Sound and Video Anthology: Program Notes

Media Compositions and by CLOrk (the Concordia Laptop and piece for the program notes; taken Performances: Doug Van Nort, Orchestra) eschews the classically as a whole, I feel that these works calculated and precise world of the create an excellent counterpoint to Curator laptop orchestra in favor of the messy Part A by virtue of their cohesion and risky world of interdisciplinary as well as a concentrated focus on Curator’s Note improvisation. The result is a work both stylistic engagement and sonic whose shared agency is a product gestural forms (as compared with It is with great pleasure that I have of listening for gestural engagement the expansive and organic crossing curated Computer Music Journal’s across forms (kinetic, sonic). Finally, of media and expressive types found 2014 Sound and Video Anthology. I Bill Hsu and Chris Burns present within the first set). As a collection, decided upon a theme of distributed a piece that intersects this world I hope that you will find the diver- Downloaded from http://direct.mit.edu/comj/article-pdf/38/4/119/1856976/comj_a_00274.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 agency in digitally mediated perfor- of cross-media improvisation with sity and quality of these works as mance. In particular, my interest here shared control at the level of their compelling as I have, and that they is to showcase a multiplicity of ways interactive performance systems, might provide for a moment to reflect in which shared agency manifests resulting in a document that demon- on the creative insights that may be between human performers, as well strates the possible richness discov- gained when one “loosens the reins” as between human and machine per- ered when sharing gestures across on one’s own artistic control, instead formers. The collection begins with media, between human performers, distributing it among a collective of “Part A: Distributed Composition”; and with the system itself. listening and expressing performers, this section presents audio/video This sharing of system-level ges- be they present or tele-present, musi- documents that highlight five unique tural and compositional forms is the cal beings or meta-musical machines. approaches to distributing and sharing focus of “Part B: Musical Metacre- expressive voices between composer- ation.” This section highlights Part A – Distributed Composition performers. In these works, the cutting-edge machine improvisa- resulting compositional voice does tion systems in performance with 1. Polartide—Chris Chafe not reside in one central location, two top-level human improvisers: but rather is a product of collective Paul Hession on drums and Finn Pe- Polartide started as a project for co-creation, at varying levels of spa- ters on flute and saxophone. Hearing the 2013 Venice Biennale Mal- tial and temporal remove. This set these disparate systems at play with dives Pavilion. A team of musicians includes a work by Chris Chafe and the same performer begins to hint and artists banded together at UC colleagues, wherein large-scale com- at the stylistic differences of their Berkeley’s Center for New Media positional qualities are influenced by composer-designers, as well as the (bcnm.berkeley.edu) to create a sound global sea levels as well as by a live virtuosic flexibility of the human marker that tracks sea water levels audience, resulting in a piece that players. In order to bring focus to- in coastal cities. A sound marker is is not only artful but consciousness- wards listening to these differences, I an alarm of sorts that sounds out to raising at the same time. In contrast have decided that this section should all members of a community within to this “outsourcing” of the details of be audio-only. Each of these excerpts earshot of a bell tower. The first ver- compositional form, the works by Pe- comes from a single concert of the sion worked with simulated bells, and dro Rebelo and The Hub both present same name that took place at Cafe this version, Spillover, works with a two very different takes on “net- OTO in London in July 2014. The live audience and a carillonneur. work music”: Rebelo’s work defines curation of this concert was the work The carillonneur plays a fixed score a global feedback network whose of Ollie Bown, and so the excellent that is a “musification” of global sea- sonic character and overall shape are selection of the included systems is level data. The audience, using the the product of a large-scale intercon- purely to his credit. Aside from being Spillover Web app, controls the speed nection of disparate acoustic spaces privileged to take part in the concert, or tempo at which the carillonneur and performers, whereas The Hub— from a curatorial point of view I sim- plays the score. The audience controls the fathers of “computer network ply had the good sense to incorporate how fast the music plays from note music”—present us with a canonical these works into the in-progress cura- to note, and metaphorically explores example of their ever-groundbreaking tion of this collection, both because how our actions affect the rise of approach to composing for shared, they fit so nicely with my chosen global sea water. living network structures. The piece theme and because I could feel the The Polartide team includes: strong improvisational musicianship Chris Chafe, Composer, Stanford Uni- Notes: doi: 10.1162/COMJ a 00274 on the evening of performance. I will versity Center for Computer Research Content: doi: 10.1162/COMJ x 00276 leave the description of each system in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA)

