Music & Tech II Blog

This weekend, I took the time to assess what controllers I had available to be used for this project, as I wasn't able to make much progress on identifying a program that would allow me to pull the data.  The controller that I'd thought was an X-Box controller is actually an off-brand controller made to mimic an X-Box controller. I suspect that, due to this, it will not enjoy the the same ease of connection that has been reportedly found with X-Box controllers and windows computers. However, this controller is wired with a USB connector, so it may still work for providing direct inputs to a program like Chuck. Additionally, I have access to official Playstation controllers, also wired with USB cables. Our apartment also has a pair of wii remotes and accompanying joystick offhand controllers; I suspect I will not use these controllers so I can avoid any difficulties with using Bluetooth to connect them to my laptop.  Also available are more modern controllers, like those for th...

For my project in this class I've solidified on creating a program that will respond to a series of input parameters and game controller inputs to create a sound scape that corresponds to an individual's gameplay.  The initial proposal for this project included creating a program in Chuck, hardcoding the inputs from the controller and creating the response matrix. While straightforward, there is certainly a limitation in the variety of inputs that can be processed, specifically in games with fixed sequences, like many fighting based games. To provide myself more flexibility and variety of inputs without having to hardcode combination detections into Chuck, I explored a program called Wekinator, which is a machine learning engine designed to rely not on code but on more unique inputs, including both musical or sonic inputs and game controller inputs.  The basic process as I've come to understand it thus far is that the user will first select the type of input Wekinator will ...