Ok, we all know there's a lack of a manual and it's a bit of a chore to do them, so I've comipled something based on what I've found around the forum. I've posted it here,
Maybe if someone else on here who's got to grips with Kinectar fully can fill in some of the blanks while you find the time to?
I've added in a 'Bold NOTE:' some things I didn't find to clear so far or think could do with been explained a bit more.
Also put some headings in for some features which I don't think are part of Kinectar yet but wanted to suggest.
This is a well cool program anyway and one of the best things to come out of Kinect so far, just spent an hour the other day marveling out how the beats came out of whichever speaker I pointed at!
: Forum won't let me attach .doc so I've posted it all below, can send on the .DOC which is better formated by email.
Cheers
Chris S
KINECTAR v8.03
by Chris Vik
INTRODUCTION
KiNECTAR...
...is a tool kit that allows you to use a Kinect to control things via MIDI and OSC.
...currently tracks hand data ONLY.
...receives its data from OSCeleton (required to run)
...works out speed of hands and distances between them.
...allows you to modify all that data, then route it to MIDI CC or OSC outputs you can control stuff
with.
...lets you program scales and chords to output as MIDI Notes
+ much more.
FEATURES:
■Movement Tracking UI allows manipulation of the Kinect's human tracking capabilities,
displaying all relevant data extracted from the hands location in 3d-space
■Instrument Builder lets the user build virtual 'instruments' by outputting MIDI notes in three
modes
:■Static - Produces a single note value. Useful for drum triggers, turning on/off effects within a
DAW or feed that trigger into Kinectar to switch between presets using your gesture
■Solo - Do sweeping solos by selecting from over 40 musical scale presets or click the notes on the
UI to make your own
■Chord - Create a progression of up to 8 chords per preset to play live
■Global Flags lets you turn on/off Kinectar's instruments using a MIDI note sent from your DAW,
external MIDI controller or Kinectar itself
■MIDI Preset Control lets you switch between Kinectar's presets and instruments using a single
MIDI note
■Value Editor enables many more MIDI/OSC outputs, for controlling device values
■Visual Metronome pop out window sits on top of all programs to make it easy to see if you're in-
time when the music gets messy
Kinectar can effectively control anything that receives MIDI input as it's control source.
INSTALLING KINECTAR
•Download and install OpenNI, NITE and SensorKinect - [Zigfu] is a great one-click solution!
Link:
zigfu.com/en/downloads/browserplugin/
•Download [OSCeleton] and extract the file to folder of convenience (eg. C:\OSCeleton).
Link:
github.com/Sensebloom/OSCeleton/downloads
•Create an OSCeleton shortcut/bat with the commands "-w -r" eg:
Creating the batch file for OSCeleton on Windows:
•In the directory you put OSCeleton, create a new text file
•Name the text file "OSCeleton Launcher" or something similar
•Paste the following in the file using notepad:
osceleton.exe -w -r
pause• Right click on the file and rename the extension to ".bat"
Now all that's left to do is launch OSCeleton using the short cut you made and launch KiNECTAR!
NOTE: Why don't you include the.BAT file in the installer???
Note: Kinectar also works with Synapse.
Synapse is an alternative detection driver (?) for the Kinect & Kinectar. The Ableton plug ins that come with Synapse need Ableton Live v8.22 or higher and MAX for Live to work, however the Synapse recognition will work in Kinectar regardless of these, just not the Synapse plug ins for LIVE.
Synapse can be download from here:
Link:
synapsekinect.tumblr.com/post/6305020721/download
THE MAIN SCREEN & MAPPING IN ABLETON LIVE
See this video.
kinectar.org/stuff/tutorials
BODY RELATIVE SECTION
…...............................
SPEED SECTION
Explanation of the 'Difference' box.
DISTANCE SECTION
More info on the 3D box.
VISUAL METREMONE
This is linked to and received from your DAW and helps you keep time with your performance.
NOTE: Include a shift option so if it seems slightly out of sync or you are perceiving it as such so that it can be accounted for?
ZOOM FUNCTION
...........................................
Note: I'd rather have to use a scroll bar and be able to see and use this properly rather than having it look so compact and cool. An option to do both would be best!
CHANGING BETWEEN RECOGNITION BETWEEN SYNAPSE and OSCeleton.
You can choose which recognition driver (?) is used by selecting it in the pull down box next to 'Input On/Off'
Difference between them ….............................
INSTRUMENT PRESET CONTROL
…...............................
INSTRUMENT PRESET CONTROL PANEL SECTION
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FLAGS
What they do, how to set them up and use them.
NOTE: I have no idea how to use them at all from looking at the program so far...
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HAVING KINECTAR CONTROL YOUR DAW PLAY & STOP
Ableton Live
…........................
CONTROLLING KINECTAR FROM YOUR DAW
Setting up Kinectar to receive MIDI input (from Ableton Live)
…............................
Telling Kinectar to load a new a complete new preset.
…............................
Telling Kinectar to switch on or off an instrument in the Instrument panel.
…..............................
Telling Kinectar to switch on or off a value in the Value Editor panel.
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USING KINECTAR AT THE SAME TIME AS A VJ APPLICATION
Kinectar sends out MIDI data, most of these VJ applications and other applications will also received that MIDI data..
Some MIDI devices gain exclusive use of a MIDI device, and will cause problems, if this happens using MIDI Yoke which gives multiple MIDI channels may solve the problem.
Connecting Kinectar to control Ableton and then Ableton to control your VJ application may be worth trying.
Kinectar can effectively control anything that receives MIDI input as it's control source.
INSTRUMENT EDITOR
1 PRESET STRIP
These are the preset nodes you'll use to store and recall up to 12 different presets per instrument editor unit.
