miraton
 

Version 2.0 of MIRATON is online now!


The goal of this upgrade is to have a more stable and a more OS X compliant version of Miraton, plus a couple of new features (like multiple workspaces). Miraton is a Cocoa application now. It means also that there is no OS 9 version anymore. See the ReadMe file inside the archive for more details.

Changes are:

  • Multiple workspaces (six different workspaces in the same setup)
  • Ported to cocoa
  • Cocoa dialog boxes
  • Import more than one sound at the same time in the import dialog box
  • Windowed mode (can be changed in the preferences)
  • Lock some function for public usage (in the preferences)
  • User-interface should take less CPU time
  • Preferences dialog box (use "COMMAND + ," in full screen mode to access it )
  • Pad effect settings are also saved in the setup file now
  • Increased global stability

If you like this software please make a donation ! Any amount will help !
Thank you !


Download the new version here !


Welcome to MIRATON!
Miraton is a program to play and compose music live for Mac OS X.

It is programmed to import sound files (.wav, .aiff, .mp3, .snd, .mov, any format supported by quicktime), to conceive music in a studio or in live improvisations.

MIRATON 's simplified interface is easy to use for pure pleasure at home, as well as it is adapted for agitated electronics performances, giving the user the possibility to be free to move on stage, to have a more handy and instinctive approach of his electronic tool.

It was originally designed for being used with a keyboard and a mouse connected to the laptop by a long cable usb (5 m) which is carried like a guitar or an accordion by shoulderstrap. However you can also use it as any application with a standard mouse and a standard keyboard.

It is free software and distributed under the GPL licence.

If you are interested by the artistic side of this project, please take a look at the Miraton web site: www.miraton.net.


Download
You can download the latest Miraton release (including source code) here.


How does it work ?
Basically you link a sound and some settings to each key of your keyboard. When a key is pressed the sound is played using the associated setting. You can also use the mouse to apply real time effects to the playing sound (it is achieved by clicking the rectangle area at the right of the screen). Two effects are associated to the mouse at the same time, one along the X axis and one along the Y axis. By default these effects are overdrive and pitch (they can be changed using the arrow keys of your keyboard).


Two steps are required before you can start to play:

  • First you should import your sounds. Use the file menu and select "open sounds". You can import up to 15 sounds par pages (or workspace).
  • Then you have to associate your sounds to the keys. To do this you can simply press a key and then select the sound in the "sounds" menu (without releasing the key) or you can select the key with the mouse and then select the sound in the "sounds" menu.


When a sound is linked to a key, its number appears at the corner of the key. When you press this key the sound is played. You can also associate sound presets for every keys (like pitch, volume, pan, etc.). Important note: these presets are not linked to the sound, but to the key. It means that you can use the same sound with different presets by linking it to several different keys.

Once a setup is ready, you can save it. Also please note that sounds are not saved inside the document. So if you want to share/move your setups, be sure to move your sound files too (you can keep them inside the Miraton folder or near your document in a sub directory).

Have fun!


MacOS Classic
MacOS Classic is not supported anymore. However you can still download the V1.0.6 that includes a carbon version of Miraton.


About the source code
Current code is maintened here, on garageCUBE by Yves Schmid. The Open Media Toolkit has been used to build the user-interface. The sound system is currently based on the Mac OS Sound Manager. However, we plan to move it to the Mac OS X's CoreAudio system in the future. Contributions are welcome! Send me an email if you want to help in any way: yves@garagecube.com


Credits
MIRATON is projected by Frédéric Post / Miracol Rec. 2001 Geneva Switzerland


Concept and design: Frédéric Post
Programming: Yves Schmid - garageCUBE
Produced for ANTI PURE, Kraichtal Germany 2003
Thanx to Gianni Jetzer and Back to Basics


See also: www.miraton.net