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Ian Donovan committed Apr 18, 2012
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# TrashBox

## Introduction
I'm currently enrolled in a "Music Apps For iPad" course at Tufts. Our final project is called "TrashBox," and it mainly focuses on three components:
The project mainly focuses on nonlinear distortion of sound fed to the iPad through line-in. This audio will be processed in real time and modified by the user through simple drawing actions.

1. The application will record audio from the microphone or line-in; this audio is supplied by the user. We envision this being an instrument signal (guitar, keyboard) but voice will also work. Voice may have some neat applications, actually. MIDI is another option on the table, but converting MIDI into audio is a technology with which we're not entirely familiar.

2. The user will be able to create filters for this audio signal through use of the accelerometer (shaking the iPad) and the camera. After taking a picture, for instance, the application will analyze the color map of the image and use these values to create coefficients for a filter. The same process is done with the accelerometer, only the force vector will replace the color map. These filters will then be saved in the application for later use.

This is really the meat of the project, since it involves functionality of the iPad to which we haven't been exposed. It's also where all the cool stuff happens, so it's a tradeoff.

3. The filters can then be applied to the recorded audio in both series and parallel. A series application would have one effect on, then off, followed by another effect. Parallel would entail multiple effects layered on top of another.

## Use
The idea behind this application came from the realization that many signal processing applications come boxed with a few different effects like distortion, flange, chorus, and reverb. What happens if we allow the user to tweak these parameters? Wouldn't it be cool to shake the iPad and add vibrato to the sound?

As an extension of this, the filters may sound like total garbage. It's up to the user to make things sound good. We're providing the tools, and we're confident that the end results will have the ABILITY to sound great, but with great customization comes great responsibility.
Initially, a simple line is displayed to the user; this represents the Voltage Out / Voltage In curve, and it starts off linear. The user will be able to bend and warp this curve as he sees fit; this will distort the sound. The app is called "TrashBox" because much of what the user creates can sound very grimy. Nonlinear distortion is an interesting sound, but it's not one that we commonly hear in pop music.

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