Streamland - the Max Instrument

My usual performance setup in Streamland. MIDI map delay time, delay feedback, and reverb room size to dials, and sample volumes to faders. QWERTY-key map sample reverse toggles. The rest of the mappings vary from one improvisation to the next

I began my laptop improvisations in an unfinished prototype Max instrument, which was an evolution of one of my older instruments - Square Bender.

As I zeroed in on the improvisation phase, I decided that this would be the only instrument I'd use - so as not to dilute my performative focus.

So I named this instrument Streamland and has now undergone a series of transformations as the improvisations unfolded:

-sample muting that retains loop position - so samples can be muted without going out of sync or being retriggered

-phase offset of synced loops - shift the position at which synced loops intersect. This retains uniform loop lengths, but can offset start position of each sample

-loop syncing in reverse, and loop syncing for selections of sample fragments (i.e. keeping the loop synced when only a part of the sample is selected, not the whole thing) - this was essentially just a bug that needed fixing. The grain-stretched loop syncing is not very tight, but it has an organic glitchy charm

-added MIDI and QWERTY keyboard pitch control (for non-granular playback only) - this is old-school pitch shifting without time-stretching. Although I could alter playback speed before, there was no way to land accurately on a pitch

-added portamento to pitch control – slide between sample playspeeds/pitches. A fine addition to the record-player-style repertoire of performative controls

-added synchronization for non-grain player (non-pitch correcting) - I added this mainly for syncing non-pitched material (e.g. percussive loops or noise) without granular distortion. The granular syncing wasn't tight enough for some purposes, and the non-pitch correction in this addition often adds richness to the sound-world

-added reversing to MIDI note control of samples - so MIDI note can set playspeed in forwards or reverse

-added MIDI button mapping for sample triggering and reversing - this frees up QWERTY keys for pitch control (MIDI note input)


[note: this instrument is not available to the public yet, but should be within the next 6 months]