The Hub: The Hub Computer Network Music

Talking Drum is an interactive computer network music installation designed for the diffusion of cyclically repeating rhythms produced by four electronically synchronized instruments separated by distances up to 50 feet (16 m). The reverberant character of the performance space and the distance-related time-delays between stations combine with the speed and rhythms of the music to create a complex, multifocal mix that audiences explore by moving independently through the installation. The software uses Afro-Cuban musical concepts as a model for creating an interactive drum machine. It implements a simple genetic algorithm to mediate the interaction between pre-composed and improvised rhythms.

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Non-Mathematical Musings on Information Theory and Networked Musical Practice

Organised Sound ◽

10.1017/s1355771821000418 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 26 (3) ◽

pp. 327-332

Author(s):

Phil Stone

Keyword(s):

Information Theory ◽

Mathematical Theory ◽

Quantum Physics ◽

Computer Network ◽

Information Revolution ◽

Digital Information ◽

Modern Life ◽

Personal Connection ◽

Musical Practice ◽

Network Music

Claude Shannon’s 1948 paper ‘A Mathematical Theory of Communication’ provided the essential foundation for the digital/information revolution that enables these very pixels to glow in meaningful patterns and permeates nearly every aspect of modern life. Information Theory, born fully grown from this paper, has been applied and mis-applied to a multitude of disciplines in the last 70-odd years, from quantum physics to psychology. Shannon himself famously decried those jumping on the ‘scientific bandwagon’ of Information Theory without sufficient mathematical rigour. Nevertheless, having a brief personal connection to Dr Shannon (and being extremely grateful for it), I will take the liberty of colouring some of my experience with computer network music with less-than-rigorous insights gained from his work.

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A Personal Reminiscence on the Roots of Computer Network Music

Leonardo Music Journal ◽

10.1162/lmj_a_01022 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 27 ◽

pp. 71-77

Author(s):

Scot Gresham-Lancaster

Keyword(s):

Electronic Music ◽

Computer Network ◽

Artistic Practice ◽

Music Making ◽

Personal Reminiscence ◽

Early Computer ◽

Network Music ◽

Heterogeneous Quality ◽

Transition Points ◽

Fundamental Shift

This historical reminiscence details the evolution of a type of electronic music called “computer network music.” Early computer network music had a heterogeneous quality, with independent composers forming a collective; over time, it has transitioned into the more autonomous form of university-centered “laptop orchestra.” This transition points to a fundamental shift in the cultural contexts in which this artistic practice was and is embedded: The early work derived from the post-hippie, neo-punk anarchism of cooperatives whose members dreamed that machines would enable a kind of utopia. The latter is a direct outgrowth of the potential inherent in what networks actually are and of a sense of social cohesion based on uniformity and standardization. The discovery that this style of computer music-making can be effectively used as a curricular tool has also deeply affected the evolution and approaches of many in the field.

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Free Enterprise: Virtual Capital and Counterfeit Music at the End of the Century

Leonardo Music Journal ◽

10.1162/096112199750316758 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

pp. 19-22

Author(s):

Mark Trayle

Keyword(s):

Twentieth Century ◽

Credit Card ◽

Computer Network ◽

Free Enterprise ◽

Virtual Economy ◽

Network Music ◽

Late Twentieth ◽

The 1960S ◽

Organizational Science ◽

Late Twentieth Century

How does a piece of computer network music reflect the virtual economy of the late twentieth century? Was the “open-form” music of the 1960s a bedfellow of organizational science? The author conjectures about the nature of distributed composition and the socioeconomic implications of its application in a composition for networked credit card readers.

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Computer Network Music Bands: A History of The League of Automatic Music Composers and The Hub

At a Distance ◽

10.7551/mitpress/1467.003.0024 ◽

2005 ◽

Keyword(s):

Computer Network ◽

Network Music ◽

History Of

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The Instructional SEM Laboratory at Iowa State University

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100164441 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 54 ◽

pp. 396-397

Author(s):

L. S. Chumbley ◽

M. Meyer ◽

K. Fredrickson ◽

F.C. Laabs

Keyword(s):

Materials Science ◽

Computer Network ◽

Energy Dispersive Spectrometer ◽

Computer Control ◽

State University ◽

Iowa State University ◽

Internet Server ◽

Schematic Layout ◽

Hands On ◽

Improve Instruction

The Materials Science Department at Iowa State University has developed a laboratory designed to improve instruction in the use of the scanning electron microscope (SEM). The laboratory makes use of a computer network and a series of remote workstations in a classroom setting to provide students with increased hands-on access to the SEM. The laboratory has also been equipped such that distance learning via the internet can be achieved.A view of the laboratory is shown in Figure 1. The laboratory consists of a JEOL 6100 SEM, a Macintosh Quadra computer that acts as a server for the network and controls the energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), four Macintosh computers that act as remote workstations, and a fifth Macintosh that acts as an internet server. A schematic layout of the classroom is shown in Figure 2. The workstations are connected directly to the SEM to allow joystick and computer control of the microscope. An ethernet connection between the Quadra and the workstations allows students seated there to operate the EDS. Control of the microscope and joystick is passed between the workstations by a switch-box assembly that resides at the microscope console. When the switch-box assembly is activated a direct serial line is established between the specified workstation and the microscope via the SEM’s RS-232.

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