Somax 2 is an application for musical improvisation and composition. It is implemented in Max and is based on a generative model using a process similar to concatenative synthesis to provide stylistically coherent improvisation, while listening to and adapting to a musician (or any other type of audio or MIDI source) in real-time. The model is operating in the symbolic domain and is trained on a musical corpus, consisting of one or multiple MIDI files, from which it draws its material used for improvisation. The model can be used with little configuration to autonomously interact with a musician, but it also allows manual control of its generative process, effectively letting the model serve as an instrument that can be played in its own right.
While the application can be used straight out of the box with little configuration (see Getting Started), it is also designed as a library, allowing the user to create custom models as well as set up networks of multiple models and sources that are listening to and interacting with each other.
Somax 2 is a totally new version of the mythical Somax reactive co-improvisation paradigm designed in the ircam Music Representation team but never publicly released yet. Written in Max and Python, it features a modular multithreaded implementation, multiple wireless interacting players, new UI design with tutorials and documentation, as well as a number of new interaction parameters.
Get a glimpse at Somax2 creative power in this documentary on famous bass player Joëlle Léandre's Somax2 residency at Ircam :
Find-out more on this residency with full sessions videos, audio recordings and concerts schedule.
Watch a series of demo videos showing the versatility of Somax2 using materials drawn from great XXth century masters and reacting ("co-improvising") to various kind of inputs.
Find all the demo videos here.
Somax 2 is provided with an interactive tutorial giving a brief introduction to the different modules of Somax and introducing the first steps towards interacting with the model.
Individual help files exists as well for each Max object, outlining how to use the object, its parametric controls and a number of use cases.
To install Somax 2
go to the Somax 2 Github repository and follow the Readme instructions.
alternatively you can go to the Ircam Forum Somax page if you're a member and access there to a Somax 2 discussion list as well
To learn more about Somax 2
- Read a brief overview of how the Somax interaction model works
- Go to the team's Somax page for more technical content and access to publications and medias
To obtain ready-to-use Midi and Audio Corpuses
- copy them on your machine from this repository and read the 'Corpus Installation' file.
To get a ready-to-use 4 Players patch with tutorial and rich corpuses
- go to this repository and apply README instructions
- this collection allows you to easily and quickly experiment real-life interactions with Somax2, automatic parameters initialization, and rich corpuses
To communicate with the team
to signal any issue or bug please contact Joakim Borg at ircam. To communicate about ideas and projects write to Gerard Assayag and Joakim Borg at Ircam. Please let us know of your usages and extensions.
firstname [dot] secondname [at] ircam [dot] fr
Credits
The Somax 2 project is part of the ANR project MERCI (Mixed Musical Reality with Creative Instruments) ANR-19-CE33-0010, and the ERC project REACH (Raising Co-creativity in Cyber-Human Musicianship) ERC-ADG-19-883313. PI : Gérard Assayag, Music Representation Team, IRCAM STMS Lab (CNRS, Sorbonne University, Ministry of Culture).
