Symbolic Sound Corporation has expanded the list of real-time controllers and software that can communicate with its Kyma sound design environment by adding support for Open Sound Control (OSC) to its Paca(rana) sound engine.
By connecting a Paca or Pacarana to the Ethernet, sound designers, musicians, and researchers using Kyma on Windows or Macintosh computers can establish bi-directional communication with OSC-enabled devices and software on the network to control parameters of Kyma sound synthesis and processing algorithms. Open Sound Control (http://opensoundcontrol.org/introduction-osc) is an open communications protocol that delivers higher speeds, greater resolution, and more flexibility than is afforded by the standard MIDI protocol. (For a partial list of software and hardware currently supporting the OSC protocol, please see http://opensoundcontrol.org/implementations).
Doug Kraul, CEO of Harmony Systems, Inc. is enthusiastic about Kyma’s new OSC technology. “OSC is a brilliant addition to the already stellar Kyma sound design workstation”, said Kraul. “It immediately enables exciting new ways to use Kyma on stage or in the studio. But the true impact of this forward looking technology is the new, innovative controllers and applications that OSC makes possible for the Kyma platform”.
Bidirectional MIDI streams over OSC is available for those who don’t have any OSC-enabled devices or software yet.
Symbolic Sound has announce that several third-party development partners are concurrently announcing new software that supports bi-directional communication with Kyma over OSC:
- OSCulator: Known as the Rosetta Stone of music controllers, Camille Troillard’s Mac OS X application OSCulator (http://osculator.net) is already familiar to Kyma users who utilize it for sending individual MIDI controls, OSC, and HID control data over FireWire to Kyma. Now, in OSCulator 2.9.2, you can also send OSC messages directly to the Paca(rana) over the network. OSCulator 2.9.2 also implements Symbolic Sound’s Bi-Directional-MIDI-streams-over-OSC protocol, enabling you to send streams of MIDI events from your software directly to Kyma without need for a MIDI interface on your computer and without having to map each controller individually in OSCulator.
- vM2 and PacaMidi: Harmony Systems, Inc. is offering two new Mac OS X applications in its Delora product line, vM2 and PacaMidi, that incorporate Kyma’s new “MIDI-over-OSC” technology to further enhance and facilitate real-time interaction with Kyma. vM2, a “virtual MotorMix”, enables JazzMutant Lemur owners to enjoy automatic, fully integrated tactile control over Kyma’s Virtual Control Surface. Recently updated to include several exciting new features, vM2 2.0 employs “MIDI-over-OSC” to eliminate the complication of physical MIDI cables and interfaces. PacaMidi, Harmony’s newest product, uses “MIDI-over-OSC” to create a “virtual MIDI interface and patchbay” that adds three merged MIDI inputs and one MIDI output to a Paca(rana). This expands Kyma’s connectivity options, while saving you the expense and complexity of using physical MIDI interfaces, hardware mergers, and numerous cables. For more information see http://www.delora.com.
- Max & M4L: If you are one of the many artists using Kyma in conjunction with Ableton’s Live and/or Cycling74’s Max, you’ll be happy to hear that Andrew Capon has written a Max external for bidirectional MIDI communication over OSC that works with both Max and Max For Live. For more details, please see: http://www.symbolicsound.com/Learn/AndyCaponMaxExternalOSC
OSC-enabled Kyma X.74 is a free software update for registered Kyma X owners. OSC communication requires the Paca or Pacarana sound engine.
Kyma X.74 also comes with additional features, including an 11-times speedup in the Virtual Control Surface, support for the MOTU UltraLite Hybrid mk3, TC Electronic Impact Twin, and Prism Audio Orpheus converters, track-pad compatible menus, refinements to the Tau resynthesis, and more.
More information: Symbolic Sound
