Hybrid Objects

In Modalys, a hybrid is an object which is a composite of two other objects (or three objects in the case of a tri-hybrid). Creating hybrids allows you to smoothly transform from one object to another in several different ways. Because Hybrids are not interpolated on a physical level but rather on a modal basis, you are not constrained to real-world limitations of objects and can thus create a hybrid that changes from a string into an air column. Hybrids are traditionally useful for making efficient glissandi because the physical parameters of the object do not need to be continually re-calculated for each sample. (Calculating a modal object from physical parameters can be a relatively computationally expensive operation, compared to other types of calculations in Modalys.)

Hybrids and the accesses on them must be created in a special order, but after that, the hybrid accesses can be used with Modalys interactions just like the accesses of any other object. Nonetheless, hybrids are still special objects and subject to a few restrictions within the Modalys environment: they can not be saved to a file, nor can you obtain physical or modal information about them using the get-info command. (However, you can still use get-info to get information about a hybrid access, such as the speed, position or connection force.)

Modalys provides the following hybrid objects:

• melt-hybrid (useful for making efficient glissandi!)
• mix-hybrid
• tri-hybrid (a mix-hybrid between three objects)