translate EEG to Sound ?
Hello all,
since tentatively asking about this 2 years ago, I now have some time to delve in and get this project up and running. I'm looking at getting the starter kit, into OpenBCI, into Bioera (or similar) then to synth.
Is there anybody here who has had success with converting EEG data to MIDI or sound?
I am keen to see or hear of any results. My finance dept won't release any funds until I have some proof that it is possible.
Can you help?
Regards,
Will.
Comments
Will, hi.
The "Google Advanced Search" button in upper right column, gives many helpful search results:
https://www.google.com/search?as_q=synth&as_sitesearch=openbci.com
https://www.google.com/search?as_q=midi&as_sitesearch=openbci.com
https://www.google.com/search?as_q=osc&as_sitesearch=openbci.com
The OpenBCI_GUI can output the EEG stream as OSC (open sound control), which can be read by many music apps.
https://docs.openbci.com/Software/OpenBCISoftware/GUIWidgets/#osc
https://www.google.com/search?q=open+sound+control
Regards, William
Hi William, nice to hear from you again. Thanks for these, I have browsed most of these, some of which are a few years old now - I'm wondering how far the tech has developed since then.
From what I've read, am I correct in saying I could use recorded data (as opposed to live data) and test the two softwares, before jumping in to buying the kit?
If so, is there anybody that could pass me some recorded data to experiment with? It would much appreciated.
Thank you.
Will.
Yes, many datasets of recordings are available. These are in various formats. You mentioned: "...test the two softwares..." Which apps?
https://github.com/meagmohit/EEG-Datasets
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Are-there-any-public-EEG-data-sets-that-one-can-try-their-hands-on
https://openbci.com/community/publicly-available-eeg-datasets/
EDFBrowser can convert between recording formats:
https://www.teuniz.net/edfbrowser/
William
Hi William,
thanks for the pointers to the datasets. Some useful stuff there for sure.
The two apps are firstly OpenBCI then I'm looking at something like Logic Pro, or any OSC synth based app. Am I right in thinking the LSL widget will output from OpenBCI?
Thanks,
Will.
OpenBCI GUI by itself cannot output EEG dependent sounds. But you can use the Networking Widget to send OSC or LSL to another app:
https://docs.openbci.com/Software/OpenBCISoftware/GUIWidgets/#networking
Most audio / music oriented apps will be using OSC, not LSL.
Wondering if some alternative software [1] may have proof-of-concept, in circumstances where you want to control sound synthesis?
[1] https://github.com/khofstadter/OpenBCI-SuperCollider
Hi billybobw,
I have done this with several different approaches to handmade synthesizers in MaxMSP, using OSC messages from the GUI. You could conceivably do with PureData (opensource alternative to Max) as well.
short demo of some of the backend components:
in performance:
a different kind of performance:
a thesis (check the last section and appendices for a bit of detail on how the code was set up)
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333619142
Cheers, Alicia
Thank you Alicia, very kind of you to share and certainly the direction I am heading. I am now learning PD and seeing what I can do there. I'll post my findings.
All the best,
Will.
@ali1632 Would you be so kind as to share your Max patch on Github and share with us here on the OpenBCI Forum?
Great work! This is great inspiration for others who would like to incorporate EEG into mixed media art and installations!
-RW