Weekly Reflection 4

I made a lot of changes this week in regards to audio and the visuals. There was also time spent talking to IMM faculty for advice on animation software and instrument samples.

For visuals, I made a lot of progress in After Effects for the demo. In fact, all of the base layers are there, they just need to be animated and readjusted. Originally, I only planned to complete one other octave for the week, only another 12 layers. But I finished the lower octave sooner than expected and I was able to get done all of the octaves necessary for the demo, which is 3 plus one C above the higher octave. I also spent some spare time slightly adjusting each layer’s individual color and position on the canvas. This was so that everything appears completely aligned and so that the colors aren’t too similar, dark, or light within the entirety of the project. Lastly, I organized all of the precomps and folders within After Effects to make everything easier to navigate. Not only that, but I changed the names of each layer to accurately represent the instruments I am using and the notes being played.

Current progress on After Effects file. All 3 octaves are pictured, but more adjustment is needed. On the side panel, there are folders for every instrument and within those folders are the individual precomps for each instrument. In the timeline, the instruments and octaves are ordered from highest to lowest.

For the audio, I took Dr. Nakra’s advice and chose to stick with one instrument family: the woodwinds. With that, I bought the sample set from East West called “Hollywood Orchestral Woodwinds.” I did research on this sample set and observed the differences between the Philharmonia samples and the East West samples. After weighing the pros and cons of both, I decided to go through and buy East West, which I am currently waiting to receive in the mail. After I noticed the lack of quality in the Philharmonia samples, I contemplated using MIDI as it would save time and money. However, Dr. Nakra reminded me that any professional in the field would use an orchestral sample set over MIDI. Not only do the samples sound more professional, but it also makes individual audio work more credible among other professionals.

Overview of Hollywood Orchestral Woodwinds by East West.

In terms of the real-time animation, I am still experimenting with different animation software. I want to make sure I’m making the best use of my time with real time animation and using the absolute best software. For next week, I’m going to start experimenting with p5.js and processing. I may not need to use Max for the final interactivity segment. Instead, I can use Logic to play the live sound and one of the animation programs to display the visuals. I am also looking to include microphone usage to make my project more accessible to people who don’t know how to play the piano.