Paul Adams

Its been a long time since I have updated the site. Well one of the last posts submitted suggested creating lots of new work with the software but as things are it didnt quite go like that! After deciding to submit for the 2009 SPNM composition competition I thought hey wouldnt it be cool if the software could do this or great if I could add that mmm really don’t like that feature, it would work better like that. Well you get the general picture, after my last performance which as of this post is now several months ago i started ripping the software apart and examining what worked and what really didnt, this resulted in a complete rewrite of the software which at the time of writing is coming on well but still is some way off completion with new ideas being added all the time. The SPNM submission was a bit of a disaster but you know it got the ball rolling and will result in vastly superior program so there you go..!

This is the summary of the new version so far:

Spectrographical editing environment as before (see audiosculpt, spear as touchstones) frequency data can now be shifted between four different canvases in realtime, with all canvases visible to the performer. Frequency data can be chopped faded, merged and copy-n-pasted cyclical fashion in any direction.
Non-destructive/distructive visual effect filters; five different visual effect filters per channel can be used in unison on regions of the frequency data. At present filter processes can be automated in much the same way as a a conventional sequencing application, some generative processes are to be added.

Frequency data can now be segmented into regions automatically with precision adjustable control down to 2 FFT frames (think spectrographical recycle) (many thanks to Jean-Charles Francois for assistance with this) the regions can be looped or triggered, be played at any speed and in any direction then used in conjunction with four different loop sequencing tools; two manual, two generative. The two manual loop tools are fully midi assignable allowing the use by a whole host of controllers. In addition there is very simple tracker style sequencer for building up a montage of loop patterns for each of the four channels.

As mentioned there is lots still to code and much more to add in particular I have junked the old visual output and have yet to start work on a replacement, for the moment I want to get the audio side finished first, hopefully by the next post I will have a video demo of the software in action, its is hoped that eventually this will become a downloadable application at least in one form or the other! Hopefully it wont be another year!

Here is an early screenshot of the editing environment:

After many long hours, the software’s first beta is complete.


“PrifArc56 is a realtime audiovisual compositional environment which allows you to manipulate audio within the visual domain, much in the same way as a image editing application. Audio is captured into a virtual canvas where it can be subject to a number of visual based effect processes. The software allows the performer to select frequency orientated selections of the editing environment and place them on one of four output channels, with the position of the brush on the canvas determining the both the visual and audio position across a two dimensional plane. The region selected produces immediate audiovisual feedback; each gestural movement of the brush therefore has a perceptible outcome that can be observed by both the performer and the audience”

I started testing the audio side of the software last weekend, to see how it fared during performance. The sound manipulation is working well. The visual side of things keeps changing, I have been using a lot of open gl to render the audio information, its coming to a point where I need to decide what meets the criteria of my research. Some early example screenshots.