Sound and Video Anthology: Program Notes 119 Rama Gottfried, Musician, Berkeley large ships in the port of St. John’s, projects involving communities in Center for New Media Newfoundland. Belfast and favelas in Mare,´ Rio de Janeiro. This work has resulted in Perrin Meyer, Sound Designer, Meyer sound art exhibitions at venues such Sound 2. Netrooms: The Long as the Metropolitan Arts Centre in Tiffany Ng, Musician, Berkeley Cen- Feedback—Pedro Rebelo Belfast, Espac¸o Ecco in Brasılia,´ and ter for New Media Parque Lage and Museu da Marein´ Downloaded from http://direct.mit.edu/comj/article-pdf/38/4/119/1856976/comj_a_00274.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 Greg Niemeyer, Artist, Berkeley Cen- Netrooms: The Long Feedback is a Rio de Janeiro. ter for New Media participative network piece which His writings reflect his approach to invites the public to contribute to an design and creative practice in a wider The Polartide team would like to extended feedback loop and delay line understanding of contemporary cul- thank the following people for their across the Internet. The work explores ture and emerging technologies. Pedro support: Monica Lam, June Holtz, the juxtaposition of multiple spaces has been Visiting Professor at Stanford Sharon Eberhart, and The Open as the acoustic, social, and personal University (2007) and senior visiting Source Community. environment becomes permanently professor at Universidade Federal do networked. The performance consists Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2014). He has Chris Chafe is a composer, improvi- of live manipulation of multiple been Music Chair for international sor, and cellist, developing much of real-time streams from different conferences such as ICMC 2008, SMC his music alongside computer-based locations that receive a common 2009, and ISMIR 2012. At Queen’s research. He is Director of Stanford sound source. Netrooms celebrates University Belfast, he has held posts University’s Center for Computer the private acoustic environment as as Director of Education and Acting Research in Music and Acoustics defined by the space between one Head of School in the School of Mu- (CCRMA). At IRCAM (Paris) and audio input (microphone) and output sic and Sonic Arts and is currently The Banff Centre (Alberta), he pur- (loudspeaker). The performance of Director of Research for the School sued methods for digital synthesis, the piece consists of live-mixing a of Creative Arts, including the Sonic music performance, and real-time feedback loop with the signals from Arts Research Centre. In 2012 he Internet collaboration. CCRMA’s each stream. was appointed Professor at Queen’s SoundWIRE project involves live con- Visuals by Rob King. and awarded the Northern Bank’s certizing with musicians the world “Building Tomorrow’s Belfast” prize. over. Online collaboration software Pedro Rebelo is a composer, sound including JackTrip and research into artist, and performer working primar- latency factors continue to evolve. ily in chamber music, improvisation, 3. Multiple Issues—The Hub An active performer both on the net and sound installation. In 2002, he and physically present, his music was awarded a PhD by the University Multiple Issues is a composite video reaches audiences in dozens of coun- of Edinburgh, where he conducted re- constructed of legacy video shots tries and sometimes at novel venues. search in both music and architecture. from video footage that Hub mem- A simultaneous five-country concert His music has been presented in ber Scot Gresham-Lancaster made was hosted at the United Nations venues such as the Melbourne Recital onstage during various American in 2009. Chafe’s works are available Hall, National Concert Hall Dublin, and European performances over the from Centaur Records and various Queen Elizabeth Hall, Ars Electron- last 25 years. The soundtrack—made online media. Gallery and museum ica, and Casa da Musica,´ and at events from Hub pieces such as “WaxLips”, music installations are into their such as Weimarer Fruhjahrstage¨ fur “Stuck Note”, etc.—drives the jump second decade with “musifications” zeitgenossische¨ Musik, Wien Modern shot editing decided algorithmi- resulting from collaborations with Festival, Cynetart, and Musica´ Viva. cally with the Movie.Py python artists, scientists, and MDs. Recent His work as a pianist and improvisor program set to trigger at various work includes the Brain Stethoscope has been released by Creative Source auditory thresholds. This editing project, Polartide for the 2013 Venice Recordings, and he has collaborated technique reflects the egalitarian Biennale, Tomato Quintet for the with musicians such as Chris Brown, and cooperative nature of all Hub transLife:media Festival at the Na- Mark Applebaum, Carlos Zingaro, collaborations. tional Art Museum of China, and Evan Parker, and Pauline Oliveros. The Hub, an American “computer Sun Shot played by the horns of Pedro has recently led participatory network music” ensemble formed in

