function

MSP functions

This patch shows the lookup tables (a.k.a. transfer functions) being used on three formal levels: 1) the microscopic level, to determine the timbre of the waveform, 2) the note level, to determine the amplitude (and timbre) envelope, and 3) at the phrase level, to control the amplitude over a 15-second time span.

First, turn on audio (below), then start the tempo object.

Using a sustain point in a function object

When you play a note with MIDI, you usually want the note to sustain as long as the key is held down, then you want it to turn off (either immediately or gradually) when the key is released (when the note-off message is received). Because MIDI is designed to function in real time, in live performance, there is no duration information contained in a note-on message. The duration can only be known once the key has been released.

Tendency Masks

This example shows how to use the function object for making tendency masks with breakpoint line segment functions (à la Koenig and as explained by Rowe) using a line object to progress through the functions that describe the minimum and maximum of the function’s range.

Simple two-part gestures

I believe that we respond to and recognize something about the shape of the change in a sound, and that shape forms a metaphorical sonic "gesture" in our minds. The "shape of the change" means the way in which some aspect of the sound (it could be any measurable parameter) or the music (it could be any characteristic we care about) changes over time: how radically it changes, and with what acceleration of change. That can be simply stated as the value of the parameter in question, depicted as a function of time. That is, the "gesture" can be depicted as a curve of change over time.

Function Demo

If you have wondered how to setup the function object to remember its settings upon opening there 3 things to note:

1. preset and pattrstorage can give you all kinds of possibilities on loadbang.