How to Use a Passive Volume Pedal as a Controller

So I've got this old passive volume pedal lying around. I haven't used it in many years. Today I decided to use it as an expression pedal, which is something that I am far more likely to use.


The pedal itself uses a very basic setup - a trim pot and the main pot which is controlled by the tilt of the foot. The audio signal usually goes through the pots which adjust the volume.



I made a cable that connects my Arduino board to two 6.5mm mono jacks. The shield of the blue connector goes to ground, the tip of the blue connector goes to 5V, the shield of the red connector goes to ground and the tip of the red connector goes to Analog Input Pin 5.


The red connector is connected to the output of the pedal. The blue connector is connected to the input. The idea is that the volume put acts as a voltage divider. The output is then a voltage between just over 0V and 5V, depending on the tilt of the pedal. This voltage is then read by the Arduino

The Arduino has a very simple sketch, which checks for a change in voltage on its analog voltage, and then sends the data to a Max/MSP patch.


The Max/MSP patch takes the value, which is between 0 and 255, and divides it by two. This value is sent as a MIDI CC value to other programs or devices, such as Ableton Live


I plan on housing the microcontroller etc in the pedal itself, and running actual MIDI hardware from the pedal, so that it doesn't need the Max/MSP patch.

Below you can see a quick demo video of the pedal in action.

little-scale: Office Yoga Made Easy

Office yoga made easy; hypnosis for the modern age. Music for SEGA Nomad and Atari 2600. Cure yourself with electricity.


Track listing:
1. We Are Eating Our Children
2. Four-Wheel Drive Advertisement
3. Plus One
4. Self Replicating Technology
5. Latitude and Longitude (CD-only track)
6. Microbiology


You can download this release here. You can also purchase a physical copy of this release here. Why would you want to do that? Well, (1) you might like to support what it is that I do (2) it's only $4 plus postage and (3) it contains an extra track.

The artwork contains elements by the Flickr user O'hAodha. Used under license.

4KB 27C256 Device Atari 2600 Cartridge

I received some blank Atari 2600 PCBs in the mail today from the delightful Albert Yarusso. Doesn't the purple look nice? These carts are 4K carts and are made to use 27256 / 27C256 devices (which are actually 32KB) instead of the less common and more expensive 2732 / 27C32 (4KB).

Lazerscale Site Update

The Lazerscale site has been updated with easier to use navigation, the ability to leave comments on tracks and a new and improved embedded music player.

So check it out and get your Lazerscale on.

http://www.lazerscale2010.com/

Error Repeat is now on CDK's YouTube

I've Been Nominated for TCTD Best Artist of the Year!

True Chip Till Death have an annual awards season, which is currently upon us. I've been nominated for the category of Best Artist of the Year 2009. With the quantity of exceptional people making exceptional music last year, it really is a surprise and an honour to be amongst four of my favourite chip musicians - Minus baby, Bud Melvin, 4mat and Goto80. I have to say that I really respect and look up to each and every one of them.

Read the nominations here.
Read more about the TCTD Awards here.

Lazerscale is on the Save 2! 4! Blog!

Adam Monkhouse, creator of the Adelaide music-based blog Save 2! 4! has written an article about Lazerscale. You can read the article here.

Cloud Sparrow's 365

Cloud Sparrow has started a very lovely Flickr set.
One photo for every day.

Official Blipfestival 2009 Photos!

Marjorie Becker was the official photographer of the 2009 Blipfestival. I have to say that she has done an amazing job of capturing the event and her photostream on Flickr is well worth a look. Go there for plenty of great Blip Festival photos!

little-scale Video Interview on Bytejacker.com

Apparently I've got a (short) video interview on Bytejacker.com. You can check it out here. I've had trouble loading the video. Could just be me though. YouTube mirror is here.

A26F Atari 2600 MIDI Interface Update

I have added an 'oversampling' routine for the A26F, which allows for high speed / pitched playback of samples. Basically, it means that one can get more variety out of the small amount of sample space available.

New Bumper Sticker For My Car

SMSM (Sega Master System MIDI Interface Update)

Today I have added a number of features to the Sega Master System MIDI Interface (SMSM).