120 Computer Music Journal 1986, consists of John Bischoff, Tim Concordia Laptop Orchestra (CLOrk) 5. Xenoglossia/Leishmania— Perkis, Chris Brown, Scot Gresham- and the dance group Le Collab’Art de Bill Hsu (interactive Lancaster, Mark Trayle, and Phil Steph B. Twenty laptopists and three animation), Christopher Stone. The Hub was the first live dancers improvised freely without Burns (live electronics) computer music band whose mem- prescribed compositional or techno- bers are all designers and builders logical restrictions and without an Xenoglossia/Leishmania is a struc- of their own hardware and software assigned leader. This performance tured audiovisual improvisation, instruments. was a first in a series of interdisci- utilizing live electronics and inter- Downloaded from http://direct.mit.edu/comj/article-pdf/38/4/119/1856976/comj_a_00274.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 The Hub grew from the League of plinary, non-hierarchical improvised active animations. Video is projected Automatic Music Composers: John performances designed to develop on stage, above and behind the mu- Bischoff, Tim Perkis, Jim Horton, listening, dialogical, and performa- sicians. The musical and visual and Rich Gold. Perkis and Bischoff tive skills in collaborative settings, performances are highly interdepen- modified their equipment for a which are typically democratic in dent, guided together through the performance at The Network Muse the synchronous (performances) and actions of the performers, automated Festival in 1986 at The Lab in San the asynchronous (planning, realiz- real-time analysis of the audio, and Francisco. Instead of creating an ad ing, researching) time frames. After the exchange of networked messages hoc wired connection of computer two Dancing with Laptops rehearsals, between the audio and animation interaction, they decided to use a CLOrk members decided to improvise systems. hub—a general-purpose connection in response to (rather than leading) The Xenoglossia audio software fa- for network data. This was less the dancers. Though arguably a hier- cilitates high-level control of complex failure-prone and enabled greater archical entrance strategy, it proved to polyphonic output. The performer collaborations. The Hub was the first be effective in generating a conversa- initiates multiple simultaneous gen- band to do a telematic performance, tional setting in which all participants erative processes, each with distinct which took place in 1987 between had opportunities to lead or respond to gestural and textural content, then the Clocktower and Experimental others. controls their continuation and de- Intermedia venues in New York. The Concordia Laptop Orchestra velopment. The software provides Because this work represents some (CLOrk) is an ensemble of 20–25 the ability to alter and reshape the of the earliest work in the context laptop performers that operates in ongoing processes along dimensions of the new live music practice of the framework of a university course including pitch, rhythm, timbre, and networked music performance, they for electroacoustic music majors at rate of evolution. The performer have been cited as the archetypal net- Concordia University in Montreal. can also clone and reproduce the work ensemble in computer music. It was established by Eldad Tsabary behavior of interesting sonorities and The Hub’s best-known piece, “Stuck in 2011 with a curriculum built textures, and shape the large-scale Note” by Scot Gresham-Lancaster, around highly participatory planning, form of the performance using tools has been covered by a number of production, and realization of inter- that generate contrast, variation, and network music bands, including the disciplinary and networked laptop synchronization between processes. Milwaukee Laptop Orchestra (MiLO) orchestra performances, including Leishmania is an interactive an- and the Birmingham Laptop Ensem- collaborations with a symphonic imation environment that visually ble (BiLE). They have collaborated orchestra, jazz and chamber ensem- resembles colonies of single-cell or- with the Rova Saxophone Quartet, bles, other laptop orchestras, dancers, ganisms in a fluid substrate. Each Nic Collins, Phil Niblock, and Alvin VJs, actors, and various soloists. cell-like component has hidden ini- Curran. They currently perform CLOrk performances are typically tial connections to and relationships around the world after a seven-year used as opportunities to investigate with other components in the envi- hiatus that ended in 2004. and explore new aesthetic, perfor- ronment. The colonies evolve and mative, conceptual, technological, “swim” through the substrate, based social, and educational possibili- on a combination of colonial struc- 4. Dancing with ties. Every performance serves as a ture and inter-relationships and flows Laptops—CLOrk research-creation platform for ad- in the fluid substrate that might be vancing the practice of digital music initiated by gestural input. Protean, Dancing with Laptops is an im- performance and our understanding organic-looking shapes emerge and provisatory collaboration between thereof. evolve in the system in a highly

