Matthew J Redman
Matthew J Redman
~/Creations
Music / Audio Production / Code / Art

Microcontrollers, Art, + other Eccentricities

Experimentations with Music Generators, Art Installations, + Graphic Art

Pixelman

Microcontrollers, Arduino, Game Design

This is Quanta, an Arduino-based, hand-held, 1-bit video game system that is as ludicrous in its conception as it is fun to play. The first game, Pixelman, is a basic platformer / shooter game that I still find very satisfying. It takes about 45 minutes to do a full run through, and really highlights what this platform can do. As a concept piece (and, of course, not an actual platform for market), I created only one game for Quanta. The platform, however, was built modularly, with multiple view-types, game modes and functions to make game programming straight-forward. Future innovations would include SD card memory for game information, essentially making it a cartridge game system, while freeing up memory for a good, old-school MIDI output for SFX and music... one can dream...



Aesthetic Noise

Digital Visual Art, Pure Data, Digital Distortion

A series of Digital self portraits created with my open source heart throb, Pure Data. I greatly enjoy playing with digital distortion to create sharp lines and stark contrast.


Aesthetic Noise
Aesthetic Noise

eXecute

Digital Audio Programming, MAX/MSP

eXecute is a live music performance system I built using MAX/MSP. It featured 16 stereo loop tracks, each with dynamically assignable audio processing for dynamic and time-based effects. Having built these effects discretely within eXecute, I would go on to re-package them as VST plugins (the Red VST Plugin pack). Ultimately the project got a little too big for its britches, eventually falling into MAX 4.0 obsoletion, but it was great fun digging into this one.



Microcontroller MIDI Rhythm Composer (the RC-1)

Microcontrollers, Algorithmic Music Generation, Arduino, MIDI

The RC-1 is a hardware MIDI drum pattern composer that uses one of my music composition algorithms (plus a healthy dose of pseudo-random number generation) to compose dynamic and musical rhythm patterns. I designed the interface to be as simple as possible, while yeilding plenty of creative control. It outputs to a basic MIDI output, making it ever-compatible with modern systems.



The CMPLX Visual Branding

Digital Visual Art, Visual Branding

For my musical project, The CMPLX, I needed graphics and branding that could match the modern-digital and sharp artistic qualities of the music. I am particularly proud of these pieces. They contributed to a consistent and memorable visual backbone for a project that was very close to my heart.


The CMPLX Visual Branding
The CMPLX Visual Branding

Harbinger, Custom MIDI CC Library System

MIDI Programming, Pure Data

I needed a way to recall hardware MIDI Synthesizer CC and Program Settings for a MIDI-based musical project. Harbinger was born; a MIDI CC and Data Recall System custom built for my hardware synth setup. One of the necessary innovations was the creation of custom session files that could be saved as txt files for later recall. While quite complicated, I found this program particularly useful and stable.



Experiential Music Installation

Experiential Art, Music Installation, Ableton Live, MAX/MSP

While working at Toast + Jam, I was tasked with the creation of a music installation that would involve participants actively engaging in the composition and generation of the music. The end client was a large financial institution, and as part of a larger marketing campaign, they were serious about making an impact in an experiential way. The solution was a fun medly of Ableton Live, custom MAX/MXP plugins, Node.js, and more. The result was a functional, dynamic music generation system that was designed to engage six active participants in a fun and physical way. As with many things in the ad industry, this project met an untimely end prior to launch, but I am certainly happy with my contributions creating the music backbone of this amazing project.



Object, Texture, Location (Graphic Print Series)

Digital Visual Art, Digital Distortion

A series of graphic prints I created, exploring digital textures and distortions.


Object, Texture, Location (Graphic Print Series)
Object, Texture, Location (Graphic Print Series)

MIDI Drum and Bass Composer

MIDI Programming, Pure Data

Using Pure Data, I expanded my RC-1 (Rhythm Composer) musical algorithm to include creation of original and melodic bass lines. The result is a program that can write original drum and bass patterns based on artistic user inputs like "creativity" and "complexity". General MIDI Outputs allow for universal compatibility with modern drum and bass synthesizers... one of the reasons I love MIDI.