0 penilaian0% menganggap dokumen ini bermanfaat (0 suara)
53 tayangan4 halaman
The use of multiple loudspeakers to establish distinctive sound projection effects is not new. Now, more than ever, the pressure is on to develop multidisciplinary research projects. An active investment in sound projection departs somewhat from the classical twoor five-channel stereophonic sound projection.
Deskripsi Asli:
Judul Asli
2005 Creative sound projection with compact loudspeaker arrays
The use of multiple loudspeakers to establish distinctive sound projection effects is not new. Now, more than ever, the pressure is on to develop multidisciplinary research projects. An active investment in sound projection departs somewhat from the classical twoor five-channel stereophonic sound projection.
The use of multiple loudspeakers to establish distinctive sound projection effects is not new. Now, more than ever, the pressure is on to develop multidisciplinary research projects. An active investment in sound projection departs somewhat from the classical twoor five-channel stereophonic sound projection.
pressure is on to develop multi- disciplinary research projects that bring together the expanding universe of scientific knowledge and tech- nical innovation with the equally evolving world of avant-garde art forms. I write here with a multidisciplinary focus in mind, in order to share my knowledge of acoustics and loudspeaker arrays with potentially interested creators. Loudspeaker arrays are discussed here at an introductory level intended to stimulate sound artists and to provide exam- ples of the potential connections and infor- mal exchanges that we would like to expe- rience more often in our lives as artists. If computers have entered the world of common musical instruments (Prophet 2005), so too have sound projection systems for performances or sound installations.An active investment in sound projection departs somewhat from the commercial realm of the classical two- or five- channel stereophonic sound projection, and moves towards more creative and engaging approaches to sound projection. It implies a will to go beyond technical limitations. I can here describe a number of convenient and sthetically inter- esting uses, and also provide some technical knowledge;but,as with other musical instru- ments, mastery will require practice. Two situations illustrate the need for loud- speaker arrays in common audio applica- tions. Specific arrangements of compact and calibrated loudspeaker arrays are often required in concert settings for sound rein- forcement.When there is both a large and sparsely distributed audience, and a large reverberating space, dispersed networks of multiple speakers are necessary in order to ensure even sound distribution (Davis 1997). These two kinds of multiple-speaker systems can be used creatively as a starting point for artists and composers who want to investi- gate particular aspects of live sound projec- tion or sound installation. This article describes three examples of uses for possi- ble speaker configurations based on concepts taken from sound field synthesis.All of these examples can be effected with relatively sim- ple technical means. The use of multiple loudspeakers to establish distinctive sound projection effects is not new (Bayle 1993; Clozier 2001), but some possibilities remain unknown or only partly explored. Now, more than ever, one attends concerts where the sound systems are installed according to an acousmatic tra- dition, which assumes a relatively small audience more or less uniformly sur- rounded by a given number of sound sources. Another less-exploited school of thought prefers a similar number of sound sources placed in a very compact arrange- ment at the front of the space in order to intentionally produce spatial illusions.These configurations are based on a technology called Wave Field Synthesis (WFS).WFS relies on older scientific notions attributed to Christian Huygens, the seventeenth-cen- tury scientist who, among other things, influenced the conception of such wave phenomena as light and sound. These potential applications can open the way to new practices without the use of more expensive commercial technologies.These concepts describe sound propagation from point to point, and, more importantly, demonstrate how an original source of acoustical waves can be replaced by repro- duction sources without altering the result- ing patterns of air vibration. The first example is illustrated in figure 1.This image represents what physically occurs when twenty-four loudspeakers placed 17.5 cm apart are each fed the same signal. In this case, each amplifier and each loudspeaker receive exactly the same electri- cal signal.Therefore, even though each indi- vidual source becomes the centre of a spher- ical sound wave form,the combination of all of the speakers produces the equivalent of a plane wave in front of the multiple speaker systems, at