Sound and Video Anthology: Program Notes 121 unpredictable manner; the colonies Matt Heckert, Lynn Hershman, Paula His recording of Luigi Nono’s La Lon- alternately congeal into relatively Levine, Jeremy Mende, and Gino tananza Nostalgica Utopica Futura well-defined forms, or disperse into Robair. He has recently performed with violinist Miranda Cuckson was chaos. The system resembles an and presented work at the Blurred named a “Best Classical Recording of abstract painting environment; a Edges Festival 2014 (Hamburg), Zero 2012” by The New York Times. gestural interface sets the fluid sub- One Garage (San Jose), Yerba Buena A committed educator, Burns strate in motion and influences the Center for the Arts (San Francisco), teaches music composition and tech- behavior of the colonies of cell-like San Francisco Electronic Music Fes- nology at the University of Wisconsin, Downloaded from http://direct.mit.edu/comj/article-pdf/38/4/119/1856976/comj_a_00274.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 components. tival 2013, ACM Creativity and Milwaukee. Previously, he served as These two systems communicate Cognition 2013 (Sydney), and NIME the Technical Director of the Center with one another in a variety of 2013 (Daejeon and Seoul). He teaches for Computer Research in Music ways. The animation is influenced by and does research in the Department and Acoustics (CCRMA) at Stanford the real-time analysis of audio from of Computer Science at San Francisco University, after completing a doc- Xenoglossia. High-level tempo, spec- State University. torate in composition there in 2003. tral, and other features are extracted He has studied composition with and sent via Open Sound Control to Christopher Burns is a composer and Brian Ferneyhough, Jonathan Harvey, the animation environment. Simple improviser developing innovative Jonathan Berger, Michael Tenzer, and and overly obvious mappings of sound approaches to musical architecture. Jan Radzynski. to visual parameters are avoided, but, His work emphasizes trajectory, lay- Burns is also active as a con- as can be observed in the video ering and intercutting a variety of cert producer. He co-founded and clips provided later, the audio clearly audible processes to create intricate produced the Strictly Ballroom con- affects the overall coherence and forms. The experience of density is temporary music series at Stanford behavioral trends of the colonies. also crucial to his music: His com- University from 2000 to 2004, and has The systems also exchange mes- positions, which often incorporate contributed to the sfSound ensemble sages over a network interface. materials that pass by too quickly to in the San Francisco Bay Area since Xenoglossia conveys information be grasped in their entirety, present 2003. Since 2006, he has served as the about phrase-level timing and formal complex braids of simultaneous lines artistic director of the Unruly Music evolution to the animation environ- and textures. Several recent projects festival in Milwaukee. ment. In turn, Leishmania sends incorporate animation, choreography, visual descriptors regarding the den- and motion capture, integrating per- sity and position of cell clusters to formance, sound, and visuals into a Part B – Musical Metacreation Xenoglossia, influencing the rhyth- unified experience. mic density, sonic character, and the Burns’ work as a music tech- Curator’s Note The “musical coordination of audio layers. The nology researcher shapes his work metacreation” concert event was result is a closed loop of high-level in both instrumental chamber mu- recorded by Cafe OTO, and received descriptive information between the sic and electroacoustic sound. He funding from the Design Lab at the two systems. Hence, we are impro- writes improvisation software incor- University of Sydney. It was further vising with our respective generative porating a variety of unusual user supported by NIME 2014 (Gold- systems; in addition, each system interfaces for musical performance smiths) as a satellite event, which fed monitors and is influenced by the and exploring the application and into a musical metacreation work- behavior of the other. control of feedback for complex and shop presented at NIME by Brown, unpredictable sonic behavior. In Eigenfeldt, and Philippe Pasquier. Bill Hsu works with electronics the instrumental domain, he uses and real-time animation systems. algorithmic procedures to create He is interested in complex gener- distinctive pitch and rhythmic struc- ative systems, inspired by natural tures and elaborate them through 1. Paul Hession—drums, processes, that interact with live per- time. Burns is also an avid archae- Isambard formers. He has built systems, tools, ologist of electroacoustic music, Khroustaliov—software installations and compositions in creating and performing new digital collaboration with Peter van Bergen, realizations of music by Cage, Ligeti, Being inside this cyclotron of Chris Burns, John Butcher, James Fei, Lucier, Stockhausen, and others. atomized information from my

