TWID #29: Pointclouds and Modular Synthesisers
Pointclouds are fun, especially when combined with sounds from a modular synthesiser in a live performance.
This week I was learning new things about point clouds, optimised my visual system and was part of an audiovisual modular performance.
Using Pointclouds in TouchDesigner
Before we come to the main topic, I need to mention that I also had the opportunity to work with Lukas from obj studio to do some visuals at a big conference.
Our main thing was to have fun with point clouds and when I realised that point clouds are just pixel information that you can manipulate with compositing, feedback and all other TOPs, it opened up a new world for me.
They can go really deep and offer so many ways for interesting visuals things.
Organising my visual system
Sometimes I am surprised by how many things I forget and in this case I stumbled upon a system I have built in the past, that had a really nice way to deal with data.
It uses a data container with all inputs as custom parameters. The visuals then reference from that container with an absolute path. The interesting part is, that there is an input container that has all sort of inputs, like keyboard, midi and osc that all go into a bind chop which then binds the values to the data container.
This is very nice, since I have an overview of all values and their current state and I also can manipulate them. By combining all values with the same name in the bind chop this is incredibly flexible and can take almost any input you want like the td-es9 component I have built for connecting the modular system.
Playing an audiovisuals live set
So the point cloud and visual system improvements have been done for a reason, which is the first ever live performance with Andrea Heilrath playing modular sounds and me doing visuals for that.
The modular system is connected to TouchDesigner with the Expert Sleepers Es-9 and sends Cv of the most characteristic sounds, which then drive parameters of the visuals.
It was a really nice experience and I am really excited to play more of those.
Doing a bit too much
There was a lot going on in the past weeks and I realised that I need to take care of myself. I have the urge to do things which is quite nice, but having a list of productive tasks that need to be completed next to a day job is kind of self destructing.
I need to figure out how to rest and accept it as something that is valuable while being sort of unproductive from my current point of view. Otherwise I am in danger of taking damage from that.
Other things I did this week
Animations
Drawing
That’s it for this week. Hope you liked it.