Music for Hotspots
by Nick Didkovsky, with contributions by Phil Burk and Robert Marsanyi

Put on your headphones, turn on your laptop's mic, and listen. Music for Hotspots dramatically alters the sound of your environment.
Quick start:
  1. Download and install JSyn plugin
  2. Click one of the buttons that say "off" to turn ON a sound processor.
  3. Click once somewhere in the middle of each of the three square swatches for that sound (each swatch controls two parameters of the sound. The leftmost swatch of each always controls amplitude when you move left/right)
  4. If you do not hear the processed environmental sound, say something into your mic, clap your hands, or scratch your laptop computer... anything to generate some sound.
  5. Click and drag around on the swatches to hear the sound change.
  6. Click the little "R" button above the swatch to start recording your mouse moves.
  7. After you drag around a little, click "S" to stop recording
  8. Click the little "P" button above the swatch to play back your mouse moves.
  9. Choose other instruments from the drop-down list and hear those - you can have up to four of these going at the same time.
  10. The Dry Mix slider controls how much un-altered sound you hear in the headphones.
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Much of the work for Music for Hotspots was originally designed for The Monkey Farm. I decided to I ought to create this applet after sitting in a Starbucks with my headphones on while doing some software sound design on my laptop. I looked around, saw people's lips moving but instead of their conversation, heard twisted alterations of their speech. It was a compelling, creepy, funny, and wonderfully bizarre musical experience. Music for Hotspots is a Java applet that lets you create a similar experience for yourself. Thanks to Charles O'Meara for collaborating with me on The Monkey Farm, Phil Burk for his instruments (all prefaced with "Phil" in the drop down lists), and Robert Marsanyi for his Magyar Instrument which models a Hungarian accent.
Nick Didkovsky, July 24, 2005, NYC

Music for Hotspots was created using Java Music Specification Language (JMSL) and JSyn
Music for Hotspots (c) 2005 Nick Didkovsky, Phil Burk, and Robert Marsanyi, all rights reserved. Not for redistribution or sale.

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