A Beamformer to Play with Wall Reflections: The Icosahedral Loudspeaker

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 50-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franz Zotter ◽  
Markus Zaunschirm ◽  
Matthias Frank ◽  
Matthias Kronlachner
Keyword(s):  
Computer Music ◽  
Electroacoustic Music ◽  
Digital Audio ◽  
Sound Sources ◽  
Pierre Boulez ◽  
Acoustic Equations ◽  
Digital Audio Workstation ◽  
Beam Patterns ◽  
Auditory Objects

The quote from Pierre Boulez, given as an epigraph to this article, inspired French researchers to start developing technology for spherical loudspeaker arrays in the 1990s. The hope was to retain the naturalness of sound sources. Now, a few decades later, one might be able to show that even more can be done: In electroacoustic music, using the icosahedral loudspeaker array called IKO seems to enable spatial gestures that enrich alien sounds with a tangible acoustic naturalness. After a brief discussion of directivity-based composition in computer music, the first part of the article describes the technical background of the IKO, its usage in a digital audio workstation, and psychoacoustic evidence regarding the auditory objects the IKO produces. The second part deals with acoustic equations of spherical beamforming, how the IKO's loudspeakers are controlled correspondingly, how we deal with excursion limits, and the resulting beam patterns generated by the IKO.

scholarly journals Electroacoustic Music and the Digital Future

2010 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-26
Author(s):  
Barry Truax
Keyword(s):  
Digital Technology ◽  
Electroacoustic Music ◽  
Economic Situation ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Digital Audio ◽  
Artistic Practice ◽  
Digital Audio Workstation ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Definition Of

This article outlines the author's views on the contemporary social and economic situation of electroacoustic music and digital technology in general. The dominance of commercial interests in shaping the listener, the artist, and the definition of culture is examined. Issues associated with digital technology, such as standardization, de-skilling, and upgrades, are discussed with respect to artistic practice. It is argued that marginalized artforms such as electroacoustic music have benefited from the windsurfer availability of the digital audio workstation (DAW) for production and the Internet for distribution, but no analogous avenue exists for the creation of the consumer.

Computational Designing of Sonic Morphologies

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-24
Author(s):  
David Worrall
Keyword(s):  
Music Composition ◽  
Computer Code ◽  
Electroacoustic Music ◽  
Sound Art ◽  
Material Objects ◽  
Digital Audio ◽  
Digital Audio Workstation ◽  
Primary Focus ◽  
Sound Transformation ◽  
Musical Sounds

Much electroacoustic music composition and sound art, and the commentary that surrounds them, is locked into a materialist sound-object mindset in which the hierarchical organisation of sonic events, especially those developed through abstraction, are considered antithetical to sounds ‘being themselves’. This article argues that musical sounds are not just material objects, and that musical notations, on paper or in computer code, are not just symbolic abstractions, but instructions for embodied actions. When notation is employed computationally to control resonance and gestural actuators at multiple acoustic, psychoacoustic and conceptual levels of music form, vibrant sonic morphologies may emerge from the quantum-like boundaries between them. In order to achieve that result, it is necessary to replace our primary focus of compositional attention from the Digital Audio Workstation sound transformation tools currently in vogue, with those that support algorithmic thinking at all levels of compositional design.

Tech You Will Need for Your Program

2021 ◽  
pp. 27-39
Author(s):  
Will Kuhn ◽  
Ethan Hein
Keyword(s):  
Music Teachers ◽  
Music Technology ◽  
Digital Audio ◽  
Music Production ◽  
Creative Music ◽  
Wear And Tear ◽  
Digital Audio Workstation ◽  
Practical Recommendations

This chapter presents an optimal equipment list for establishing a creative music technology lab. While preservice music teachers are taught how to purchase and maintain instruments, they are rarely given equivalent advice for music production tools. This chapter provides practical recommendations for purchasing and maintaining hardware, software, and furniture, including computers, digital audio workstation software, headphones, MIDI controllers, microphones, tables, podiums, display screens, and soundproofing. Suggestions are given for arrangement and design of the overall space as well as design of individual workstations. The chapter also includes suggestions for managing wear and tear on equipment, for maintenance and cleaning routines, and for sustainable budgeting. Finally, for situations where the optimal setup is not immediately attainable, the various items described here are ranked in terms of priority.

The Digital Audio Workstation

2017 ◽  
pp. 219-264
Author(s):  
David Miles Huber ◽  
Robert E. Runstein
Keyword(s):  
Digital Audio ◽  
Digital Audio Workstation

scholarly journals The Terminology of Borrowing

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (02) ◽  
pp. 139-156
Author(s):  
Manuella Blackburn
Keyword(s):  
Classical Music ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Electroacoustic Music ◽  
Compositional Process ◽  
Sound Sources ◽  
Theme And Variations ◽  
Recorded Sound ◽  
Cover Songs ◽  
New Framework

This article specifically addresses electroacoustic music compositions that borrow from existing musical and sound resources. Investigating works that borrow and thrive upon existing sound sources presents an array of issues regarding terminology, authorship and creativity. Embedding borrowed elements into new electroacoustic music goes beyond the simplicity of ‘cut and paste’ as composers approach this practice with new and novel techniques. Musical borrowings have been widely studied in fields of popular and classical music, from cover songs to quotations and from pastiches to theme and variations; however, borrowings that take place within the field of electroacoustic music can be less clear or defined, and demand a closer look. Because the components and building blocks of electroacoustic music are often recorded sound, the categories of borrowing become vast; thus incidences of borrowing, in some shape or form, can appear inevitable or unavoidable when composing. The author takes on this issue and proposes a new framework for categorising borrowings as a helpful aid for others looking to sample in new compositional work, as well as for further musicological study. The article will consider the compositional process of integration and reworking of borrowed material, using a repertoire study to showcase the variety of techniques in play when sound materials change hands, composer to composer. Terminology already in use by others to describe sound borrowing in electroacoustic music will be investigated in an effort to show the multitude of considerations and components in action when borrowing takes place. Motivations for borrowing, borrowing types, borrowing durations, copying as imitation, and composers’ reflections upon borrowing will all be considered within the article, along with discussions on programmatic development and embedding techniques. At the heart of this article, the author aims to show how widespread and pervasive borrowing is within the electroacoustic repertoire by drawing attention to varieties of sound transplants, all considered as acts of borrowing.

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