Historically, network music has explored the practice and theory of interconnectivity, utilising the network itself as a creative instrument. The Machine Orchestra (TMO) has extended this historical idea by developing the custom software suite Signal, and creating a shared, social instrument consisting of musical robotics. Signal is a framework for musical synchronisation and data sharing, designed to support the use of musical robotics in an attempt to more fully address ideas of interconnectivity and embodied performance. Signal, in combination with musical robotics, also facilitates the exploration of interaction contexts, such as at the note level, score level and sound-processing level. In this way, TMO is simultaneously building upon the historical contributions and developing aesthetics of network music.

In mixed electroacoustic music it is common to find the erroneous conception according to which interaction should base itself exclusively on the fusion between instrumental writing and electronic devices, whereas the contrast between these sound spheres is as significant as the fusional states. Although fusion may be seen as the most important ingredient for an efficacious compositional strategy concerning interaction, it is actually through contrast that the identities of spectral transfers in mixed composition can be evaluated by the listener. This text intends to introduce a discussion about the many possibilities offered by the morphology of interaction between acoustic sources and electroacoustic resources and structures. In this sense it tries to identify intermediate types between the extremes of pure fusion and pure contrast, which can be established by the composer that sees in interactive music one of the most advantageous poetic realms of electroacoustic music.

This article documents the resolution of a problem encountered during the design of a semi-permanent interactive sound and video installation currently being installed at a tram station located in Dublin, Ireland. This artwork generates video and multi-channel sound output in real time, responding to changes in traffic patterns on an adjacent street. While the visuals are composed from pre-recorded content, the sound environment explores the use of site-specific sound within public urban space by sampling and processing sounds that occur naturally in and around the station. Regulations involving the artwork's volume resulted in the sound output being reduced to a level at which it was too subtle to be noticed amidst the busy activity of the station. It was therefore necessary to strengthen the artwork's aural presence without interfering with the subtleties of the site-specific sound environment. A dynamic field of sine tones and rhythmic glitches was composed to augment the more subtle sounds of the installation. This juxtaposition of site-specific sound with compositional structures associated with the popular musical genre known as microsound proved to be effective, calling attention to the mediated sound environment even at low volume levels and balancing the artwork's presence with the other functions of the site.

This article describes a manual actions expressive system (MAES) which aims to enable music creation and performance using natural hand actions (e.g. hitting virtual objects, or shaking them). Gestures are fully programmable and result from tracking and analysing hand motion and finger bend, potentially allowing performers to concentrate on natural actions from our daily use of the hands (e.g. the physical movement associated with hitting and shaking). Work carried out focused on the development of an approach for the creation of gestures based on intuitive metaphors, their implementation as software for composition and performance, and their realisation within a musical composition through the choice of suitable mappings, sonic materials and processes.

The field of electroacoustic improvisation in the Netherlands is largely male dominated. Flutist, improviser and composer Anne La Berge signalled this and other problems related to gender in ‘Kraakgeluiden’, a Dutch venue for improvisation in electroacoustic music. Four possible factors contributing to gender discrimination are proposed: the stereotypical gendered concept of an improviser, differences in communicative styles, the dominance of male networks, and music technology itself. This is followed by a consideration of gendered differences in music improvisation. It is posited that male improvisers often seek to establish a hierarchy among themselves, while women performers tend to project themselves less to the forefront. Women improvisers may traditionally have a different sense of autonomy, in adherence to gender norms. While music education might offer a means to change behaviour patterns, it appears that these gender norms are internalised at a surprisingly young age. While concentrating on electroacoustic improvisation, this essay also includes relevant experiences of other improvisers. Gender discrimination in electroacoustic music improvisation is a complex issue deserving more research.

Mixed works combining live performance with non-live sound sources projected over loudspeakers are commonplace in the field of electroacoustic music. A peculiarity of the mixed-work experience is that only some of the sound sources are seen, while many others may be heard. Consequently, a perceptual dissonance often arises between visual and aural stimuli, drawing particular attention to the relationship between the live and non-live components. Such a heightened perceptual focus on relations suggests the need for an analytical framework and terminology. This paper proposes a multidimensional framework of relations between live and non-live component pairs in mixed works, which can both serve as a model and foundation for analysis as well as provide composers with pathways of relations available under certain conditions.

The purpose of this article is to explore the idea of relating storytelling with acousmatic music in the creation of a hybrid vehicle for transmitting stories. The concept of acousmatic storytelling is introduced, illustrated by the example of one of my own works which was created with the elements and techniques of storytelling as its conceptual basis. The article continues to investigate concepts of acousmatic storytelling in works from the repertoire of electroacoustic music, with composers such as Ferrari, Westerkamp, Derbyshire, Cousins and Young providing especially pertinent examples. Acousmatic storytelling integrates interviews, archival recordings, soundscape recordings, sonic icons and music quotations; the microphone becomes a time machine, ‘thought capturer’ and a conduit for conveying cultural information, elements which, combined with the sonic world composed in the studio, create a hybrid form. The concepts introduced in this article are useful for all those working with recorded sound, offering an approach to sonic creativity based on storytelling techniques and the way we experience past events through memory and sound recording. Acousmatic storytelling transmits a unique version of a story to the mind of the listener, who participates in the creation of the story and acts as co-creator of that story as experienced. In applying the methodology of interviews as well as researching past events and ‘writing’ about them, acousmatic storytelling composers can also be seen as historians and journalists.

