Sound Space

A Primer for New Music Devices

Clifton Evans
Core Module 1
DAH PhD - Trinity
21 Jan 2013

Table of Contents
Sound Space ....................................................................................................................................................... 1
A Primer for New Music Devices ............................................................................................................ 1
Universal Sound ................................................................................................................................................................... 1
Space Practice ...................................................................................................................................................................... 2
Forming Sense ...................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Sonic Humanity..................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Technological Agents ....................................................................................................................................................... 6
Contemporary Instruments ............................................................................................................................................ 7
Instruments Idealized ........................................................................................................................................................ 8
Cultural Influence ................................................................................................................................................................ 9
Required Evolution ........................................................................................................................................................... 11
Representing Sound ........................................................................................................................................................ 11
Instrument Design ............................................................................................................................................................. 12

Sound Space

ii

Clifton Evans
Core Module 1
DAH PhD - Trinity
21 Jan 2013

Sound Space
A Primer for New Music Devices
Universal Sound
At the dawn of the 22nd century, our culture, evolution and technology may have changed so
rapidly that they no longer resemble what we know currently as humankind. In light of this, this
paper is designed to understand the grasp we have on science as it relates to music, and an
attempt to understand and acquire a position in terms of the design of new instruments.
Let's imagine, just for a moment, that the scientists are correct in their current conviction, and
that the phenomenon we refer to as vibration is the origin of sound. Vibration is apparently the
infinitesimal beginning; the origin of all matter and it is vibrations that hold everything together.
Science tells us that the universe started with a sound, a vibration that expanded itself, creating
all space and time [Spacetime Continuum, Voice Of The Earth] .The vibration built upon itself,
creating pockets of space, creating matter within those pockets, creating further vibrations.
Sounds grew upon those vibrations, creating everything in existence, and then creating life
itself, perhaps as a way of furthering infinite vibrations and to create vibrations and sounds as
perpetually as possible.
The origin of the universe is referred to as the big bang, but not simply because of an initial
explosion, but it is due to the sound of all the vibrations created at that moment originating in
one place. If we travel back in time and space, before any ability to understand time, the most
likely thing to be found at that origin of the universe is sound, perhaps light and perhaps matter,
but most definitely sound []. Science tells us that the universe quite likely started by making
sound, and that vibrations make up all of the matter in the universe [Nicolas Jaar].
By exploring space through sonic means we have learned a vast amount about both our
existence and the universe around us. Sound from outer space, is what has made space
exploration possible, scientific instruments using radio [Seti Album], sonar [Airwater], ultrasound
[], x-ray [Space Recordings] and various other technologies are designed to listen to the skies.

Sound Space

One of the great pioneers of telecommunications, Guglielmo Marconi, was famous for listening
to space and believing that patterns at the low end of the spectrum originated from other
civilizations [Marconis V Morse code]. While his assumptions into extraterrestrials have yet to
be publicly proven, his work definitely connected human beings together terrestrially and highly
influenced todays telecommunications technologies, in ways that he would have himself never
even dreamed of.

Space Practice
There have been many scientific experiments using sonic data collected from space [Space
Recordings II], and many laboratory explorations into sound which have used space as a major
theme [Philips Lab]. As well, many artists have been very fond of sound and outer space; it has
long been a popular topic with contemporary artists and particularly electronic musicians. As
early space scientists were making sonic explorations and sound recordings, musicians have
had a fascination with space as a sonic frontier [Stockhausen], a sonic playground [Parliament]
or even a sonic entity [Sun Ra]. Early electronic musicians were well known for involving space
in their music and their ideologies, this was one of the major cultural themes of their time. As the
space scientist Robert Temple was proposing a Pythagorean connection between our solar
system and the closest star system, Sirius, Stockhausen was famously quoted as saying he
was trained on Sirius. 50 years ago, artists like Sun Ra and George Clinton with Parliament
brought the new culture of cosmology into popular view.
Back in that space race time period, there was a huge popular culture focus on the vibrations of
the universe. It was a major theme throughout music and art, science and technology. We were
concerned with somehow connecting ourselves to the universe. Interestingly, todays popular
culture doesnt afford much difference, but the technology is now being pointed inward [Her
Space Holiday], our internet seems destined to connect our cultures internally instead of
outwardly. We are gradually extending those utopian ideals with some of the same technology
of the early space era into our living rooms, within our social networks, and alongside our
personal sense of self.
The vibrational technologies that create our data networks also make up our inner and outer
being, connecting our world to ourselves. Exactly like the current networks of information, these
vibrations give meaning to our senses and cognition to our minds. The extension of the senses
expands our consciousness by giving cognitive meaning to our experiences, and it supplies our
nervous systems and memories with recognized vibrational patterns []. These vibrational
connections through our senses give our minds the detection of memory patterns and somehow
allow subconscious intuition [], to build on and improve, alter and dismantle, the previous
understanding of our memories. This vibrational connection we have to the world around us

