TGC3 Beginners Guide

Intro

The Tetra Gamma Circulaire 3 (TGC3) is an unknown concrete floppy music publication. It is an open platform designed to investigate experimental ways of publishing using open-source hardware, and software. Artists are encouraged to contribute articles in the form of floppy disks in the theme of sound design, music and publishing.

This work is a collaboration between the polymorph production platform De Player and the Experimental Publishing (xPub) unit at the Piet Zwart Instituut. Current contributions include works on dance, democracy, drones, surveillance, body movement, silence, improvisation, and the fine line between everything and nothing.

Hardware

The TCG3 is an accumulation of various input and output technologies that can be implemented in many different ways. It was designed as an open platform to allow for many kinds of applications, and contributions.

At the core, the TGC3 is the single board micro computer called a RaspberryPi. This is a highly functional computer running the Linux operating system, with built in functionality that you would find in most modern computing systems today, as well as some from the past. Systems on the TGC3 that can be utilised by contributors are wifi in the form of a local web server, audio output and input in the form of a microphone, camera, bluetooth and chaotic electro-conductive touch pads. Works are contained on floppy disks and launched on insertion. There is no default Internet connectivity on the TGC3, but local websites can be accessed by connecting to its local wifi hotspot.

Software

Contributions can be made in the form of python code, pure data patches, javascript and websites. Access to the various hardware peripherals can be made using standard Raspberry Pi libraries. Interactivity can be manipulated via the microphone, camera, electro-conductive touch pads, and/or web interface. Outputs can come in the form of, audio via the speakers, or visually from the web server.

Floppy

The setup of the Floppy is key in the functionality of the system. Below we have provided a map of the file and folder structure of your future floppy submission.

FLOPPY
├── LICENSE
├── main.pd
├── main.py
├── noweb
│   └── index.html
└── README

In the root of the Floppy disk there needs to contain a LICENSE and README text file, your initial code file(s) named either main.py or main.pd format, and a noweb folder containing local website files you wish to have accessible over the local hotspot. Any other files you may need can be arranged in any style you choose so long as you correctly reference them in your code.