This article explores the similarities and differences between live coding and traditional music performances. The focus is on how bodily movements are expressed and whether pre-reflective processes may be activated during a live coding performance. While reports from practitioners vary on percepts of embodiment, the community is missing a theoretical background that reflects on practice. Understanding pre-reflective processes in live coding can benefit performance practices and tool development. As a live coder, I reflect on personal experiences and explore what I call ‘interactivity variations’, a term to denote different gestural manners of interactions during a performance. I observe patterns of embodiment among various live coders who use diverse performance systems from online videos. Out of 11 examples of performance systems, two cases demonstrate interactivity variations that can activate pre-reflective processes while another exploits direct manipulation. I present some implications for the patterns of bodily movement during a live coding performance and discuss how descriptive and prescriptive notation can be important and potentially influence our sensorimotor network. The article contributes a first account of a sensorimotor theory on live coding performances, reflecting on practice and embodied music cognition by presenting an aesthetic analysis of 11 online video examples.

A catalyst for the thinking in this paper is the way in which the concentrated direct audition of materials central to the process of electroacoustic composition can, in conjunction with powerful tools for the deconstruction and synthesis of sounds, influence the nature of musical relationships that are formed.

Real-time computer music is now common and ubiquitous, no longer a new or experimental practice. In its infancy, it helped to solve perceived issues with the fixity of tape pieces, a natural continuation in the practice of live electronics. However, real-time computer music did not have the same consequences as live electronic music. This situation engendered many discussions about the liveness of real-time computer music performances at the time. It is now 20 years past those first conversations, and it is important to revisit what is ‘live’ and how it applies to real-time musics. Additionally, in some ways, the language surrounding descriptions of fixed medium works, mixed works, live electronics and real-time computer music has evolved and, perhaps, even settled into conventions distinguishing musical approach and philosophies. This article first defines the language, not to proselytise, but rather to ground the argument. The conclusion asserts that liveness is a spectrum despite the fact that ‘live’ is often used categorically. Though one may have an intuitive understanding of what constitutes a ‘live’ event, this article explicitly articulates the most significantly contributive factors. The nature of real-time computer music is explored in relation to these factors of liveness. Using musical examples, this article shows that ‘real-time’ music does not guarantee a ‘live’ performance, contrary to what is typically held to be true. Instead, ‘real-time’ simply becomes a descriptor of compositional method, and any real-time work can exist along a broad range of the liveness spectrum.

The conceptual basis of the UPIC system is described and discussed, in particular its relation to the work of its orginator, Iannis Xenakis, to the science of acoustics and to the development of an intuitive graphic imagery. A possible pedagogical approac h to musical creation using the resources of the UPIC is developed, and the particular pedagogical ethos of the system is emphasised. There follows a detailed description of the practical arrangements for a number of different workshop situations using the UPIC system in which the author has participated, and an evaluation of the outcomes of using the system in this way.

The discipline of electroacoustic music is most commonly associated with acousmatic musical forms such as tape-music and musique concrète, and the electroacoustic historical canon primarily centres around the mid-twentieth-century works of Pierre Schaeffer, Karlheinz Stockhausen, John Cage and related artists. As the march of technology progressed in the latter half of the twentieth century, alternative technologies opened up new areas within the electroacoustic discipline such as computer music, hyper-instrument performance and live electronic performance. In addition, the areas of electromagnetic actuation and musical robotics also allowed electroacoustic artists to actualise their works with real-world acoustic sound-objects instead of or along side loudspeakers. While these works owe much to the oft-cited pioneers mentioned above, there exists another equally significant alternative history of artists who utilised electric, electronic, pneumatic, hydraulic and other sources of power to create what is essentially electroacoustic music without loudspeakers. This article uncovers this ‘missing history’ and traces it to its earliest roots over a thousand years ago to shed light on often-neglected technological and artistic developments that have shaped and continue to shape electronic music today.

Assuming that perception works as a constant dialectic between sense-data and concept, this paper presents a perceptual analysis of J. C. Risset‘s Sud according to a conceptual framework based on a complementarity between intrinsic and extrinsic connotations in electroacoustic music. From this perspective, Sud may be perceived as an encounter between human imagination and nature in two of its most powerful symbols: the sea, alluded to through the sounds of the waves, and the forest, alluded to through the sounds of birds and insects. The piece presents an exploration of the essence of these environmental sounds, which are either modified or recreated with different substances. In its appeal to images widespread in a variety of cultures, as well as in its unique use of traditional musical materials, Sud is more than a strongly programmatic and visually evocative piece.

