Interactive Sound Synthesis Mediated Through Computer Networks

Abstract

The digital age is continuously redefining the bounds of interaction. This has never been more apparent in the realm of sonic arts, where the idea of network interactivity is becoming increasingly ubiquitous. After all, art is essentially born of the interaction between people and the phenomenon around them. Interactivity is a fundamental element of music performance, whether it is amongst performers, the performers and the audience, or the performers and the work itself. Since the era of The League of Automatic Music Composers and The Hub (Gresham-Lancaster 1998), composers, musicians and music technologists have explored the paradigm of computer networks as the medium of interactivity in music systems (Barbosa 2003; Traub 2005; Mills 2010). Motivated in part by research into the microsonic components of sound creation, the authors introduce a method in which sound is generated by the feedback of an impulse across a network.