The EEGsynth
The event started with a brief introduction about the technology that is used as well as the underlying scientific, artistic and philosophical ideas. The three of us also talked about how medical hypnosis changes the allocation of attention and modifies the regular functions of cognitive control. Before the event began, Hernan had hypnotised Jean-Louis. The […]
We did it! See below the first EEG real-time coded into audio and sent into space with the Dwinglo radiotelescope at ASTRON, The Netherlands. Many inspired experts worked hard on getting us this far. Next step is to prepare the public performances, hopefully starting in November. For more info stay tuned here and on Daniela’s […]
A performance at the Se2017 conferenceKarolinska Institutet, Stockholm, August 13, 2017 Probing the Mind of Berzelius is an interdisciplinary artistic performance that will take you on a sonic dive into the discovery of selenium 200 years ago. The performance is developed by neuroscientist Stephen Whitmarsh (NL) with musicians Jean-Louis Huhta (SWE) and Samon Takahashi (FR). […]
For his second solo exhibition at Galleri Fagerstedt in Stockholm, Per Huttner shows a sculpture that uses an EEG-recording of his brain activity under hypnosis. The work is made up of curtain that covers the back wall of the gallery. The curtain is made of the same material as one of the characters in the […]
April 7-9, 2017 For two nights we stayed at the ASTRON radio telescope facility in Dwingelo, The Netherlands to develop the protocols for the COGITO performance envisioned by artist Daniela de Paulis. The primary goal of this meeting was to develop a paradigm in which high quality electroencephalography (EEG) is recorded while the participant is […]
On March 6th we held progress meeting of the Brain Control Club at CRI. We were happy to be joined by the GameLab and by three students from the interdisciplinary program on education technology who were interested in finding ways to include neuroscience in their exciting projects. The slides of the presentations can be found […]
This weekend, 1+1=3 had the opportunity to meet in Paris and spend a day updating each other and working out our plans for the future. Much has happened lately, and many exciting things will happen next year. First music release due in spring We have done the first EEG recordings of what will become the […]
It is 35 degrees outside, and probably even more in my little south-facing studio. So it is with a overheated brain that I am reading a recent communication by Bart Lutters and Peter J. Koehler in BRAIN, titled: Brainwaves in concert: the 20th century sonification of the electroencephalogram. Luckily it is short and sweet, and […]
For more about our artistic projects using the EEG-synth you can NOW go to our new website. The EEGsynth.org site will continue to be the place for all news and info about the EEGsynth software and hardware development.
We have just arrived in Los Angeles, USA, kicking off our USA tour where we will work and perform together, connect with other artists and academics, give talks, host a session at a conference and reconnect with old friends. First of all, we couldn’t have been able to get it all together with the people […]
One option for connecting the EEGsynth software to modular synth hardware is though our own open hardware Arduino-based USB to CV/Gate modules. Another option is to use readily available commercial hardware, such as the Doepfer MCV4, A-190-2, A-190-4, Pittburgh Modular MIDI 3, or Kenton USB-Solo. We decided to give it a try with the Shuttle Control from Endorphin.es. The Shuttle Control is […]
I have been looking into TouchOSC as an example application that can send and receive Open Sound Control (OSC) messages. I have installed it on my iPhone 5 and on my iPad 2. Using the inputosc/outputosc modules I can read/write OSC messages with EEGsynth. The only thing that I have not figured out yet is how to broadcast OSC messages. We are […]
A lot of development on the EEGsynth software has happened since the BrainHackathon in Paris. The following modules are now implemented (in alphabetical order): accelerometer brain buffer eyeblink heartrate inputosc keyboard launchcontrol muscle openbci2ft outputcvgate outputosc playback pulsegenerator redis sequencer synthesizer volcabass volcabeats volcakeys All the code for the EEGsynth is managed on GitHub, where […]
We are very excited to meet other EEG hackers at BrainHack, Paris, February 24-26. Here are the outlines of our 5 minute scientific and artistic pitch: EEGsynth: scientific and development pitch Stephen Whitmarsh & Robert Oostenveld (presenters), Per Huttner & Jean-Louis Huhta We are very happy to be able to present to you the EEGsynth […]
We wish you a very happy new year! We had quite a year ourselves, and the future of the EEGsynth looks very promising indeed. I would like to give a short recap of where we are now, and where we will be focussing in terms of hardware/software development in the next couple of months. It […]