122 Computer Music Journal own vantage point produces a pal- the performer is doing. Since these previous work by the performer, to pable sense of vertigo. A feeling beliefs will often be contradictory, the find interesting degrees of interac- that it could be anything in any agents end up spending a lot of time tion between this responsivity and order by anyone at any time for arguing, resulting in the occasional internal generativity. Its output is any reason. Everything pointing indifference to the live performer. “sonified” through different output in all directions quaquaversally modules, mini generative algorithms but arriving at no destination. composed by the author. Zamyatin’s And its effect is a cancellation of 3. Paul Hession—drums, Doug name derives from the Russian au- Downloaded from http://direct.mit.edu/comj/article-pdf/38/4/119/1856976/comj_a_00274.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 affect. A feeling like Baudrillard’s Van Nort—FILTER system thor whose dystopian vision included screen stage of blank fascination machines for systematic composi- has reached its terminal phase This piece presents the Freely Im- tion that removed the savagery of and all previous depths are col- provising Learning and Transforming human performance from music. lapsing into an endless vista of Evolutionary Recombination (FIL- Did he ever imagine the computer dazzling surface play. TER) system, in an improvised duo music free-improv of the early 21st with percussionist Paul Hession. century? —Eric Lumbleau of Mu- The project explores themes such as tant Sounds, quoted online sonic gestural understanding, stylis- at www.theawl.com/2012/11/ tic tendencies, textural shifts and 5. Finn Peters—sax, Nick the-rise-and-fall-of-obscure-music- transformations of the lived episodic Collins—FinnSystem blogs-a-roundtable. The piece em- memory as it develops in the mo- ploys a computer model of a penguin, ment of performance. The work was This is the second outing for FinnSys- some cellular automata, and analysis- born from a desire to reflect upon, tem, a live musical agent originally driven concatenative synthesis to and perhaps model, my own hu- born on 14 April 2012. The agent was manifest and interrogate this mal man performance practice with my educated on a corpus of Finn Peters’ d’archive. Granular-feedback Expanded Instru- sax and flute playing. While Finn will ment System (GREIS), wherein I often have developed new techniques in capture and transform the musical the intervening two years, the system 2. The Indifference Engine streams from other performers on the remains frozen on an earlier version versus Paul Hession (software fly. of himself; so Finn will be encoun- by Arne Eigenfeldt) tering the agent at an interesting 4. Zamyatin (software by Oliver remove via a previous iteration of My software is often built around himself. the concept of negotiation, in which Brown) with Finn Peters (sax) virtual musical agents attempt to come to some understanding in Zamyatin is part of an ongoing study 6. Finn Peters—sax, Shlomo terms of what they want to achieve into software systems that act in per- Dubnov and Greg musically, and how they try to get formance contexts with autonomous Surges—software there. This can be translated into qualities. The system comprises an the notion of desires and intentions. audio analysis layer, an inner control This work explores a novel type of In this particular work, the virtual system exhibiting a form of com- interaction between a live musician agents have to deal with a Paul plex dynamical behavior, and a set and a computer that was pre-trained Hession, who has his own desires of “composed” output modules that to improvise on a known, different and intentions, unknown to them. respond to the patterned output from piece of music. While each partner The agents must decide whether the dynamical system. The inner sys- in the human-machine duo is free to try to follow the live performer, tems consists of a bespoke “Decision to improvise on its own materials, or continue with their own plans. Tree” that is built to feed back on they both listen to each other, com- To make things more complicated, itself, maintaining both a responsive ing in and out of sync and creating each agent is given only a short behavior to the outside world and a human-machine musical dialog “view” of the outside world (a quarter a generative behavior, driven by its in a dynamic and often unexpected second, every two seconds) in order to own internal activity. The system mechanically driven plot. This piece form their individual beliefs of what has been evolved using a database of is the next step in the development