Sound Space

provides a musical score to our understanding, a symbolic vibrational soundtrack to our lives,
which creates the frequencies we understand our own bodies and minds [], as well providing a
picture of the universe around us.
Memory events are triggered to provide context and to give meaning. Our minds choose to
replay events in different orders with different causes and effects to understand possible
outcomes, and we call this 'going over what happened'. Fascinatingly, this is parallel to the way
that digital media is edited, reviewing sound and video, playing it back again and again, to find
the most suitable sensorial combinations. This is most likely how media was initially imagined,
based on editable memories that can be shared to others. More interestingly, we can also replay
our future memories in our minds, before they are ever created. People can reconsider their
options before they are presented to them, prepare what they will say before they have the
chance, and perhaps most interestingly, practice the performance of these gestures and
frequencies again and again, to provide the best outcome and to hopefully create the most
desired connection to other people's minds.

Forming Sense
These frequencies are closely related to our inner most thoughts, our core functions of brain
activity, vibrations that tell us we are thinking, seeing, hearing, even knowing. These vibrational
waveforms give form to the world and they provide perception []. The world, the universe,
perhaps everything would not exist without these waveforms. So what is it about waveforms that
intrigue us so much? One of the most basic building blocks of modern science, most easily
understood as the vibration of sound, what makes it so central to our universe?
To answer that question we might look at the musical instruments that we create, as they have
been with us as long as tools, clothing and other practical evolutionary necessities. Perhaps
these sound making objects arent as much of an optional accessory as history would tell us.
The history of musical instruments around the world is one actually deeply connected to
inducing trances, creating meditative states, expressing oneself in solitude, providing stationary
exercise in the form of dancing, maintaining cultural and personal ties with performance,
timekeeping rituals for peacemaking and celebration and for providing a deep connection with
spiritual worlds []. We are throughout human history very fond of instruments being a connection
to health and community, culture and freedoms.
If we look at a consistent element across human cultures, the focus on the rhythm of breathing,
the repetition of our own internal and most obvious vibration, it has been the focus of many
different cultures and beliefs. Add to this the vocal sounds associated with chanting,
incantations, song and mantra and a plethora of other vocal vibrations [], breathing and voice

Sound Space

have led many to a meditative intermediary consciousness [azioc trap, jake mandel]. The
vibrational voice was not enough for us though, as centuries of skilled designers have designed
thousands of personal instruments made of wood, hide, cloth, metal and plastic, to add to our
voices. Designers have crafted additional sounds in the form of bowls, drums, pipes, tubes,
cases and more, all to achieve a certain idea of sound, a sound that will relax or stimulate the
mind and give way to immersive sensations without the need for anything else.
From these early instruments, we have set a course forward in the manipulation of sound and
vibration which has likely only just begun. Todays instruments take on the more advanced
properties of modern technology, like a victorian show of light and magic [], electronic
instruments use extreme advances in chemistry and physics, working together to create the
craft of new instruments []. This is a fusion of new electrical elements that imitate a world of
naturally occurring sonic ranges that go beyond the historically man made, into indeed a new
world of semi-natural designs. This technology represents ideas emerging from the world of
other mammals; extended aural ranges [Alva Noto], communication frequencies of insects,
underwater sonar broadcasting. Through understanding these amazing feats of nature, and their
sonic opposites, explorations and communications imitating the natural and the not yet
understood have led to amazing sonic and electrical discoveries.
Some music artists are currently exploring binaural waveforms; sound patterns which attempt to
create internal meditative states []. With these sonic scientific explorations we are re-entering
the sonic realm of the spiritual, mythological and even extra terrestrial. Contemporary sound
artists currently explore unknown signatures and algorithms, finding pleasing pulses and phases
[Mitchell Akiyama] by looking at new patterns and frequencies [David Donohue]. Todays sound
art is almost purely based on the exploration, similar to an early science; we are using new tools
to find elements of humanity, technology and nature [David Toop]. This craft of new instruments
is seen as a design, as an art, and as a science, and yet it emerges naturally based on our
continual existence as interconnected beings in a sonic landscape.

