Participation at A MAZE. Interact
Jump’n Run Bonus Cheat, February 2, 2010.

Participation at A MAZE. Interact
Symposium, January 31, 2010 and Installation at Jump’n Run Bonus Cheat, February 2, 2010.

Participation at A MAZE. Interact
Symposium, January 31, 2010 and workshop, January 30 to February 1, 2010.

Damian Stewart is an artist, interaction designer, and creative software programmer, originally from New Zealand and currently based in Europe. His installation and performance work is driven by a desire to explore and communicate new kinds of experiences – e.g. through creating senses of space that transcend the immediate physical environment of the viewer. Recent work includes projections, light performances, iPhone applications, custom electronics development, and environment sonification projects. Stewart is part of the openframeworks development group.
www.frey.co.nz

Participation at A MAZE. Interact
Jump’n Run Bonus Cheat, February 2, 2010.

Participation at A MAZE. Interact
Jump’n Run Bonus Cheat, February 2, 2010.

under ccsa3.0 by Jjron

So.. this is not gamemusic, right? Well, yeah- but this are the roots of the chiptunes movement in the 80’s, where computers were marketed by their sound capabilities, music software arises and geeks programmed their songs with effects of beloved games. Much later, let’s say around 2000, the chiptunes movement gains interest again- mostly by the release of easy-to-use software for the Gameboy and live performances.

As for now, there are a lot of playful ways to make music with a game. Look at Electroplankton, Korg DS-10, Little Big Planet or the Guitar Hero World Tour Music Studio in which you can compose your own tracks with the GH-Guitar. However, you can always go further and gain complete freedom by using just the gamecontroller – like Tim Groeneboom aka WiiJ Timski.

He was a traditional Drum’n'Bass/Breakbeat DJ for 5 years when he discovered the Wii in 2006. Using musicsoftware for his performances, there is not much going on for the audience- delivering some movement and a nice show would be great. So why not using the bluetooth-ability of the Wiimote to hook it up to Ableton over midi and Max/Msp for access to the accelerometers, buttons and the joystick?

“In one of my first filters, I had to do moves like these. [Swings his hand far to the right] And this again and again. At some point my wrists hurt and now I’m doing much more with rotation.” After all, he has a masters degree in music engineering and by some programming and a lot of training he got it right: He could control, play, mix and filter music just by combinations of different gestures and buttons. Live. With a great show. Success!

His three fav-points about this:
1. Bodymovement: It’s nice to see the movement of your body translating into sound.
2. Wireless: “I always could go to the bar and get some beer, without stopping the music.”
3. No equipment: So much lighter..

In a Wiimote are a lot of nice sensors, but apparently this is not enough. He currently tries to use the new Motion Plus and the Balance Board. Luckily for us, he already got the Wii Guitar ready: His performance with this ex-gamecontroller is just amazing! Watch, enjoy and remember: This is just the beginning of interactive, creative, musical expression through games.

Around 1993 Reznor was just working with his Mac, never touching the PC world. But after someone showed him Castle Wolfenstein 3D, “I went out and bought whatever it was at the time, 386, 486, and we got hooked. The sense of being immersed in the game really struck a chord with me. And when we were rehearsing for the downward spiral tour, Doom came out, and I was like, ‘Oh my god.’” So after meeting the id-guys, he did the music and the sfx for the original Quake (1996) not for the money, but for his love to the game.

The music itself was, as you could expect from the game and in contrast to the edgy, metallic weapon-sounds, dark, deep and kinda damaged, mostly atmospheric. “What I was hoping to achieve with the Quake music was not so much some adrenaline-pumping , ‘let’s go kick ass’ kind of music, but more like the music in films John Carpenter - the tension and uneasiness – or David Lynch, the dissonance or sound as atmosphere enhancement.”

Reznor didn’t want to view the music as a lost NIN album, but his fans did. The packaging had a ‘New Nine Inch Nails Music’ label and to hear the soundtrack, you also could insert the disc into a regular CD player. This two facts led many people to the game and gaming in general. Looking back, a Fan said: “I can’t recall exactly why I tried Quake in the first place, but Trent’s work on the music really made me love it. Quake was the reason I bought my first Windows-based system.” However we also have these guys: “We heard the music, and tried it out in a CD player and i think it actually spent more time in audio racks than in computers.”

The huge success of the game, the advertising with the band and the technical possibilities to include CD music contributed to made it trendy to involve well known bands in the soundtrack. However, Quake was his one and only project, although the ex-drummer of NIN, Chris Vrenna, did the music for Doom 3, Quake 4, American McGees’s Alice, Enter The Matrix and some more.

Two nice facts at the end:
One: You can hear Nine Inch Nails everywhere in the game, but they also have a visual manifestation: The ammunition box of the nailgun has the NIN-logo on it. And two: He said some nice things about creativity and its relation to games: “[..] video games are a healthy way of distracting your mind. I’ll often reach a brick wall, where I just can’t find the right line or the right melody. But what we’ve done here at the studio is create a bunch of distractions so you can step out of what you’re doing and change you head space. You can play a video game, then you can come back, and often the problem has gone away.”

Interview: Incite #7, June 2000, by Paul Semel: “Pretty Quake Machine”
Photo: Mykal Burns

http://visitsteve.com

http://www.fortlaan17.com

http://www.ekac.org