Sound and Video Anthology: Program Notes 123 of the Audio Oracle method that 8. Finn Peters/Paul Hession/the Finn Peters (sax, flute) has worked adds a “listening” component to the Matt Yee-King simulator with such pioneers as Frederick improvisation process. The Audio Rzewski, Bill Frisell, DJ Spinna, Sam Oracle analyses repetitions in music The Matthew Yee-King simulator Rivers, and Sa-Ra creative partners. and uses them to create variations attempts to model and reproduce the He has been involved in upwards of in the same style. Moreover, during improvisational behavior of Matthew 200 recordings for other artists, and the improvisation, the computer tries Yee-King. The performance begins has released a number of his own Downloaded from http://direct.mit.edu/comj/article-pdf/38/4/119/1856976/comj_a_00274.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 to match its choice of improvisa- with the real Matthew manipulating recordings. In the words of Straight tion materials to those of the live two sampling machines and a set of No Chaser magazine, he is “the musician. From time to time, the effects implemented in the Super- blazing definition of a seriously heavy computer also imitates the live mu- Collider environment, controlled via player.” Awards and recognition sician by mirroring the ambiguity of an Akai MPD24 MIDI controller. A include the London Young Jazz his or her style, thus altering between probabilistic model of the sequence Musician Award, the BBC Jazz sections of contrasting dialog and a of control data he generates is built in Awards Best Band, the Jerwood Rising machine-augmented “imitative” solo real time. When Matthew is satisfied Stars program, a nomination for the performance. that he has demonstrated a range of Paul Hamlyn Composition Award, [This work is based on research interesting and appropriate control and the Radio 1 Worldwide Awards on stylistic modeling carried out by data patterns to the system, he flicks “Best Session” category. Throughout Gerard Assayag and Shlomo Dubnov the system to “generate” mode and 2010 Peters worked on a new electro- and on research on improvisation steps away. The model is then used acoustic project entitled “Music of with the computer by G. Assayag, to autonomously control the sam- the Mind” which deals with brain M. Chemillier, G. Bloch, and Arshia plers and effects for the rest of the waves in music and new forms of Cont (aka the OMax Brothers) in performance. algorithmic composition and impro- the Music Representations Group at visation. The album was described by l’Institut de Recherche et Coordina- the Independent (London) as “nothing tion Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM).] like you have ever heard before.” Part B Bios Isambard Khroustaliov is the solo Paul Hession (drums) was born in alias of electronic musician and com- 7. piano prosthesis—Michael Leeds in 1956. He took up drum- poser Sam Britton from the groups Young ming at the age of 15 and since then Icarus, Fiium Shaarrk, and Leverton has played and broadcast in many Fox. Britton trained as an architect This is one of a developing series European and Scandinavian coun- at the Architectural Association in of duos for a human and a machine tries as well as Argentina, Mexico, London but took up music after se- performer. Both “musicians” adapt to Cuba, the USA, and Canada. He has curing a recording contract as an each other through mutual listening played with many of the major fig- undergraduate. Since 1997 he has (i.e., via audio only) and response ures on the free music scene, such recorded and released music for a se- as the performance develops. The as Peter Brotzmann,¨ Derek Bailey, ries of independent electronic music human’s improvisation is encoded Evan Parker, Lol Coxhill, Sunny Mur- labels in the UK and the US (Output by the computer through statistical ray, Marshall Allen, Frode Gjerstad, Recordings, Temporary Residence, analysis of extracted features and by Peter Kowald, Joe McPhee, Borah Domino and The Leaf Label, among cataloguing these in real time. Each Bergman, Otomo Yoshihide, and his others) and performs internationally observation made by the computer is old friends Alan Wilkinson, Simon with his various groups, solo, and in assigned to a set of musical output Fell, Mick Beck, Hans-Peter Hiby, collaboration with numerous impro- behaviors. Recurring features of the Petter Frost-Fadnes, and Rus Pearson. vising musicians and ensembles. In player’s improvisation can then be Collaborators from a different scene 2006 he completed a masters course recognized by the computer. The are Squarepusher and DJ/producer in electronic music and composi- machine “expresses” this recognition Paul Woolford. He is known to relish tion at IRCAM in Paris and in 2011 by developing, and modifying, its own the interaction of collective music- worked with the London Sinfonietta musical output, just as another player making, but also responds to the as part of their Writing the Future might. challenge of solo performance. commissioning scheme.

