Songbird

Songbird is a MaxForLive audio instrument. It features a simulation of a flock of birds, each bird having its own model of a syrinx (a bird vocal organ) as well as a model of a simple birdbrain that controls the syrinx to create different syllables. Each bird’s position, speed, angle, etc in the flock can be mapped to various parameters as modulation sources. This device yields anything from textures, drones, rhythms, harsh/haunting/noisy/pretty tones, generative soundscapes, odd melodies, and of course different sounding bird calls!

The design of Songbird is a collaboration between myself and Alina Kano (alinakano.com)

Teaser video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omA36IR8u4s

Walkthrough video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31jzK1YOwXY

Comes with:

The device, user manual, 29 presets

Version Info:

Works with Live 10 and up!

Features:

• A boids or flocking simulation with up to 32 birds with several parameters:
• Rate, alignment, grouping, separation, sight radius, and force strength
• Option to visualize sight radiuses
• Randomize flock function
• Save flock state function and a function to revert to saved state on transport start
• Various parameters that are able to be mapped to several qualities of the flock for modulation:
• Index spread, X position, Y position, Angle, Speed, Proximity to neighbor, Density of neighbors, Birds in sight, Brain modulations, Random spray
• Several parameters for the bird brain model which create syllables (envelopes)
• Several parameters for the syllable qualities
• Parameters for making phrases or songs from the syllables
• Wavefold, FM and AM options
• Simple reverb parameters

To Install And Use Presets:

Drop the entire folder called 'Songbird' (NOT the folder called 'Songbird v.x.x.x') into the folder called 'ableton/user library/presets/instruments/max instrument'. This is found in the 'Places' section in Live's browser or in your finder/file browser. If you are going through finder (mac) the Ableton folder is typically in your 'Music' folder. If you are going through your file browser (windows) it is typically in the 'My Music' folder. The path to the .amxd file should be: 'ableton/user library/presets/instruments/max instrument/Songbird/Songbird.amxd'

If There Are Issues:

Make sure you have the latest version of Live 10 or Live 11. If that doesn't resolve things then download the latest version of Max/MSP from Cycling74.com (you don't need a license to download it), then in Live's preferences, set max to that version and reset Live (if you have an old crack of Live then you will have to add a line in the options.txt text to make that work, google for more info). If you still have issues after that then reach out to me (email is below).