least in the horizontal plane.As a result, as figure 1 illustrates, two listeners at two different locations will be exposed to a similar experience of directionality in the sound, as indicated by the arrows shown on the diagram. BY PHILIPPE- AUBERT GAUTHIER WITH ALAIN BERRY AND WIESLAW WOSZCZYK n d.i.y. music Guest columnists techno tips for creative musical development creative sound projection with compact loudspeaker arrays fall 2005 | #93 musicworks 15 Figure 2 resembles the first, in that each source produces the same signal; but in this case the individual signals are delayed in time.A time delay of one millisecond was set between the neighbouring sources (zero time delay corresponds to the top part of fig- ure 2). In a practical situation, this result can be reached by using cascaded delay mod- ules within an open audio-digital environ- ment such as the Pure Data computer-music system. By imposing such a cascaded struc- ture controlled by a single value of tempo- ral delay,it is possible to control the perceived direction of the resulting sound.Another dif- ference between figures 1 and 2 is that the simulation shown in figure 2 represents a progressive reduction of amplitudes near the extremities of the array (the farthest source is weighted by 25%, the next by 50% and the third by 75%) resulting in a smoother wave formation. In figure 3, all the sources are fed with a sole signal: a short group of three impulses. Along with this signal, a group of three impulses spread farther apart in time is sent exclusively to the fifth source, filled in with black in figure 3 (again, this could be replaced by any other signal).These two sig- nals could produce two separate auditory events at two different listening positions;the perceived directions are shown by arrows.As suggested by the variations in perceived inci- dences related to position A or B, an illusion of perspective is created. Here, perspective means that a movement of the listener implies a coherent change in the perceived spatial scene.Applied to the case represented in figure 3, one perceived source implies an important change of perceived direction attributed to a movement from A to B, as if the source was close to the listener.The other perceived source does not imply a significant change of perceived direction following a movement from A to B, as if this second source was farther away. As the three figures show, these interesting potential applications (including the per- spective effect) could open the way to new practices without the use of more expen- sive commercial technologies (like the afore- mentioned WFS, which is fundamentally based on the same principles). All that is needed is a broader education and under- standing of the phenomena described in the preceding paragraphs, along with artistic experimentation. One might ask,How can I build and use loudspeaker arrays for musical perform- ance?The hardware requirements are a number of roughly similar loudspeaker cab- inets, a set of corresponding multichannel amplifiers, a multiple output sound card and a computer (as described by Barry Prophet in Musicworks 91).Once the compact array is assembled and everything is wired, you then configure the software. I strongly recom- mend modular software like Pure Data and Max/MSP to create your own multichannel patch.A Pure Data example is shown in fig- ure 4.This patch simply connects a given sound signal (a sound object, a recorded musical instrument or any electroacoustic manipulation) to the loudspeakers after the signal has passed through the time delays and gain controls that you have set. Using only eight loudspeakers, such a configuration would produce something like the field in figure 2, with cascaded delays of one mil- lisecond. Slowly changing the time delay from zero to one millisecond would trans- form the impact of the plane wave from the effects in figure 1 to those in figure 2.To work with more than one sound signal, an independent layering of such distribution systems would be needed.The whole result must then be sent to the array.The patch shown in figure 4 is a simple introductory example,somewhat limited but a good place to begin. If you are interested in real-time modula- tion and array control for live spatialization as a supplementary musical dimension, you must modulate these gain and delay modules in real time, using either standard computer interfaces (keyboard and mouse) or other hardware control devices (multimodal sen- sorsmovement detectors, touch-sensitive devices, etc.using MIDI connections) for a more expressive or even global control (all the gain changing at the same time, for example). Of course, playing with time delays and amplitude differences between Fig. 3. Possibilities of perspective with two perceived auditory events. The sound field produced by feeding all sources in phase by sending a three band-limited pulse signal, and then sending a three band-limited pulse signal