124 Computer Music Journal Arne Eigenfeldt is a composer of Leonardo Music Journal, and Jour- (UCSD). His main research is on live electroacoustic music and a re- nal of New Music Research). See applying statistical and machine searcher into intelligent generative www.dvntsea.com. learning techniques to the modeling music systems. His music has been of music, stories, and entertainment performed around the world, and his Ollie Bown is a researcher, program- media. His work on computational collaborations range from Persian mer, and electronic music maker. He modeling of style and computer au- tar masters to contemporary dance creates and performs music as one dition has led to development of companies to musical robots. He has half of the duo Icarus, and he performs several computer music programs for Downloaded from http://direct.mit.edu/comj/article-pdf/38/4/119/1856976/comj_a_00274.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 presented his research at conferences regularly as a laptop improviser in improvisation and machine under- and festivals such as ICMC, SMC, electronic and electroacoustic ensem- standing of music. Dubnov studied ICCC, EMS, EvoMusArt, GECCO, bles. He has worked with musicians composition and computer science in and NIME. He teaches music tech- such as Tom Arthurs and Lothar Jerusalem and served as a researcher nology at Simon Fraser University Ohlmeier of the Not Applicable at IRCAM in Paris. He currently and is the co-director of the Metacre- Artists, Brigid Burke, Adem Ilhan, Pe- directs the Center for Research in En- ation Agent and Multi-Agent Systems ter Hollo, and Adrian Lim-Klumpes. tertainment and Learning (CREL) at (MAMAS) lab. Bown has designed interactive sound UCSD’s Qualcomm Institute (Calit2) for installation projects by Squidsoup and serves as a lead editor in ACM Doug Van Nort is a sonic artist and and Robococo, at venues such as the Computers in Entertainment. researcher whose work is concerned Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, the with the complex and embodied na- Oslo Lux, the Vivid Festival, Sydney, Greg Surges makes electronic music, ture of listening, improvisation both and the Kinetica Art Fair, London. In software, and hardware. His work has with and by machines, and the phe- his research role he was recently local been released on the various labels, nomenology of time consciousness co-chair of the 2013 International and his research and music have and of collective co-creation. His Conference on Computational Cre- been presented at multiple festivals research takes the form of scholarly ativity and is on the organizing and conferences. He is currently a writings on these phenomena, com- committee of the Musical Metacre- PhD student at the University of posed and improvised electroacoustic ation Workshop and events series. California, San Diego. Previously, he music, pieces of sound-focused art, earned a MM in Music Composition and digital artifacts designed and Nick Collins is Reader in Compo- and a BFA in Music Composition developed in these pursuits. Van sition at Durham University. His and Technology at the University of Nort’s work is a synthesis of his research interests include live com- Wisconsin, Milwaukee. background in mathematics, media puter music, musical artificial intel- arts, music composition, and perfor- ligence, and computational musicol- Michael Young is a composer and mance. Van Nort has recently joined ogy, and he is a frequent international researcher currently based at Gold- the School of Arts, Media, Perfor- performer as composer-programmer- smiths, University of London, and mance and Design at York University pianist, from algoraves to electronic will soon take up the post of Pro-Vice in Toronto, continuing his work chamber music. He co-edited The Chancellor (Teaching and Learning) in digitally mediated performance. Cambridge Companion to Electronic at De Montfort University. He is co- He often performs solo as well as Music (Cambridge University Press, founder of the EPSRC-funded “Live with a wide array of artists spanning 2007) and The SuperCollider Book Algorithms for Music” network 2004, musical styles and artistic media. (MIT Press, 2011), wrote the Intro- which investigates autonomous sys- Regular collaborators include Pauline duction to Computer Music (Wiley tems for live music creation. He stud- Oliveros and Al Margolis, and he 2009), and co-wrote Electronic Music ied at the Universities of Oxford and also works as a member of the Com- (Cambridge University Press Intro- Durham. The “ prosthesis” series has posers Inside Electronics. His music ductions series, 2013). Sometimes, been developing since 2007 and in- appears on several labels (e.g., Pogus, he writes in the third person about cludes versions for clarinet, trio, flute, Deep Listening, Attenuation Circuit, himself, but he is trying to give it up. oboe, and piano. Chris Redgate’s latest and Zeromoon), and his writings on CD release (Electrifying Oboe,Metier sound/performance/electroacoustics Shlomo Dubnov is a Professor in Records) includes two versions of have been published by a number Music and Computer Science at the “oboe prosthesis.” For more info and of outlets (e.g., Organised Sound, University of California, San Diego audio, visit www.michaelyoung.info.

