I have been modifying and adding new stuff to the MAX/MSP patch that i wrote for my sound project. In trying to implement my narrative project i came across a few stumbling blocks. In spite of some poetry having no rhyming structure, I really wanted to keep some semblance of rhyme for this project as a personal preference. This made life a little complicated, as part of the project was for the user to record in their own bit of a poem. How, when playing poems back, could i ensure that the lines read out where in rhyming couplets? Funnily enough it was through some research into telephones for my sound project, that i found my answer. The telephone operates on a system of call and response, so i figured i could make my project work in the same way.
I decided to set up different folders for different rhyming sounds, eg. folders called ‘an’, ‘oo’, ‘ake’ etc. I then recorded in a few nonsense lines i wrote myself into each folder, making sure the lines ended in the corresponding sound. Then, when users where requested to record their own lines of a poem (i chose lines rather than verses for the sake of simplicity), i operated it on a call and response method. A line from a certain folder is played, and the user is prompted to respond by making up a line that rhymes, which is then saved to the same directory. Although based on the assumption that the user will be actually end up rhyming their line with the one read out, it does ensure to some extent that within each folder, all the sound files rhyme with each other.
All that was left was to create a random generator, which i programmed to play two files from each folder, creating rhyming couplets. The more people that use my application, the more expanded the database of sounds become, and the more abstract the poems generated become.