Sonic Humanity
As living beings we are delighted by sound, and we are scared by it, it gives us illusion and it
gives us fact. Sound provides us with the world around us as we want to 'see' it []. Music is a
sonic key to the individual ideology, it is a set of sounds that separates us and brings us
together. Music makes sound personally enjoyable and addictive, it creates emotions and gives
personality. Music provides where words and objects can not. Music is the sound of people
enjoying life.
Vibrations providing inner bliss or regret, intent or neglect, this balance of the right frequencies

Sound Space

can send the mind spiraling into focus in any direction, causing an entire state of perception to
change. Like a song that makes for love, a song can also destroy a mood or simply mean the
end of something. These vibrations vary in understanding from place to place, from our planets
depths to its heights, and from night to day. This circular nature of our senses and vibrations
themselves are often characterized by phases [Steve Reich], like the times of day or the
seasons of a year. This natural understanding of our world as it rotates and absorbs frequencies
from the unknown is also categorized by phases of sunlight which we call zones of time. Similar
to the hands on a clock they are constantly changing around the electrical magnetic force
[Biosphere] of our planet, imitating the cycles of vibrations that repeat in our minds during our
daily lives.
Magnetism and vibration have a long history, and have been realized by scientists for centuries.
The exploration of this natural phenomenon led to the discovery of man made electricity,
electromagnetism, which in turn has brought us to the current technological age. One of the
earliest definitions of electricity was by an early scientific and spiritual explorer Jan Baptist van
Helmont, who defined Electricity as the healing properties of magnets [], and even Beethoven
was famous for saying, I am electrical by nature[]. In vibrational sense we are all electrical or
magnetic, concentrating our energies on cycles of life, and on the meditational states that occur
when our concentration is unfocused.
We have been experimenting with sonic frequencies as scientists only relatively recently, but
this experiment as musicians has been going on for millennium. Many historical musical
instruments have brought about meditative or hypnotic states in cultures around the world, and
now these strange frequencies are being reproduced as music for purpose []. Much like a
dancer will listen to the right music, those who chose to relax, meditate, focus, sleep and other
more sedate tasks are now finding comfort in relaxation music []. Further to this, there are now
scientific explorations into binaural sounds which produce calming effects or enlightening
thought, by combining two slightly different frequencies [], with or without music [].
More and more people are using abstract sound to seek emotional, physical and psychological
balance previously found in spiritual techniques such as meditation or yoga. Meditation is said to
be a state of mind usually accessed by minimizing sensorial input [], but it can also be achieved
by attempting a harmonic focus, or a lack thereof. Drifting in and out of consciousness,
meditation is in itself a vibration along the edge of cognition, a musical performance held in the
connection of all sensorial frequencies. Closer to our perceived reality, the universal connection
is usually minimal and cognitive consciousness tends to be more common than other mind
states, and so many people for thousands of years have attempted to surface or focus
meditative logic intentionally, by introducing various vibrations [] of voice and instrument.