To link the digital signal processing on a laptop or Raspberry Pi to the analog synthesizer, I have made two usb-to-cvgate converters. The first one I designed and implemented was a one-channel version that is able to output up to (approximately) 5 Volt. The second one is an improved version with four channels that can be […]
On the evening of October 15, 1+1=3 performed together with Carima Neusser for a small invited audience at Jean-Louis’ studio. Those who have followed the blog will know that for some time we have been developing the possibilities of the EEGsynth to use muscle activity as a control signal for sound synthesis. This was our […]
Following testing of the one-channel CV/Gate controller and discussions with Stephen, I moved on and designed a four-channel version. The MCP4725 DAC converter used in the previous version can be combined with another DAC on the same I2B bus by removing a connection on the breakout board. However, the I2C bus won’t scale further. I […]
I completed the first Arduino based controller. It has a single control voltage and a single gate, both directly wired to a male 3.5mm connector. Using serial commands over the USB connection, it allows specifying the control voltage between 0 and 5V(*), and the binary gate value (TTL logic). *) although the design was meant […]
With my first post on the Arduino based CV/Gate controller I implemented a single control channel using a single DAC. Now, using four TI LF398 sample-and-hold ICs, I multiplexed the DAC output into four control channels. I updated the Arduino sketch and managed to control all four outputs independently. However, something that I overlooked is […]
I wrote some code that wraps the serial interface and the control commands of the Arduino CV/Gate into a MATLAB class. I used the following example code in MATLAB to benchmark the speed. a = cvgate(‘/dev/tty.usbserial-AH01DRO4’, 115200); a.voltage = 0; a.gate = 0; c = 0; t = tic; while true a.voltage = 5 * […]
We had our first EEG-Synthesizer jam with a smoothly working setup! Quite a milestone! In the following video and SoundCloud recordings (removed), you hear several interesting and evocative synthesizer patches created by Jean-Louis that are fully controlled in real-time by the EMG signals from my hand and arm. So in fact, during the recordings Jean-Louis was […]
The EEG signal processing, classification and the translation into a control signal is done on a computer. This means that the computer needs to be able to send control signals to the synthesizer. There are in general two options for interfacing with a synthesizer: Midi and CV/Gate. Midi is a digital protocol over a serial […]
Carima and I tested out the BrainSynth in new ways. Here follow her notes: I focussed on one muscle, the trapezius, testing its function and capacity for movement. We separated the electrodes on 3 different places on the same muscle, so that I could explore these 3 different parts of the muscle. For me the […]
Today tested some potentially interesting locations for surface EMG. For each you’ll find a video below. Note that only the lower MATLAB frequency plot is informative: Flexors of fingers Flexor of thumb Biceps Contractor of forehead (surprise expression) All seemed quite specific to the intended muscle (group). Of great help was this website with suggested […]
Today we were able to have a first try using the EEGsynth for dance, with the dancer/choreographer Carima Neusser, resulting in many new ideas and lots of inspiration! Small movements – such as an eyeblink – can be magnified and experienced. An Iphone armband works well for mobility, but it is something to get the […]
I recorded a short demonstration of the EEGsynth using real-time recordings of heartbeat (ECG), muscle activity (EMG) and eyeblinks (EOG). Ofcourse the brain is just as possible, but harder to demonstrate on my own. Importantly, we can use any MIDI controller to change parameters in real-time, and use MIDI as a control signal for any […]
Deleuze and Guattari use the terms “deterritorialisation” and “reterritorialisation” (we know that the terms are annoying to pronounce) frequently in their book “A Thousand Plateaus.” The two writers use “soft” concepts in the book which allow the ideas to change with time and context. For example, a child might have problems with reading and writing, […]
With: Jean-Louis Huhta, Stephen Whitmarsh and Per Hüttner August 19 Jean-Louis and Stephen arrive at midnight. Nocturnal swim and discussions about the individual work carried out in preparation for the workshop and what is expected of the days to come and how we can best reach these goals. August 20 Breakfast meeting and planning of […]
During our work meeting in Athens, we explored and tested the EEG-synth: EEG recordings controlling analogue synthesizers. What follows is a summary of how we solved the main technical and practical issues we encountered and those that still need to be dealt with. More about the output of the meeting will come in the next […]