For the YM2413 FM chip, the interface now has:

• More accurate pitch calculation
• Support for tunings other than 12-TET, from 4-TET to about 18-TET
• Support for different tunings of concert A, from 377Hz to 504Hz (in intervals of 2 - 4 Hz).
• Support for user-defined pitch bend ranges, from +/- 1 semitones to +/- 12 semitones
• Support for user-defined transposition

YM2413 Data Reverberation Max/MSP Patch

I've made a simple Max/MSP patch that allows the user to simply pass MIDI data to it in the form of a monophonic, single channel note stream, which then copies the data to multiple channels with a predefined amplitude multiplier and cascaded delay. The result is easy data-based reverberation for the YM2413.

little-scale: Always By Your Side (2)

A minimalist approach to Sega Master System music.

For my wife Lauren.

On Extending the Instrumentation of the YM2413

The YM2413, which is present in the Japanese variant of the SEGA Master System (and can be installed in consoles from other regions) has some interesting 'cost-cutting' characteristics. It has nine pitched voices of FM sound (or six pitched and five percussive when in percussion mode).

In terms of instrument settings, each pitched voice can be set to one of sixteen preset settings, labeled internally from zero to fifteen. Setting zero is the only instrument preset whereby the programmer / music composer has control over the sound that is produced - all of the other settings are hard presets, as follows:

0. (custom voice)
1. violin
2. guitar
3. piano
4. flute
5. clarinet
6. oboe
7. trumpet
8. organ
9. horn
10. synthesizer
11. harpsichord
12. vibraphone
13. synthesizer bass
14. acoustic bass
15. electric guitar

As stated, only instrument zero can be customised in terms of sound. However, more than one voice might be set to instrument zero, in which case both voices will sound identical, even when the settings of instrument zero are changed. This scenario can seem a little limiting.

However, it is possible to extend the preset instruments in at least two ways.



Instrument Change Envelope
The idea with an instrument change envelope is that each note-on event automatically also triggers an instrument change event shortly after. Two predefined instruments are chosen - A and B. Instrument setting A is before the instrument setting change (and directly at the attack of the initial note-on event), and instrument B is after the instrument setting change (and is after the initial note-on event).

By changing the settings whilst the chip is currently synthesising sound for a given voice, it seems that it is possible to produce notes that are not strictly of a predetermined instrument setting (or at least, it has this effect).

The time between a note-on and the instrument change is approximately 10 ms.

Sound examples of using the instrument change envelope:
- instrument 4 (dry)
- instrument 4 --> instrument 8
- instrument 6 (dry)
- instrument 6 --> instrument 3



Instrument Change Modulation
It is also possible to modulate the instrument setting of a given voice. This involves the following process. When a note-on event is received, a software-based control oscillator is activated, which is then used to modulate between two instrument settings, creating more complex sounds than using the presets individually.

Typically frequencies for the control oscillator range from 1 KHz down to 20 Hz, so I guess we might call this a low to mid frequency oscillator.

At times, this sounds similar to a standard amplitude modulation, however, this is definite timbral merit in pursuing techniques such as these, as it pushes the limits of what the chip is capable of, and what sorts of sounds can be extracted from a limited sonic framework.


Sound examples of using the instrument change modulation:
- instruments 10 and 14 forming the modulation points
- instruments 11 and 13 forming the modulation points
- instruments 12 and 8 forming the modulation points
- instruments 2 and 3 forming the modulation points

Ukulele Sample Pack (Copyright-free and License-free)

I have made a free ukulele sample pack, recorded using two piezo transducers. Download it here. Copyright-free and license-free.

Data-based Reverberation Using YM2413 (Sega Master System)

The idea of data-based echo in chipmusic is very common, of course, whether this is via a single channel (voice) or two or more voices. In all cases, data is copied and repeated at a later time (often a rhythmically relevant length longer than around 80 ms), creating a richer sound for a given section, track, phrase or instrument.

