The section below showcases some of my non-sound design creative work. Some of these are old university projects and others are private projects developed for personal needs and freelance visual work.
Audio-Reactive Visuals in UE4
Just toying around with some audio analysis tools in UE4. The amplitude of specific frequency bands are being used to drive the velocity of unique particles generated with the Niagara visual effect tools in Unreal Engine 4. Particles are pulsing to the kick and the panned synth that comes in at 0:20. Pretty neat, excited to explore this more.
Pixel Drag
This Max MSP patch selects pixels based upon relative luminosity and creates a dragging effect either up or down the screen. Although there’s still some fine tuning to be done, as it gets a little chaotic at times, this effect is a personal favourite of mine.
VFX Processing Tool
This tool was my first serious endeavour into real time VFX within Max MSP. Although originally developed as a university project, the project was forwarded to Bradford Media Museum where it was chose to be shown as part of an interactive art exhibit. I’ve also use this tool to create live stream background loops for a local independent record label.
Vector Warp
This is an advancement of a Sem Shimla tutorial I was following in order to understand more about Max’s Jitter matrix processing.
I added the ability to input live webcam data and hot-swap pre-recorded footage as well as textural controls such as object smoothing, colour and a sample & hold noise to add dynamic variation to the visuals.
Resonant Comb Filter Granular Synthesiser
This system stemmed from a university project in which we were asked to develop a sound design tool within Max MSP. Having already explored granular synthesis in Max I chose to combine this with my interest in resonant waveguide filters. The system is somewhat limited in timbral variation but proves useful for creating unique eerie soundscapes and metallic drones.
Hybrid Synthesiser
In collaboration with friend and fellow sound designer Dan Larkin we created a granular/subtractive hybrid synthesiser along with a physical controller using an Arduino microcontroller.
The synthesiser featured:
- Wave blend oscillators (1 knob blends through all wave shapes)
- Touchscreen control of granular player
- 4 Global effects
- Ribbon Keyboard that could be set to free scale or quantised to western chromatic
Interactive CV Interface
An older project that was completed as part of my undergrad dissertation project. Control voltage signals were generated in Max MSP and sent through to the interface where they are amplified to Eurorack compatible levels. The controls on the interface manipulate the systems that generate the CV in Max MSP.
Rory Hay 