to the fifth source. Fig. 2. The monoharmonic (400Hz) sound field produced by feeding all sources a delayed signal, i.e., with exactly the same signal but with a 1ms delay between each source. Fig. 1. The monoharmonic (400Hz) sound field produced in a horizontal space by feeding all sources in phase, i.e., with exactly the same signal. musicworks #93 | fall 2005 16 loudspeakers in the array is only part of what can be exploited in creating live perform- ances and sound installations. Other effects (equalization, distortion, etc.) for a given sound signal can also be varied along the array, which might produce interesting spa- tial effects. Although the frontal speaker arrangement was undertaken as a more economic option, the same principles can be used in spaces sur- rounded by compact groups of sources.Cre- ative experimentation will expand possibili- ties for artists who desire to explore these concepts in practical situations.The previous examples are no more than a short glimpse of the world of arrays.There are a huge num- ber of technical and scientific publications on this subject. I can only hope that what I have shown here with these simple examples might encourage and inspire more creative experi- ments.I suggest leaving behind any stringent technical concepts or theories and instead experimenting creatively,carefully observing the resulting perceptions and auditory sensa- tions obtained with this approach to sound projection. As a final and general note, I would like to stress that technical achievements, as impressive as they may be, should never overrule the artistic and musical needs of a creative production.This becomes a risk, since using more or less complex technolo- gies for artistic purposes often requires a high technical investment on the part of the artist. This can produce confusion between goals that may not be compatible.Which is more important, the success of the engineering or the integrity of the artistic work? Tech- nology and corresponding practical knowl- edge would ideally be a source of inspiration that would initiate a poetic direction rather than becoming a dominating ideology. This is neither a technophiliac or techno- phobic statement (see Pasquier 2005 for a concise review of technophilia and techno- phobia). However, I would suggest that technophobia (and a lack of technological education) is surely a tricky position to assume in an era when technology in every- day life and culture is growing increasingly important: the most dangerous position is that of indifference. Philippe-Aubert Gauthier is a Ph.D.student in acoustics with the Groupe dAcoustique et de vibra- tion de lUniversit de Sherbrooke and the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music,Media,and Technology at McGill University. He is also involved in visual and sound installation and in various musical explorations.Thanks to Hugo L. Fournier for help with the translation from French. references Bayle, Franois. 1993. Musique Acousmatique: Propositions positions. Paris: Buchet/Castel. Berkhout, Augustinus J., Diemer de Vries, and Peter Vogel. 1993. Acoustic Control by Wave Field Synthesis in Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 93: 276478. Clozier, Christian. 2001. The Gmebaphone Concept and the Cybernphone Instrument in Computer Music Journal 25(4): 8190. Davis, Don and Carolyn Davis. 1997. Sound System Design. Boston: Focal Press. Gauthier, Philippe-Aubert, Alain Berry, and Wieslaw Woszczyk. 2004. An introduction to the foundations, the technologies and the potential applications of the acoustic field synthesis for audio spatialization on loudspeaker arrays. <http://www.econtact.ca> 7.2. . 2005. In-room Sound Field Reproduction Using Optimal Control Techniques: Simulations in the Frequency Domain in Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 117: 66278. Pasquier, Philippe. 2005. A Reflection on Artificial Intelligence and Contemporary CreationThe Question of Technique in Parachute 119: 15365. Prophet, Barry. 2005. Your Computer As Instrument: Part 2: Software Programs in Musicworks 91: 1213. Verheijen, Edwin N. G. 1998. Sound Reproduction by Wave Field Synthesis. Ph.D. thesis. Delft: Delft Technical University. Fig. 4. A Pure Data realization for controlling (time delays and gains) a source signal sent to eight loudspeakers. Signals flow from top to bottom. Cet article propose les bases dune approche de projection sonore lectroacoustique qui ne rside pas sur un dploiement de haut-parleurs autour dune petite ou moyenne audience, mais bien sur une distribution compacte des sources. Avec une distribution compacte frontale de haut-parleurs, il est possible de produire des perceptions spatiales du son dune nature bien diffrente de celle obtenue par des distributions de haut-parleurs uniformes en priphrie de laudience comme on peut souvent le vivre lors de concerts typiquement acousmatiques. rsum franais fall 2005 | #93 musicworks 17 Coastal t/k