Odd SeaApr-May 2025
MAX/MSP Gesture-interactive audiovisual project
Production Tools: MAX/MSP, TouchDesigner, 4K projector, webcam
Performance Length: ~6 minutes
Odd Sea is a gesture-interactive audiovisual project built in Max/MSP, using computer vision detection through TouchDesigner and MediaPipe.
Connecting unconscious body movements to acoustic signals and the shifting of two terrain realms (the Hills and the Sea), Odd Sea is a journey into the inner landscape. With this experience, one’s physical existence intertwines with the ever-changing flow of time and space.
VISUAL -
The endlessly running terrain is generated from matrix values derived from procedural basis function graphs (jit.bfg).
SOUND - The matrix data for terrain generation is captured and reduced into 24 key values. Their real-time fluctuations are filtered through a custom algorithm that selects the keys showing significant changes above a set threshold.
SOUND INTERACTION -
The chosen values are then converted into frequency data and passed into a synthesizer. Multiple variables affect the timbre of the sound output, each modulated by the performer’s body gestures.
MODE SWITCHING - The project features two independent modes: Hills and Ocean, each with its own 3D terrain and synthesizer. The blending and switching between audio-visual outputs is controlled by the vertical (Y-axis) position of the hip point — the higher the hip (standing), the more dominant the Hills mode; the lower the hip (sitting or lying down), the more dominant the Ocean mode.
(See graphs below for detailed Max patch structures and gesture point assignments.)
Patch Structure AnnotationGesture point assignments
With a name that hints at the word odyssey, Odd Sea is an experiment exploring the varied elements of a person’s life journey: the unpredictable chaos within structured daily life, the invisible and timeless inner landscape that holds both turmoil and calm, and the continuous shifting between these two realms.
It experiments with balancing on the edge of both worlds — experiencing, and hearing, the sounds of dual existence.
The connection between the visual movement of different body points and the resulting acoustic response gives meaning to non-symbolic, non-functional gestures, making the act of movement an end in itself.
Eventually, the moving body disappears from the scene, leaving behind a world of endless hills looping through days and nights filled with randomly generated digital sounds.