Sound Space

Technological Agents
These vibrations are coming to the foreground in the guise of all sorts of technological agents;
something McLuhan predicted would be a new acoustic space in the place of an earlier visual
space. He referred to this new dimension of consciousness as a total field of simultaneous
relations, expanding our consciousness and collective memory []. Our new consciousness may
be as lined with anxiety as McLuhan argues, but it also brings about a new connection with the
universe, a type of collective ESP, in a new understanding of our communities and environment
[My Mind, Yakkami]. We are not entering a future of monastic androids and robots, devoid of
desire, thought and ideology. If anything that is simply the current message of the medium, but
not the medium itself.
But what does the new medium hold for us as a message? Is it a new mythology? Is electricity
actually the spirituality that audiences in Victorian and vaudevillian sideshows found in
pioneering electrical devices? Or is this medium of exploratory sound an artificial science? It is
created in an unnatural environment, with an applied scientific reasoning to already understood
and limited facts []. There is no exploration, no unknown questions, so does that make it
unscientific? Perhaps it is a conduit to a replaced reality, interfacing with an interactive
imagination with fixed or fluid interpretations, as a gateway to another understanding.
Much like the early electromagnetic pioneers, we are facing an unknown future when it comes to
modern technology, I think we still have yet to realize the real nature of electromagnetism, even
as it connects us to everything we take for granted. Arthur C Clarke was famous for saying that
magic is just science that we dont understand yet [], and when he wrote science fiction, some of
it became precursor to actual science fact.
So if we are living in the first pages of a rapidly evolving science fiction society, the concern is
now how this state of being plays out in our everyday lives. In terms of electronic sounds, we
are now accustomed to absorbing much more musical sound than we can understand.
Unfortunately, the political structure of art and music still sees entertainment as being a sought
after and occasional luxury, but, the new reality is far different. Intellectual property laws have
always been designed to create the misinterpretation of communication, and for the restriction of
human craft, steering human cultural development. In the modern world, we have now had
centuries without our rights to individually perform, share and produce music, one of the most
fundamental elements of human existence. However, this is changing fast.
These days we are almost constantly bombarded with video and music, in our public spaces,
our vehicles, and our computers. Many computers fill up with music faster than anyone can
listen to it, as the Internet provides more music than anyone would have previously conceived

Sound Space

being in one place. At the same time however, it becomes very repetitive, we are ever longing
for another emotional resonance, something to connect our subconscious in a more pleasurable
way, which is why new instruments are being made in abundance with new technology. The
ease of distribution and continual exploration of new sounds makes electronic instruments
extremely appealing to those eager to make a foot tap, a crowd dance, or just to relax at home
on the couch.

Contemporary Instruments
The current technical facets for electronic sonic and visual generation (and alteration) are all
relatively simple. While there are many hundreds of parameters, they are a fairly well
understood set of instructions and operations common across many electronic devices. The
combinations of these technical facets can produce extraordinary results, but the user interfaces
or programming languages tend to distance the potential musicians, leaving a small number of
musicians to learn any given electronic instrument. The most popular music making
applications, the Digital Audio Workstations [], are very conservative in their interface, and dont
resemble instruments at all. These DAW systems are more like large measuring devices, very
scientific and based on the studio processes of recording and balancing a perfect sound.
However, the proliferation of personal computer and mobile devices is changing things rapidly,
with more experimental software components, such as software synths and filters branching out
into more exploratory directions with new algorithms. As an example, many contemporary
composers or musicians have fallen in love with a particular algorithm, referred to as
Bucephaluss bouncing ball [aphex twin, weakling child]. This is an interesting algorithm which
essentially takes a sound and bounces it, creating the impression of a falling and bouncing
object, which can be bounced again, bounced backwards, slowed down, sped up, held static
and so on. These types of flexible and strange algorithms can be very popular in modern music
and have even created new musical ideologies and solidified new genres like Electronica and
IDM.
While new music generating algorithms are starting to take center stage, the interfaces are
staying in the era of functional control panels harking back to the factories of the industrial
revolution [] while integrating elements from traditional instruments from even farther back in our
collective history. So then, how should the actual instruments themselves be constructed, or
how should they be designed? That is indeed a big question, and I honestly dont think that
humans as craftspeople have a decent handle on designing electronic devices as of yet. It
seems to me to be somewhat out of our reach, or perhaps it always will be, now that our
modernized design perspective is based on science fiction films set fifty years in the future [].
Needless to say though, there will emerge a definite set of design principles for these objects,

