Visual Music Archive

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RedUniverse 

(2007) 

by Mark d'Inverno and Fredrik Olofsson. This is basically a set of tools for sonification and visualisation of dynamic systems. It lets us build and experiment with systems as they are running.

"With the help of these tools we can quickly try out ideas around simple audiovisual mappings, as well as code very complex agents with strange behaviours.

The toolkit consists of three basic things... Objects, Worlds and a Universe. Supporting these are additional classes for things like particle systems, genetic algorithms, plotting, audio analysis etc. but preferably many of these functions you will want to code your self as a user.

We have chosen to work in the programming language SuperCollider as it provides tight integration between realtime sound synthesis and graphics. It also allows for minimal classes that are easy to customise and extend. SuperCollider is also open for communication with other programs and it run cross-platform.

So to take full advantage of our toolkit, good knowledge of this programming language is required. We do provide helpfiles and examples as templates for exploration, but the more interesting features, like the ability to live-code agents, are hard to fully utilise without knowing this language."

 

Source: Fredrik Olofsson's blog

 

 

RedUniverse, super collider, Interactive, Code

Reading

Notation. Calculation and Form in the Arts (2008) is a comprehensive catalogue (in German) edited by Dieter Appelt, Hubertus von Amelunxen and Peter Weibel which accompanied an exhibition of the same name at the Academy of the Arts, Berlin and the ZKM | Karlsruhe. (ZKM)

Notations 21 (2009) by Theresa Sauer features illustrated musical scores from more than 100 international composers, all of whom are making amazing breakthroughs in the art of notation. Notations 21 is a celebration of innovations in musical notation, employing an appreciative aesthetic for both the aural and visual beauty of these creations. The musical scores in this edition were created by composers whose creativity could not be confined by the staff and clef of traditional western notation, but whose musical language can communicate with the contemporary audience in a uniquely powerful way. (Notations 21 Project)

Links

 

SEE ALSO

The Orbiter (2007) is an interactive sound environment by Field. It is a place for visitors to lay down and relax, watching the firmament above them. With a small gesture, just pointing upwards, the visitor can insert new stars into orbit with unique visual and musical characteristics. (Field)

Itaru Yasuda (1984) is a Japanese audiovisual artist. Based in Tokyo. Focusing on computational audiovisual composition. Representative of a new generation of composers in this field, Itaru Yasuda takes algorithmic composition to levels of intricacy that years ago would have required a warehouse full of computer processing. These days, with the help of software like SuperCollider, audiovisual work can reach new levels of expression without the hindrance of hardware or technological boundaries. This might just be a sneak peak into the future. (Itaru Yasuda)

Bonn Patternization (2009) - original title: Bonner Durchmusterung is a sonification and visualisation of astrophysical phenomena by Marcus Schmickler (composition), Alberto de Campo (sonification) and Carsten Goertz (visualisation). The eponymous starting point of our project is the Bonn patternization drawn up by the astronomer Friedrich Argelander (1799–1875) and his co-workers. This is not only the most historic work ever to have been conducted in Bonn; it also includes every star that can be seen in the night sky with the naked eye or a small telescope. The locations of the stars alter so little that today's night sky can still by-and-large be described by the data of the Bonn patternization. (Dr. Michael Geffert, Marcus Schmickler, Alberto de Campo, Carsten Goertz in May 2009)

Jost Muxfeldt (*1959) is a German/American artist, composer, and philosopher, who almost exclusively uses electronic media and computers. His work often focuses on trans-media and phenomenology, exploring the rational and irrational channels between artistic and conceptual disciplines, and pursuing their self-transfiguring implications. (Jost Muxfeldt)

Ryoji Ikeda (*1966) is one of Japan's leading electronic composers and focuses on the minutiae of ultrasonics, frequencies and the essential characteristics of sound itself. His work exploits sound's physical property, its causality with human perception and mathematical dianoia as music, time and space. Using computer and digital technology to the utmost limit, Ryoji Ikeda has been developing particular microscopic methods for sound engineering and composition. (Ryoji Ikeda)