Ideas For Max/MSP Midterm Exam

ASCII Numerology

Convert letters to ASCII numbers, sum the word, and match against other words with the same sum following the tradition of Hebrew numerology (which associated numerical values with each letter). Accomplish this by deriving the wordsum and converting to video or sound (via some MIDI or MSP algorithm) in order to compare texts musically or graphically. Although the ASCII sums will be somewhat arbitrary (with regard to textual meaning), patterns in the texts will not be adultured by the arbitrary nature of the ASCII designation. Stripped of semantic meaning, patterns in text may be more easily recognized. For example, take identifying authors of texts may prove easier to do by ear than by analyzing the text itself. Or flip it around and make it a game: take three texts, two by the same author, one by another, encode them all, and Name That Tune.

The Amazing SpeecherUpper

The human ear can process speech a LOT faster than the human mouth. I’d LOVE to have a patch that could take a podcast—or better yet, the output of text-to-speech—and play it as fast as I can comprehend. Rather than compressing the wave (and pitch shifting it higher) I’d like to filter out every tiny gap in the sound (measure the amplitude of the wave and cut everything that’s too low). I bet I could almost get all my reading done for classes that way…

Video Bank

Sure, I may be re-inventing the wheel…but that’s how one learns to be a wheelwright. (Metaphorically speaking, of course. Although now that I’ve started it, maybe I’ll use a wheel metaphor for the video interface). I’d be interested in making a video performance tool that would let me trigger short video clips in realtime, using keyboard triggers. Some minor effects would be nice too. Jit.op and maybe some masking. The real appeal and value-added of this project would be writing my own interface, something tailored for me. This would probably involve a whole mess of VNS.