Sound Space

and I hasten to add that it most likely wont come from our current understanding of the
mathematics of electrical phenomena, which is where a lot of technology is currently leading its
design logic from. It simply doesnt make sense to reinvent the musical wheel every time we find
a new electronic road.
Einstein was quoted as saying that Faraday and Maxwells pivotal electromagnetic work,
generated an alteration in the axiomatic basis of physics, and in our conception of the structure
of reality []. This is likely similar to what needs to happen in the design of electronic instruments,
we need a new mental construction of how they are imagined. In order to have a breakthrough
in this type of engineering, altering our conception of Electrosonics, these devices need to
develop an interactive visual language of their own.

Instruments Idealized
An explosion of devices since the 1950s has been moving the electronic instruments into a
faster and faster evolution. This is seen most obviously with the introduction of silicon
microchips, then the personal computer with installable software, and now even faster with the
proliferation of small applications on touchscreen devices. Interestingly, it has become easier
and easier to make musical instruments (though the learning curve for the skill set is also
increasing). Most importantly, with the new mobile and touchscreen devices, the software is
beginning to compare to actual traditional human acoustic instruments, both in portable and
gestural usage, but also in the limited nature of the software designs as they tend to focus on
one type of interaction and also now have the processing power to deliver richer sounds
[Ocinara]. This is a remarkable breakthrough historically, that electronic instruments are moving
away from features and functions, that classic example of over engineering, and it all seems to
be because the devices are now reactive to touch, have become portable and fast to operate. In
essence, they are more like real instruments, and not like workstations in a factory.
New technology and devices are only one side of the current evolution of electronic musical
instruments. The other major component is the interface or the gestural interactions that a
musician performs to create a musical piece. The interface design of sound software is, in terms
of style, currently moving toward science fiction examples, usually from films depicting future
interfaces. In terms of interaction, the software is moving toward modular visual component
systems already in use within film industry animation software. This science fiction design ethic,
the style of futuristic nostalgia, where the interfaces are inverted and transparent is already
making its way onto touchscreen devices [Touch OSC]. Needless to say, the modular
component system is also starting to appear [Audiobus]. It seems that Hollywood film interface

Sound Space

design companies, sometimes known as screen designers, are leading the industry into the
bridge of a futuristic spacecraft.
Commercially, these design changes are most obviously seen in the rise in popularity of
modular software like Max MSP and Pure Data [], and the inverted design changes in Ableton
Live, Cubase & Pro Tools []. Most obviously, these design changes are coming from high-end
animation packages like Nuke, Shake or Flame [], which use a combination of modular flow
chart components with mechanical sliders and timelines. These more professional packages
also have a somewhat science fiction style design ethic, which quite obviously influences the
user interfaces within science fiction film themselves. The packages are styled darker, usually
inverted in colour and sometimes use transparency, bringing about a futuristic nostalgia in the
newer designs of sound applications, particularly popular on touch screen devices.
The Hollywood interface design companies are having a huge effect on the future of software
design, most tangibly in professional music and video software. To further this, a very well
respected science fiction interface is seen with the music software and installation piece,
Reactable []. The application and hardware are used extensively in performances around the
world and exhibited often within the New Media Arts community conferences and festivals, as
both art and music technology [Ars]. There are numerous examples of these shiny science
fiction interfaces popping up on touchscreen devices, but they are also seen on larger custom
surfaces as well. Emulator DVS [] is presented on a glass table, again with a transparent black
background, so that an audience can understand the interactions while an artist is performing.