An instrument preset is the state of all the parameters: condition strips, flag options, note modes, scale, chords, control strips.. everything within each instrument.
You store presets by holding shift and left-clicking a "node" (small circle thing). To recall the preset, click a single time on one of the nodes that have a preset stored in them.
2 EXTERNAL PRESET CONTROL
Setup a MIDI note input to swap between the 12 different presets - very useful for live-sets.
Play a note on either a MIDI keyboard or from your DAW...
Preset 1 = C,
preset 2 = C#,
preset 3 = D...... preset 12 = B.
It doesn't matter which octave you play.
3 CONDITION/TRIGGER STRIP
Here you create a condition to trigger the instrument action. Setup a range for an input value to trigger the action.
4 INSTRUMENT PATCH MENU
The patch menu is at the top of the screen, below the 'Triggers' icon.
Here you can Name, Load, Save, import/export and other things relating to the Instrument Bank.
Each of the 4 Instruments in the Instrument Editor has it's own patch menu.
If you need to manually export or import instrument save files from other projects you can do that here.
You can also copy the current state of an instrument and paste it into another.
Finally, you can either "clear" the current state of the instrument, or "clear all" of the presets "nodes" of that instrument as well as the current state of all its options.
Note: Pressing clear will not also clear the clear the current information in the currently selected preset strip and you will need to re save the now empty patch to clear that preset bank.
5 NOTE MODE
Choose the type or style of instrument you'd like to play.
Static is good for single triggers like drums or turning effects on and off.
Solo is great for playing a scale.
Chord is obviously good for playing chords. They all work differently, so spend time with each one.
6 TRIGGER MODE
Each "note mode" has it's own trigger modes.
(NOTE: such as speed, distance etc?) What is Coords and how does LFO work in this example, Speed Raw etc?
This give you options on how the "action" or how the note is handled depending on the trigger's "TRUE/FALSE" state. You'll also need to explore these for each note mode.
7 MIDI OUTPUT DEVICE
This is where you set where you'd like the MIDI notes to be sent. This might be an external MIDI device, or an internal MIDI channel for playing software synths.
The note displayed to the left of the MIDI output device selector shows you what note is or will be currently played / sent to the MIDI output device.
ACTIONS BOXES:
Static:
In this menu the box below your control options (Off, Const, Static, Once, Toggle, Hold) changes the Octave, this is the same as the set of buttons along the lower part of the panel that go from -2 to 8 and changes in one will reflect in the other.
The box below that is the same as clicking a note on the virtual keyboard.
8 - CONTROL SELECTORS
In each of the 3 sections (the ones with the virtual keyboard displays) there is a value that can be controlled with an external value.. ie.
Solo Mode's controllable value is the note you'd like to play in that scale,
Chord Mode's controllable value is the chord you'd like to play,
There is a Velocity's controllable value at the end of the strip which changes velocity for whichever mode is currently selected.
The "Control Strip" will change accordingly to display the controller input set-up for each of the Control Selectors.
9 CONTROL STRIP
This is in the bottom right hand corner of each instrument. It will allow you to set-up a controller to manipulate parameters in the Instrument Editor. Use the Control Selectors to choose which of the parameters
NOTE: What about...
The SOLO NOTE tick box and the additional control things beside ir.
SYNC MODE:
CLCK means click? Sync to click from DAW?
MIDI syncs to MIDI from where in what way?
MS - Sends a note out at the rate the MS is set as in milliseconds.
FLAG CONDITIONS
What are they and what do they do and how do they work?
+
What about the box at the bottom Sync Options? The range one, I gather now it's for the solo note but it looks like it's something to do with controlling the SYNC section with where it's placed.
Maybe just an arrow point to it in-between the 0 and the tick box will make it clear (since you don't have the section in it's own 'outline' / frame.
QUICK GUIDE TO SETTING UP AN INSTRUMENT CONTROL
The instrument editor is for... and good for...
In the Instrument Editor:
- Make sure the top-left button (on/off) of the Instrument Editor is set to ON
- Click the (true/false) indicator in the middle of the instrument to FALSE.
NOTE - What does this do / change?
- Select a MIDI output device that you want to use and a MIDI channel that can be read by Ableton
(or whatever DAW you're using).
- Make sure "solo" is selected, and select a bunch of notes or a preset scale on the keyboard display
and choose a couple of octaves to output.
- The drop-down menu in the top-left corner of the "solo" is the trigger "mode", select CONST
from that menu.
- Just underneath the SOLO section, there is a grey button called "control", click this and the
"control strip" at the bottom of the instrument (NOTE: Above the control panel?)- will now allow
you to edit the input that controls the pitch of the notes to output - NOTE, in solo mode you
MUST have this set-up, otherwise the program will not have any notes to output!
- In the control strip, select a parameter input that you wish to control the notes with.
- Move right through the interface and select MS from the blue sync selection buttons, you can
leave the slider at 100ms just for this example.
NOTE: How about a label at the top of the section naming it SYNC selection, I did wonder
what it was for for a while.
- Now, go back to the (true/false) button and click TRUE.
NOTE: Why? What have I changed by doing this?
- You should now be outputting a note every 100ms to the MIDI device you've selected to output to.
The pitch will be controlled by whatever input you selected in the SOLO mode's "control
strip".
- You should be seeing a flashing blue indicator showing which note is being output in the middle of
the editor.
Once you've got that working, you can start turning on some of the conditions to create 'zones' for your hands in the triggers section for the instrument (ie. if you're right hand y is greater than .5) etc.
THE VALUE EDITOR
The value editor is for ..... and good for...
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