Stick as instrumental soloist with laptop orchestras from Concordia and McMaster Universities.

The piece was co-composed by Eldad Tsabary (director of the Concordia Laptop Orchestra, CLOrk), D. Andrew Stewart (T-Stick) and David Ogborn (founder of McMaster University’s Cybernetic Orchestra).

Interestingly, there are also a couple of videos online in which composer Kevin Austin presents the video and discusses the piece.

Ph.D. dissertation

My Ph.D. dissertation A Framework and Tools for Mapping of Digital Musical Instruments is available – contact me if you would like an electronic copy.

Digital musical instruments (DMIs) are typically composed of an interface using some type of sensor technology, and real-time media synthesis algorithms running on a digital computer. The connections between various input signals from performer interaction and the parameters of synthesis must be artificially associated – this mapping of gesture to sound or other media defines the behaviour of the system as a whole. Mapping design is a challenging and sometimes frustrating process.

In this dissertation, the design and implementation of an open-source, cross-platform software library and several related tools for supporting the mapping task are presented. These tools are designed to provide discovery and interconnection between parts of DMIs and other interactive systems, and to achieve compatibility through translation and transformation of data representations rather than imposing representation standards. The control parameters of software and hardware devices compliant with libmapper can be freely interconnected without requiring any intended mutual compatibility.

Among the unique features presented is support for mapping between systems that include entities with multiple instances with dynamic lifetimes, systems which would usually require bespoke programming. A formalization of the problem is described, and several examples of real-world applications are outlined.

Finally, use-cases for the mapping tools are presented in-depth: the design, development and use of novel digital musical instruments for live performance.