Cultural Influence
While these interfaces are becoming more streamlined and modern, they far from represent our
natural understanding of the physics of music. These applications and sets of programs are
used to recreate a semi-natural sound of music, but the processes of interaction are completely
foreign to our natural human bodies [Traxdata, Fennesz]. They are based on the engineering
centric designs of early industrial machinery, rows of knobs and levers, sliders and switches [],
integrating anything mechanical in ideology, but nowhere will you see a vibrating string, drum
skin or other natural phenomenon. The vibrations themselves are hidden deep within the
machines, only to be visualized later, possibly, if needed. This is where we are in serious need
of true representation of comprehendible vibrational physics; the logic of the machine needs to
be understood by a musician, not just by engineers []. This is one of the major dilemmas of the
new millennium, now that we have these machines, what do we do with them.
David Garzon at Pompeu Fabra has an excellent masters thesis on the technical needs of visual
prototyping audio applications, and I have thankfully borrowed his list of current sound and

Sound Space

visual frameworks for prototyping sound and visual applications:

Multimedia:
Audio:
Visual:

Ptolemy, BCMT, MET++, MFSM, VuSystem, Javelina, VDSP

CLAM, The Create Signal Library (CSL), Marsyas, STK, Open
Sound World 21, Aura, SndObj, FORMES, Siren, Kyma, Max, PD
Khoros-Cantata (now VisiQuest), TiViPE, NeatVision, AVS, FSF

While these environments, and a few of Davids proposed solutions [] will gradually meet the
needs of faster prototyping, and therefore faster time to market and less expense, they fail to
reach the market I believe they should be aiming at, the instrument craftsperson []. The
technical know how required to develop in these environments is very far removed from the
understanding of natural materials, acoustics, music, audience and performance. How the
design of musical instruments has even evolved in this manner seems confusing at best.
Perhaps that is the answer, because of the logic of these technical frameworks, and the logic of
C++, or whatever language the application is compiled from, electronic instruments have not
been evolving per se, at least not in the traditional meaning of the word.
With these programming languages, there is no entry point for finding a better material, or to
refine the shape of a vibrational cavity. Musical instruments are no longer a craft, they are not
designed, they are only programmed and produced within a very limited set of options. One
could even argue that developing with programming languages is not even a form of
engineering in the true sense of the word, as the parameters are all typically predetermined
within an already existing code base []. Programming a new instrument is typically more about
finding a new mathematical algorithm, than anything to do with design, but perhaps that is just a
pedantic argument as we sit in a culture of laboratory music and scientific experiments.
The real problem with this future is it relies too heavily on technology and not enough on human
instinct. If we continue on this technologically deterministic path, it is easy to foresee the end of
a need for craft, losing our ability to create for ourselves []. It is quickly becoming machines
translating coded languages into other coded languages, and then into other less coded
languages. This seems to be a volatile nesting of forgotten and misunderstood expired
programming languages, all wasting immense amounts of energy and thought for the purpose of
supposed progress.
This is made most apparent in the development of music programs, which historically have
required a very high command of software programming languages because of the difficulties
surrounding memory management, and a required barrage of less easily understood needs
and protocols. Is this how we see the future of making noisemakers? Would the craftspeople of
musical instruments, seen as our true artisans not so long ago, could they, ever imagine a future
so bleak? A system of buried letters and numbers, symbols and meanings so convoluted and
Sound Space

10

complex, that the world of crafting instruments is no longer even respected [] because it is so
obscure and impossible to comprehend as a natural process?

Required Evolution
What is required, then, is a visual representation of natural physical forces within the machines,
easily understood and refined. This is particularly obvious in the case of creating musical
instruments, as they have followed us alongside our other tools for millennia, but it should apply
to other methods of digital creation as well. Jaron Lanier wrote a lot about visual programming [],
methods of making not only the world of communications accessible to everyone, but also the
manifestation of ideas within the machine. Too long the machines have been operating in a
world of pseudo science [], using mathematics and a few archaic languages, to run what are
essentially very simple processes and functions. All just to keep the imaginations of the world
limited and held back, their dreams unrealized, in the name of technical exclusivity and
supposed economic gain.
But what are the offered solutions to this growing problem? As 1 billion people use word
processors that refuse to cooperate, and communications programs just slow down something
as simple as talking to the person next to you, what are the quick solutions to these problems?
The answer lies in the history of craft, and the human ability to adapt not only oneself to the
environment, but to adapt the human extensions, tools, instruments, toys and decorations, so
that they also meet the needs of the environment []. The solutions are all around us, but they are
not in our hands, they are in the hands of private enterprise, even though they live in our
pockets.
To have control over our cultures and ourselves we need to have the ability to change what is
ours, to reform our property, and our minds, to meet the growing needs of tomorrow. I suggest
we start with music, because it binds us together, and the instruments that have made music
have for millennium held a special place in our hearts. We need our craft of our instruments, to
be able to restring, retune, recreate and re-conquer the world of musical instruments, so that it
makes sense to us, before it is too late. We must have control of our instruments before it
becomes too difficult to understand the music of our cultures, and before we are intentionally
separated from the vibrations and sounds that have given humans positive emotion and
cognition for thousands of years.

