Download Software „instant.Tool“ for OSX

To create a <music building kit> for <instant city> the composers worked with a special sound-driving software, „instant.tool“. This was developed in the programming environment MAX/MSP (cycling’74). „Instant.tool“ serves as the composition environment and sound driver for the <instant city> playing board. The sensors under the tabletop register the architectural and three-dimensional qualities of the playing pieces on the table and send this information to the “instant.tool” software as codified data.

To limit the nearly endless number of various building situations that are possible with more than 100 building blocks, the 256 sensor chambers are combined in a maximum of 8 sectors.

Each individual composer can design the division of the surface in the sectors with the software simulator.

Through the shadow-casting of the building blocks on the chambers, the light sensors detect the number of building blocks and the greatest building height in a sector. Where the block in a sector is placed doesn’t matter. The two parameters of number and height are codified into an unequivocal, three-digit number that is generated through the relationship of the architectural and musical situations.

Musical moods, sounds, soundscapes, rhythms, voices, noises, etc. can be heard respective to the different architectural situations on the playing table. The exact musical qualities are produced with the sound modules of “instant.tool” and saved as so-called presets according to the respectively codified indices in each sector. The choice of the sound module is individually determined for each composition. Different sampling and sound file players are available, as well as diverse sequencers, modulators (FM, AM, etc.), filters, pitch shifters, etc.

The biggest problem (and biggest challenge) in the realization of the musical aspect of the project lies in the nonlinearity of the time axis. A player can begin to build in the red sector just as well as in the yellow or green. The temporal progression of the construction process is completely arbitrary. Thus the temporal progression of the musical performance (especially also the way the single strains are eventually heard together) cannot be absolutely determined, which, on the other hand, presents particular demands in terms of the selection and design of musical material.

Software Development:
Volker Böhm
Audiodesigner, musician und tutor at: Elektronisches Studio der Musik-Hochschule Basel