Boids - KVR Developer
Challenge 2012
24th November 2012
ToneCarver has entered the
Boids hybrid granular and delay effect plug-in into
KVR’s Developer Challenge 2012.
It features a 2D “Boid” swarm as a
set of modulators for the grain and delay
parameters. This plugin grew out of an interest to
accomplish two different goals:
Finding a way to manage grain swarms
visually.
Creating delay-based ambiance that has
subtle, not quite random, variations.
The Boid Swarm represents a set of
flocking boids (a boid is a “Bird Android” – see
Craig Reynolds work: www.red3d.com/boids). There are
a few simple rules that each boid uses to determine
where it will fly to on the next swarm advance.
These include rules for how fast to fly, how near to
fly to other boids, how strongly to move to the
center of the flock, how strongly to follow a leader
boid, and how strongly to match the position and
direction of nearby boids.
The swarm space that the boids fly
in is treated as a 2D coordinate system where the X
(horizontal) and Y (vertical) position of each boid
can be used to modulate controls. A swarm may
contain up to 200 boids.
The plugin supports multiple grain
streams and multiple delay taps (up to 200 each).
Each grain stream and delay tap is associated with
one of the boids in the swarm. The X position, Y
position, Radius position and ID number of that boid
associated with the grain stream or tap can be
assigned to modulate the controls that define how
that specific grain or tap will be produced.
For example, the X position of a
boid can be assigned to control the pan value for
the delay taps. For each delay tap, the X position
of the boid associated with that delay tap will
determine its pan position in the output stereo
field. Different taps will have different pan values
depending on the location of the boid associated
with the tap. In this configuration delay tap
signals will move through stereo positions as the
boids move through the swarm space.
Each of the parameters for the grain
streams and delay taps can be modulated using the
position of the boid associated with the grain/tap
(and/or traditional LFO modulators).