Sound and Video Anthology: Program Notes 125 Matthew Yee-King is a lecturer in to independently control the different Audio Example 3 creative computing at Goldsmiths types of interaction and to morph Spectrogram for a linear increase College as well as a computer music between them, and to control the α composer, performer, and researcher. properties of the object, such as shape in from 1.7 to 400. The initial His work covers a range of styles, and material and to morph between frequency band gets narrower around p from the use of agent-based live im- the material categories. In the first the value associated with 0,inthis provisers to regular electronic music. part of the video, the intuitive control case approximately 3200 Hz. (Please Recent activities include chairing of the properties of an impacted, refer to Figure 10.) Downloaded from http://direct.mit.edu/comj/article-pdf/38/4/119/1856976/comj_a_00274.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 the workshops at the 2012 Supercol- resonant object is presented. In lider Symposium, including a live the second section, the intuitive Audio Example 4 algorithm hackathon, and extensive control of the interaction part is involvement in the Arts Council– demonstrated, by controlling the Spectrogram for a linear increase funded Music of the Mind project synthesizer with a graphical tablet. in the mass from 2 to 2.06. The alongside composer Finn Peters. He phase bands get further apart in has been involved in significant pub- frequency as the wave packet’s group lic engagement activities, presenting 2. Cellular Automata velocity diminishes. (Please refer to his arts/science crossover projects at Histogram Mapping Figure 11.) Science Festivals around the UK, as Synthesis—Jaime Serquera well as on national television and and Eduardo Reck Miranda radio. He has performed live inter- Audio Example 5 nationally and nationally as well Spectrogram for a linear increase in as recording many sessions for BBC See the article’s appendix for descrip- the initial momentum from −0.2 to Radio. In the past his solo music has tion of the provided examples. 0.43. The frequency band around p been released on electronic music moves along with it, from a center imprints such as Warp Record James’ frequency of 70 Hz in the case p = Rephlex Records. Past collaborators 3. Sound Synthesis of a −0.2 to 3,500 Hz when p = 0.43. include Jamie Lidell, Tom Jenkinson Gaussian Quantum Particle (Please refer to Figure 12.) (Squarepusher), Finn Peters, and Max in an Infinite Square— de Wardener. Rodrigo F. Cadiz and Javier Ramos Audio Example 6

Audio Example 1 Spectrogram for a linear increase in Supplementary Audio/Video the length of the well in steps of Examples for Articles First 90 seconds of the spectrogram of 600, 700, and 800, at times t = 0, from CMJ 38:4 the full revival time. The spectrum t = 2, and t = 4. The frequency band retakes its initial form towards the gets narrower and moves towards end of the revival time, as predicted 1. An Intuitive Synthesizer of the lower frequencies. As changing by Equation 29, and exhibits a mirror the length of the well implies a Continuous Interaction revival at half the revival time, as full recalculation of the quantum Sounds: Rubbing, Scratching, predicted by Equation 31. (Please particle’s dynamics, audible clicks and Rolling—Simon Conan, refer to Figures 7 and 8.) appear in the sound signal when the Etienne Thoret, Mitsuko length is changed in real time. (Please Aramaki, Olivier Derrien, refer to Figure 13.) Charles Gondre, Richard Audio Example 2 Kronland-Martinet, and Spectrogram of a single bounce. The Sølvi Ystad slopes of the frequency bands change Audio Example 7 according to the direction of the In this video, an intuitive synthesizer wavepacket. When a bounce occurs, Spectrum for linear increase of N for rubbing, scratching, and rolling approximately at time t = 7, a change from 0 to 60. The cutoff frequency interaction sounds is presented. This in slope happens. (Please refer to depends directly on N. Because N is an real-time synthesizer allows the user Figure 9.) integer in this implementation, clicks

126 Computer Music Journal are produced when this parameter is (at time t = 13). The ordering of the 4. Sound Synthesis with changed continuously. (Please refer to frequencies is affected when the Auditory Distortion Figure 14.) mass is varied around small values. Products—Gary S. Kendall, The behavior of the momentum Christopher Haworth, and distribution is chaotic when the mass Rodrigo F. Cadiz Audio Example 8 is near zero, and it is very organized and similar to a sawtooth signal when Spectrum for change in the mass from the mass is near one. (Please refer to Please see the article’s appendix for Downloaded from http://direct.mit.edu/comj/article-pdf/38/4/119/1856976/comj_a_00274.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 0to1(attimet = 2) and back to 0 Figure 15.) description of the provided examples.

Sound and Video Anthology: Program Notes 127