Jamie Lidell - Human Funk Tornado

Jamie Lidell, yet another performer using Max, created a patch that works somewhat like a digital DJ. In his performances, he uses Max to produce background music for his singing. This is different than some of the other Max user videos we have seen in that his performances cannot be classified as performance art or as an installation. He is doing something that seems much more mainstream, and it is interesting to see Max used in this fashion.

While he does not go into specifics on how his Max patch works, he does say that he used it to create a sort of "looping machine." According to this, I feel like he is doing something more interesting than what most current musicians are doing. His music seems like it could be much more spontaneous than others. Because of this, he is almost recreating this mainstream genre of art by putting his own spin on it. While this is different than the other videos we have seen, it still shows an artist using Max to achieve new and different pieces.

Matthew Lewis

Matthew Lewis, a professor using Max, talks about the various ways that Max can be applied to both the professional world and to the teaching world. Several of the things that he talks about, such as the ability to get near instantaneous results when working with the program, are the sort of thing that Max excels at.

Two of the projects struck me as very interesting in particular. The first project Lewis talks about is one that he created in order to randomly generate logos. Since I am and have been interested in graphic design for years, I find it fascinating that it is possible to use Max to help you with the preliminary sketching stage in identity creation. It definitely seems like an easy way to mess around with ideas without going through some long, drawn out process.

The second project that interested me was one of his student's, where the student's movements controlled sounds being produced. This, which is similar in nature to the Messa di Voce performances we viewed previously, is an aspect of Max that truly interests me. I look forward to figuring out how to create this sort of physical interaction with the program.

Messa di Voce and Donald Duck

The "Messa di Voce" (Italian for "placing the voice") performances found here, provide a new way to look at sound. One example, Messa di Voce: "Bounce (Jaap's Solo)," has one man on stage in front of a yellow/green background. He makes "special cheek-flapping," sounds, as the website says, and every time he does, black bubble-like objects shoot out of his mouth and float to the top of the scene.

This video, like the others found on the website, make the viewer think differently about sound. For example, near the beginning of this piece, Jaap makes several large bubbles among hundreds of smaller ones. I found myself asking, "What did he do to make these? It seems like all the sounds he's making are random. But if all the sounds are random, why aren't more large bubbles created?" Jaap eventually branches out into different sorts of sounds that don't quite qualify as "cheek-flapping," and eventually starts sounding like an enraged Donald Duck.

This idea of creating something physical (tiny black bubbles) with something that really isn't physical (the various sounds we are capable of making), is intriguing. By the end of the piece, Jaap has a large group of bubbles sitting at the top of the screen; but as he steps back to appreciate his work and pat himself on the back for a job well done, they begin to fall away, and try as he might, he can't catch them. Angered, he kicks and pushes all of the bubbles off the stage while making even more (slightly frightening) Donald Duck noises. Is this saying something else about sound? Perhaps that sound, and even the visualization of sound, can easily be lost. They are temporary things.

This visual symphony is an interesting piece. I never before thought that the sound of cheek flapping is actually the sound of thousands of tiny black bubbles floating across a screen. But apparently it is. This piece also has "intermedia" implications, as it is bridging the gap between opera (in a way), performance art, animation and other visual mediums. And by using a computer that accepts real world input (much like North Pitney's maze, where the person controls the maze, or animation in this case, by using their body and voice as opposed to a keyboard and mouse), the virtual/real-world gap has again been bridged.