Representing Sound
As natural beings, we require true organic interaction models, the ability to represent true
physics within the electronic instruments, to represent real vibrations, vessels, tension, weight,

Sound Space

11

and to even adjust the organic properties, to make parts wet, to heat them up, to bend them,
break them and attempt to fix them. We need to be able to apply the same rules of nature to our
new instruments as we have applied to the instruments that evolved with us over thousands of
years. The visualization of data can help enormously with this, giving real interactive
representations of the sound, in a visual manner that makes the instrument malleable and
comprehendible.
The easiest possible method for creating such elaborate structures of logic would be a
component based interface [], latched onto an existing application. This would preferably be
done similarly to how Max MSP currently extends the possibilities of Ableton Live plugins [],
allowing for editing of the entire instrument or filter. This design however would be represented
in more naturally understood components than representations of boxes with numbers in them. I
envision instruments more like blueprints, stating the physical properties of an organic physics
based design, and allowing for ease of alteration, before and after they are used.

Instrument Design
As more and more musicians and artists experiment with computers and using musical data
files to create sounds, they are also finding that the sound is isolated within the computers.
Other than by using midi and midi files, there are very few ways to consistently control
instruments using other input devices and parameters. If the music is going to represent more
natural sounding environments and interactions, the instruments themselves need to be able to
understand other forms of input, like other instruments, the sounds of wind, water and so on. A
number of projects have already happened in this area, painting with sound, transforming
databases into sound and converting images into sound. What I would like to propose is direct
interactivity with the represented data, like what is seen in information visualization, interacting
directly with the sound by manipulating dimensions of the sound generated by text, shapes or
colours. This would be extending the basic principles set out for the piano by Bartolomeo
Cristofori, that the design of a new instrument could be played pianoforte, or soft-loud [], but in
this case it would be played light-dark or number-letter.
To further these design concepts, I have an initial proposed design using data as a sound input.
This design is based on creating music from one of the most common forms of data, written text,
and thus allowing immediately accessible and universal understood editing to take place. Digital
text also has the possibility of extended sound definitions through expressions, thousands of
possible characters to trigger individual notes, and the ability to be transmitted, even in real
time, with various sound readers to transcribe the written word into sound.
To begin, a first possible design for this concept would be a text-to-music engine that I will

Sound Space

12

tentatively refer to here as a SoundFont. Similar to text fonts, sound fonts use the basic
principles of changing the tone and theme of a text, but instead of producing a visual, textual,
result, they will create an accompanying soundtrack. In the case of a browser plugin or add on,
this would be the equivalent of a website soundtrack. Also given a number of different sound
fonts, which would perhaps adjust the timbral ranges [], and musical changes based on text
expressions or word definitions creating generative algorithms, the accompanying music could
be set to vary according to the text.
Text has in itself a interconnectedness in that it communicates and it also generates the
properties of human emotion created by vibrations and sound. Using text as an engine, or a
score, creates a wealth of possibilities, varying scales according to characters available in any
given alphabet, using certain words to imply tone or character, and perhaps basing the musical
rhythm on the sentence rhythm of the language, or of the writer. In theory, this would be bringing
the tonalities of vocal performance onto the page.

Sound Space

13

Sound Space

14