Smilen Dimitrov 1 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) (spring semesters) –(discontinued) "Applied Statistics for Testing and Evaluation" (3rd semester, B.Sc. studies Medialogy) (fall semesters) –(discontinued) “Cross-Sensorial Processing" (7th semester, M.Sc. studies Medialogy) (fall semesters) Associated supervision of project groups, and per-semester project work assistance

Smilen Dimitrov 2 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

Smilen Dimitrov 3 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).

Smilen Dimitrov 4 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.

Smilen Dimitrov 5 PhD project

Smilen Dimitrov 6 PhD project

Smilen Dimitrov 7 PhD project

Smilen Dimitrov 8 PhD project In full context as a musical instrument:

Smilen Dimitrov 9 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

Smilen Dimitrov 10 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)

Smilen Dimitrov 11 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

Smilen Dimitrov 12 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

Smilen Dimitrov 13 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

Smilen Dimitrov 14 PhD project – ISA card prototype development

Smilen Dimitrov 15 PhD project – ISA card prototype development

Smilen Dimitrov 16 PhD project – ISA card prototype development

Smilen Dimitrov 17 PhD project – ISA card prototype development

Smilen Dimitrov 18 PhD project – ISA card prototype - video

Smilen Dimitrov 19 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

Smilen Dimitrov 20 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 –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)