The challenge of composing both sound and moving image within a coherent computer-mediated framework is addressed, and some of the aesthetic issues highlighted. A conceptual model for an audiovisual delivery system is proposed, and this model acts as a guide for detailed discussion of some illustrative examples of audiovisual composition. Options for types of score generated as graphical output of the system are outlined. The need for extensive algorithmic control of compositional decisions within an interactive framework is proposed. The combination of Tabula Vigilans Audio Interactive (TVAI), an algorithmic composition language for electroacoustic music and realtime image generation, with MIDAS, a multiprocessor audiovisual system platform, is shown to have the features desired for the conceptual outline given earlier, and examples are given of work achieved using these resources. It is shown that ultimately delivery of new work may be efficiently distributed via the World Wide Web, with composers' interactive scripts delivered remotely but rendered locally by means of a user's ‘rendering black box’.

As Jonty Harrison himself acknowledges, a significant body of acousmatic music exists which has, directly or indirectly, challenged aspects of the Schaefferian theory from which acousmatic music first developed (Harrison 1995). Few pieces, however, have so clearly and deliberately confronted Schaeffer’s notion of the ‘sound object’ as Harrison’s Unsound Objects. Harrison does more than merely reject Schaeffer’s definition of the sound object through the use of expanded compositional strategies. Rather, he both employs Schaeffer’s methodology and subverts it, systematically demonstrating the potential and the limitations of Schaeffer’s epoché and its product, the sound object. The result is what might be aptly termed the ‘unsound object’: a sonic entity which both demonstrates and defies Schaeffer’s ideals, and exemplifies the rich ambiguities which can arise from the compositional exploitation of referentiality and association, in addition to the intrinsic, morphological characteristics emphasised within Schaeffer’s reduced listening. Throughout his engagement with Schaefferian theory, however, Harrison never abandons the fundamental musical radicalism at the heart of Schaeffer’s project: positing ‘concrete sound material’, rather than ‘abstract concept’, as the basis for the language of electroacoustic music (Chion 1983: 37).

Notation is the traditional method for composers to specify detailed relationships between musical events. However, the conventions under which the tradition evolved – controlled relationships between two or more human performers – were intended for situations apart from those found in electroacoustic music. Many composers of electroacoustic music have adopted the tradition for mixed media works that use live performers, and new customs have appeared that address issues in coordinating performers with electroacoustic elements. The author presents generative music as one method of avoiding the fixedness of tape music: coupled with real-time notation for live performers, generative music is described as a continuation of research into expressive performance within electroacoustic music by incorporating instrumentalists rather than synthetic output. Real-time score generation is described as a final goal of a generative system, and two recent works are presented as examples of the difficulties of real-time notation.

This paper addresses questions regarding the performance of interactive music compositions through an examination of the author's own works. The questions emerge from the compositional impetus and the subsequent technical design of each of the works. The paper also examines some of the forces impacting the performance, preservation and long-term viability of interactive works and non-interactive electroacoustic compositions.

This article will outline the experience of researchers at De Montfort University (DMU) (Leicester, UK) in devising and delivering workshops on sound-based creativity (sbc). These workshops supported and guided participants through the process of listening training, recording and composing their own sound-based pieces. As well as engaging participants in sound-based composition, the aim of these workshops was to introduce them to examples from the repertoire of sbm. The final workshops involved the collection of Intention/Reception (I/R) data from participants in response to a piece of sbm. Nearly 180 participants from a diverse range of ages and backgrounds took part in the workshops and the data indicate that engagement with sbm was high. This article will provide the context for the project, describe the methodology and analyse and evaluate the data that were collected. Finally, the implications for future work will be discussed.

Understanding laptop music requires more than a new perspective on the configuration of a ‘weareable computer and an audio interface’ as a musical instrument for performance. It combines the strategies and traditions of electronic media-related music composition of the twentieth century, like reproductive music, electronic music, computer music and Net music in a single, digital, multi-purpose device originally designed for business and multimedia applications. Consequently, what we hear is mostly not a genuine laptop music, but one facet of the information-technological transformation of music that has been the result of the digital integration of these established traditions. This article gives an overview of the aesthetic implications of these traditions and with respect to laptop performance and musical style.

Cheryl E. Leonard is a San Francisco-based composer, performer and instrument maker who utilises sounds from natural objects and field recordings to create innovative compositions that are aesthetically appealing and also promote environmental awareness. This article examines Leonard’s work Antarctica: Music from the Ice (2009–2014), which comprises ten context-based pieces created from sounds produced with natural objects (such as penguin bones, rocks and shells) and field recordings the composer collected during her visit to Antarctica in 2008–9. In particular, the article focuses on the pieces Lullaby for E Seals, White on White, Greater than 20 Knots and Ablation Zone, showing how Leonard draws attention to pertinent environmental issues through her work, while at the same time producing compositions that are aurally pleasing and engaging for performers and listeners alike.