Plumage live article in Organised Sound

Un article de Enigmes.

Draft of an article about Plumage live in a special issue The Sonic Image of Organised Sound, an International Journal of Music and Technology, Volume 15, Number 1, April 2010 (Cambridge University Press)


Organised Sound submission 'The Sonic Image':

Sommaire

Working title: audio/visual live performance by navigation through a corpus of sounds and descriptors built on-the-fly


Abstract

This article treats the sonic image on the level of an improvised electro-acoustic duo live performance using the concept of real-time corpus-based concatenative synthesis. Here, the corpus of sound segments and their descriptors, recorded and analysed live from an acoustic instrument during the performance, is visualised in 3D using a metaphor of a space populated by feather-like objects, one for each segment, that are placed according to their sonic character. The electronic instrument plays back segments by navigating through this sound space, interacting with the objects. The concept is realised using the CataRT corpus-based synthesis software for Max/MSP with FTM&Co. and Virtual Choreographer for the graphics.


Introduction

Concept

Topophonies


Previous Work

CBCS

general, short history and related approaches, esp. live

CataRT

Architecture, uses


The ENIGMES Project

...

Plumage

VirChor

design Plumage for installations


Overview

  • live sound from the clarinet player is recorded by CataRT, segmented, and analysed
  • the descriptor data is mapped to graphic parameters and the objects are displayed as the notes come in
  • interaction with the objects representing sound segments in the 2D or 3D space controls playback of the recorded sounds
  • visual feedback on the interactions visualise the navigation through the sound space


Analysis

  • segmentation
  • descriptor analysis
  • storage and representation of the corpus


Live Visualisation


  • design of the graphical objects
  • mapping of sound descriptors to graphic parameters


Interaction and Synthesis

  • nearest neighbour selection in 2D
  • circles/path interaction in 3D
  • visual feedback
  • unit selection, synthesis + transformations


Conclusion

what is added to the performance by the visualisation?

feedback: performer to sound, image to performer

symbiotic improvisation between instrument and electronic