Mrmr

mattgolsen's picture

Not sure if any of you guys had seen this, but I thought you might be interested in it...

http://poly.share.dj/projects/ Mrmr is an ongoing open-source research project to develop a standardized set of protocols and syntax conventions to control live installations and multimedia performances via mobile devices. The project is currently spearheaded by Eric Redlinger, researcher-in-residence at Brooklyn Polytechnic University’s Integrated Digital Media Institute.

Simply put, Mrmr is a technology that enables you to use ordinary cell phones and PDAs as controllers in audio-visual performances, or to participate in interactive museum exhibits, or to use your mobile device in the place of the mouse or trackpad from your full-size computer.

Key elements of the Mrmr project are:

  • create your own interface using only a text editor
  • multiuser by design / client peer-to-peer or client-server models supported
  • open standards (zeroconfig/bonjour/mdns, OSC), open source
  • dynamic interfaces: widgets can be reconfigured 'on the fly'

mirek's picture
Re: Mrmr example

Here is quick tutorial and example Quartz Composer composition for mrmr http://quartzcomposer.com/patches/328-i-phone--mrmr--application-osc-exa...

dust's picture
Re: Mrmr example

cool yeah i tried mrmr last year. there used to be a thread here on kineme in regards to using mrmr. i posted my interface code for djing with traktor in the post but i think it might be gone now im not sure how long kineme keeps archives or what not. there used to be an interface builder widget that let graphically build your interfaces, it was a bit buggy but found that much easier to build a page of buttons. instead of uploading directly to the phone i saved to desktop then made another page etc... and combined them in a text editor. i ran into some complications on a few updates and stopped using it i can't complain because its free. i love open source and have since learned how to program my own osc interface programs for the phone, initially it was mrmr source or the wesite for mrmr that directed me to the simple obj-c osc framework that was used for this app. i took a peak at the code for this project and there was so much good stuff in there that i didn't know how to start to dissect it.

i must say the open source file built onto my phone with no issues, which is impressive where lots of people leave things out of the open source i think deliberately to make things more difficult for people ?? so i was surprised when the source ran without hitches. i have since learned a lot more about iphone programing and abandoned the obj-c osc classes and now use BBOSC classes because i have less port binding overflow issues. not really sure how mrmr got around this but was a great program the last time i used. i have every osc app made for iphone and choose to use this not because it was free but because i could make my own buttons. i guess various apps do this now like touchOSC which didn't at the time. i always wished mrmr did multi-touch. does it do this yet ?

mirek's picture
Re: Mrmr example

You can tap two/more buttons at the same time and they work as expected

ecume's picture
Re: Mrmr example

I'm actually working on the mrmr code base again, primarily to better integrate the ability to control several OSC apps from one controller and easily switch between them with minimal fuss.

However, any requests for new widget types and the like will also be considered!

mirek's picture
Re: Mrmr example

welcome ecume, great to hear that!

do you support plain multitouch-2d-areas?

what about microphone volume level/levels for different frequencies?

compass data could be useful as well

can help by putting together qc compositions for all built-in presets you want to include with next update.

mirek rusin

ecume's picture
Re: Mrmr example

there's been a lot of requests for multitouch 2d areas, although there are many ways in which this could be handled and deciding which way is the most beneficial will be difficult - microphone and compass input should be fairly straightforward. I'll add both to the todo list.

Thanks for the offer to build QC patches - that will help a lot! I'll keep you posted.

hiltmeyer's picture
Re: Mrmr example

i would die for physics like the lemur got. dont know if this is posible.

ecume's picture
Re: Mrmr example

Sure it's possible. And will be very cool on the iPad in particular.

hiltmeyer's picture
Re: Mrmr example

even cooler would be bouncing balls like the lemur got..... or make a lemur klone with the option to make custom desings for the fader buttons and what nots and i name my first son after you :-)

dust's picture
Re: Mrmr example

another interesting feature for me would be to receive osc datagrams. like for instance the ability to send strings to a label would be cool. i suppose just so you could use the iphone / ipod / ipad in a more mobile context. what i mean by this is lets say you want to send your clip names from ableton to mrmr so you can see track names you have cued up thus not needing to see your computer. at least that would work a little bit more like the jazz mutant and enable you to take a bathroom break or just be more mobile with a performance. most defiantly the ability to set different controls up and sending to various machines would be a feature i think most people would want as well.

ecume's picture
Re: Mrmr example

the bi-directional stuff will be there soon, including sending strings to labels. the bouncing balls will be later, as I've never used any of these physics engines out there.

dust's picture
Re: Mrmr example

i have to check the bouncing ball things on the lemur. i briefly played with the lemur we have at the lab the other day. it unfortunately sits in its box but i was very impressed with the amount of examples and how it integrates with most existing software out there. maybe it would be nice to... make some sort of repository for interface files on the poly.dj site for people to trade set ups or something. its probably there now ?

i know there used to be some a osc server and client that i found really useful when testing to see if i was getting signals. once i got a confirmed namespace from the server i would use qc and kineme midi to remap osc to midi but lately i have been using osculator. i know if you made some sort of osc 2 midi daemon like the lemur or osculator as a feature you would make a lot of people happy and a few sad i'm sure.

just another thought. i should stop by poly.dj and see whats going on. i watched a whole video one day of mrmr being demoed at a convention. i was like yeah this guys cool.