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Introduction. Name: Smilen Dimitrov Education: B.Sc. in Electronics & Telecommunications (2001, University "Sts. Cyril & Methoduis", Skopje, Macedonia) Multimedia designer degree (Aarhus Tekniske Skole, 2003) M.Sc. in Medialogy (2004, Aalborg Universitet Copenhagen, Denmark)
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Introduction • Name: Smilen Dimitrov • Education: • B.Sc. in Electronics & Telecommunications (2001, University "Sts. Cyril & Methoduis", Skopje, Macedonia) • Multimedia designer degree (Aarhus Tekniske Skole, 2003) • M.Sc. in Medialogy (2004, Aalborg Universitet Copenhagen, Denmark) • Currently - Ph.D. student in Medialogy, Aalborg Universitet Copenhagen, Denmark • Teaching areas at AAU Medialogy • "Sensor Technology" (4th semester, B.Sc. studies Medialogy) www.smilen.net/st (spring semesters) • (discontinued) "Applied Statistics for Testing and Evaluation" (3rd semester, B.Sc. studies Medialogy) www.smilen.net/stat (fall semesters) • (discontinued) “Cross-Sensorial Processing" (7th semester, M.Sc. studies Medialogy) www.smilen.net/csp (fall semesters) • Associated supervision of project groups, and per-semester project work assistance
Research work • Research work is conducted in two main areas: • Work on projects within Medialogy Sensors and Sound Group (media.aau.dk/mssg) • Also within MSSG, the personal PhD project • * plus whatever research necessary for the courses
PhD project • On the possibilities for creative live performance using electronic audio sources • PhD project, is one with an open-source and do-it-yourself aspect to it, and • will deal with audio processing on both hardware and software level. • It is based on starting with a relatively older PC (say Pentium II), and then: • Building own custom I/O cards • Building own physical interface (say with potentiometers, custom sensors etc) • Installing a custom(ized) open-source OS by which, the device would become an independent electronic music and signal processing instrument (or, in a sense, a digital audio workstation).
PhD project • On the possibilities for creative live performance using electronic audio sources • Premise: there are two interaction interfaces, not originally developed ofr musical application, that have become common in live performance of electronic music: • Fader surfaces: faders(sliders), each of whom represent a channel in a song, can be rhythmically manipulated individually, to create song arrangement on-the-fly (multichannel sampler + mixer) • Turntables: allow for fine control of playback time of a song, forward or reverse – however individual control of channels is no longer possible (analog; Final Scratch, Serato) • Providing a platform (not currently available) that can technically support both ways of interaction simultaneously, may lead to development of novel ways of live performance of electronic music.
PhD project • In full context as a musical instrument:
PhD project • Two main problem areas • Technical (engineering) – come up with open source hardware and software, that can support the envisioned functionality • User research – discover optimal physical interface design, and optimal software design, to facilitate ease of use among potential users
PhD project • Subproblems (engineering) • Design of I/O cards • Design of a “basic” interface and functionality • Interface inherited from several common machines • Functionality should be implemented through the customized OS • Two-way (dual-boot) operating system • “Slim” OS – when the device is to be used as musical instrument (no video drivers, minimal traditional system resources) • “Normal” OS – most likely a version of Linux, that can access the custom hardware of the device • Specifics of “basic” interface performance • Should be able to provide independent controls of “songs”, that could be composed of several independent “channels” • Possibility to synchronise two separate compositions to two separate time-sync obtained from record players (like in Final Scratch, Serato) • - Design of custom sensors for musical interaction (i.e. 1D touch strip)
PhD project • Design of a “basic” interface and functionality • Interface inherited from several traditional machines • Pad bank – Akai MPC 2000 • Sequencer – Roland TB 303 • Dj Mixer – from DJ mixers (like Pioneer DJM 600) • Production mixer – from traditional mixing consoles • “Production mixer” faders control a single track within a tune • “DJ mixer faders” control entire tunes • Control of separate tracks within a tune should be available at all times
PhD project • Additional music-related problems • Haptic feedback of per-channel audio through vibrating fader heads • Design of custom interaction interfaces (like a 1D strip), and methods of their usage • Development of audio physical models • As research platform • Could provide slightly cheaper and faster ways to perform sampling • Could be useful especially in research that deals with audio-related data, demanding audio related sampling frequencies (44 KHz) for signals that possibly contain DC signals as well
PhD project – card development • Research status: currently focus is on developing a custom I/O (sound) card • Regular I/O card, except with the possibility to turn coupling capacitors (commonly found on soundcards) on inputs and outputs on and off from software • Would allow high-speed sampling of signals that contain DC components • First test – an ISA card with 8 bit inputs and outputs • Old design taken from the net • Ancient technology, not directly usable, needed for better education • Test of concept: • Needs old PC with ISA slots • Problems – difficult to implement and etch yourself – thin tracks • Currently second version is developed
PhD project – card development • Next in development: a PCI card, based on FPGA • Designs available through opencores.org; also for card accessible through both USB and PCI • Possibly there will be several types of I/O cards (for the DJ mixer, for several production mixer channel strips etc, generic I/O). • After suitable I/O cards are development, one can proceed to building software and interface
PhD project – time plan • 5 year PhD – until 2011 • Sound (I/O) cards development • ISA card – finished and analyzed by end 2007 • Start with work on PCI FPGA card – start at end 2007 • Development of PCI cards, and driver software – during 2008 • Software and control development – 2009 • “Slim OS” development • Start preparing a Linux variant for the “normal” OS and implement drivers for custom hardware • Development of time-code for pressing on vinyl record, and corresponding software for decoding and controlling audio, in both “slim” and “normal” OS mode • User interface development - 2010 • Proper building of the hardware user interface • Finishing “slim” OS software – adapt to user interface • Finishing “normal” OS software – adding specific applications (or ports thereof)