An extension of this idea is the creation of artificial, data-based reverberation. Naturally, this process uses up more resources, both in terms of computing power (more musical events must be synchronised and timed correctly) but also in terms of voicing and channels (the more channels, the fuller and more realistic the reverberation may sound).

The YM2413 chip is the perfect candidate for experimentation with artificial, data-driven reverberation, as it has quite a number of channels (9 x FM channels) for a chip of the era.

The way that this reverberation is created is very straightforward. The same line is repeated across all nine channels. For each subsequent channel, a short delay is added (in this case 35ms per channel) and a certain amount of volume is subtracted (in this case, each subsequent channel has a volume data byte that was 1/16th lower than the previous).

The outcome is relatively convincing, considering that it is only a data-driven application of reverberation. Listen below.

YM2413 - simple example of a virtual space - no space (dry)
YM2413 - simple example of a virtual space - space (wet)

The Idea of Space in Chipmusic

Recently, I have been thinking about the concept and role of (physical or virtualised audio) space in chipmusic. Space in electronic music is interesting, because most spaces must be fabricated in one way or another - whether by using a physical space or by the virtualising of a space via electronic means (whether by compositional or production methods).

In general, the concept and role of space within chipmusic can be divided into a number of categories, namely: space as meta-narrative, space as narrative and space as effect.

To expand on these three: space as meta-narrative refers to the idea of recording a layer of audio beyond and outside of the world of audio output from a given digital system. The role of using space in this way is to provide a meta-narrative; to situate the musical composition in a specific environment and create a mood that is beyond and outside of the given musical characteristics of the work that has been composed. The outcome is that the audience is aware of the world outside of the composition (but still part of the recording) and thus the context of the listening experience has been once-removed from a direct relationship between music and playback medium.

Examples of space as meta-narrative include portions of the work titled 'Blast' by Alex Mauer as well as my own 'Always By Your Side (Part 1)'.

Space as narrative and space as effect are sometimes difficult to distinguish, and sometimes the two may of course overlap. Space as narrative is when the use of echo / delay lines / reverberation connects with the programmatic material of a work. An example (at least in my mind) would be Nebula by RushJet1, where the echo heard on the pulse wave is linked to the theme of the piece.

Space as effect is extremely common, and includes the use of both production effects such as reverberation plugins, digital delay lines and the like, as well space that has been created via compositional / data manipulation means (such as single, dual and multi-channel echos and reverbs).

Chipmusic.org - A Website for the Chipmusic Community!

Get onto it everyone. You know you want to. Chipmusic.org.

little-scale Interview on Motherboard

"At Blip, we talked to one of the highlights, chiptune artist Sebastian Tomczak, a 26-year-old Australia-based chip music artist and hardware developer, about the surprisingly old scene, the surprisingly young crowd, and the freaky process of getting hundreds of un-medicated people to gyrate to the sounds of Game Boys."

I want to thank Talisa Chang for the amount of effort she has put into this article, much appreciated. Read the full interview here.

Lazerscale Blog / RSS / Twitter!

Lazerscale now has a Blog, RSS Feed and a Twitter account.

In case you're wondering what Lazerscale is...

"In November 2009 Lazerbeat and little-scale took part in a challenge to write 30 songs in 30 days. They found a shared interest in the experimentation encouraged by creating music under a strict schedule and decided to push the idea a little further.

The aim of this project is that between January 1st and December 31st 2010, a number of artists will each produce 365 songs. There are a small number of rules governing the exercise but it is mainly for fun and hopefully making some good music."

All I can say is... Lazerscale is Go!

GameSetWatch Event Report on BlipFestival

I got two mentions in this report on BlipFestival by GameSetWatch.

"So 8-bits sounds great, but what about 16? Just as good, as demonstrated by Little-Scale, who got the warmest reaction of all the new faces the entire weekend. The wall of sound that he created with the help of his custom Mega Drive is hard to put into words, though tribal and haunting are somewhat fitting, I hope."

Read the full write up here.

Lazerscale Site is Now Live!

The Lazerscale site is now up and running! 365 tracks in 365 days by multiple artists - be prepared for an exciting year of music!

http://www.lazerscale2010.com/