Browsing the Synapse Database — which is searchable by “Individuals”, “Interests”, “Projects / Events / Publications,” “Organizations” and “Gallery” — I came across Nigel Helyer’s Sonic Landscapes R + D project:

From June 1999 until September 2001, Helyer worked as an Artist in Residence at Lake Technology in Sydney, developing the Sonic Landscapes Virtual Audio Reality system … The salient feature of the Sonic Landscapes project is the juxtaposition of a fictive (but very convincing) 3D immersive sound-scape, accurately positioned by cartographic software, upon a physical terrain. The effect is somewhat akin to Murray Schafer’s concept of ‘Schitzophonia’, where, by the simple act of recording, sound is split from its original physical context and projected into another context.

However within a Sonic Landscapes experience we are not simply dealing with the disembodied voices of popular music reproduced and re-contextualised via a stereo-sytem! Here we are engaging with a seemingly live sonic organism that is responsive to our presence, our orientation and the traces of our wanderings, and which appears un-cannily embedded in the site itself.

The prototype Sonic Landscapes Unit is capable of operating with a 2cm positional accuracy when employing differential GPS (Global Satellite Positioning) and with a one degree accuracy for rotational head orientation, which, when combined with Lake’’s headphones delivered virtual speaker array, provides a highly realistic immersive audio environment. Tracking technology for the Sonic Landscapes project has been provided throughout by the SNAP Lab of the University of New South Wales under the guidance of Professor Chris Rizos. Future collaborative projects are currently underway between the Artist and UNSW c.f. “Audio Nomad”.The choice of a prototype test site for the project was St Stephens graveyard in Newtown; one of Sydney’s oldest burial grounds, which provided an ideal pedestrian environment, rich in historical material and interesting physical structures.

http://algorithmic.net/ provides a comprehensive research resource for computer aided algorithmic music composition, including over one-thousand research listings, over one hundred system listings, cross referenced links to research, links to software downloads and documentation, and web-based tools for searching and filtering the complete lexicon.

While a handful of on-line resources provide information on computer music, no up-to-date, free, on-line resource provides specialized research information in computer-aided algorithmic composition and related fields. This site attempts to offer such a resource.

This site is edited and maintained by Christopher Ariza. Research for this site was funded in part by a grant from the United States Fulbright program, the Institute for International Education (IIE), and the Netherlands-America Foundation (NAF) to the Institute of Sonology, Royal Conservatory, The Hague, the Netherlands.

[algorithmic composition - wikipedia entry] Blogged on mediateletipos.

The main focus of the site is on instruments developed from the beginning of the century until the 1960’s. The more modern and current Synthesiser companies have been included for the sake of ‘historical completeness’ but are already well documented elsewhere on the internet, a comprehensive set of links are provided.

‘120 Years Of Electronic Music’ is an ongoing project and the site will be updated on a regular basis. Most of the sections have been updated in this revision and a links page and bibliography have been added.

Artists’ interests encompass generative art, self-made instruments, self-made film, audio visual performance, cracked electronics, new improvisation… all art that is committed to exploring beyond preconceived notions of human/technology interaction, and is dedicated to embracing chance factors (or “errors”) as a necessary and desirable part of the work.

Acusmatica.org: Who is behind REdASLA?

Rodrigo Sigal - RedAlsa : 5 composers started the project and almost immediately many others jumped in. This is an open network and all composers, sonic artists or people interested in Latin-American sonic arts are welcome. However there is a board at the moment that coordinates the projects and keeps people communicated.

Acusmatica.org: Is there something common in Latin-American composers and sonic artists that make their art being different from others with other geographical background?

Rodrigo Sigal - RedAlsa : I don’t think so. I believe that the network started more to compensate for a lack of communication and to try to build direct links between countries in the region than for a common language or way of composing. Continue reading RedASLA: Interview by Acusmatica.org

Table of Contents

1. Music Like Water
2. Our Top-10 Truths of the Music Business
3. Futurizing some Popular Music Industry Myths
4. The Future of Music Marketing and Promotion
5. The Future of Music Distribution and Acquisition
6. The Digital Kids and the Changing Marketplace
7. A New Music Economy
8. How Technology Will Rewire the Music Business
9. Megatrends that Will Impact the Future of Music
10. Onto the Future

The record industry as we know it is dying. But the music industry is healthier and more vibrant than ever with limitless possibilities for change and growth due to the Internet and the digitization of music. The Future of Music will show you cool new ways to find music and connect with your favorite artists. Discover the top-10 truths about the music business of the future and how you can benefit from the explosion in digital music, today and tomorrow.

From free music and mp3 music downloads on Kazaa to legal music downloads from iTunes, Napster and Rhapsody to other forms of free music online, The Future of Music charts a music industry destined to embrace digital music, or so it seems. What will become of the music business, the music store, the independent and major record label, artists, writers, publishers, managers and others in the age of free music downloads and the ubiquitous mp3 file? Is there a better way for the industry to proceed?

The Future of Music punches gaping holes through the foundation of a record industry that refuses to adapt. If you love music, have discovered digital music and download or rip MP3 files on your computer, or download ring tones to your cell phone - then this book is for you.

This is a book about music and the music business in the twenty-first century. Imagine a world where music flows all around us, like water, or like electricity, and where access to music becomes a kind of “utility.” Not for free, per se, but certainly for what feels like free.

In this world, we share, contribute, collaborate, and trade music amid a constant flow of new songs that suit our tastes and preferences, without any palpable constraints or limitations. Music is ubiquitous and served up in easy, friendly formats. Like water, it is simply present just about everywhere, anytime.

Artists, writers, composers, and producers all prosper, both creatively and financially. The music industry is redefined from A to Z, as fairer, bigger, and better. Fans, artists, and all kinds of music communities drive the business, rather than being driven by corporate powers.

Synopsis

Ever since the invention of electricity, music and technology have worked hand-in-hand, and technology continues to catapult music to unprecedented heights. Today, because of the Internet and other digital networks, and despite all the legal wrangling, music is bigger than ever before. Within ten to fifteen years, the “Music Like Water” business model that we will outline in this book will make the industry two or three times larger than it is today.

Right now, the music industry is viewed as being in great turmoil. Technology has brought powerful and disruptive changes to the ruling incumbents. The best-selling CD in the U.S. is a blank, recordable one. Profits at the big record labels have dwindled and the markets for recorded music have virtually collapsed in many other parts of the world.

Will record companies go the way of horse-drawn carts? How will music companies make money in the future? Who will buy that is, pay for music, for how much, and on what terms? How do music fans feel about these developments, and how will the artists deal with this? How is it all going to shake out? Is the music industry just the first of the so-called “creative industries” to be sold out for free via the digital networks, or will everyone be better off in a world of ubiquitous media? Whose views will prove to be more correct: the recording industry’s legal sharks or burn-crazy downloading teenagers?

This book will examine the issues important to the future of music. We will uncover opportunities, plunge into challenges, serve up wildcards, and revel in utopia. We will move from mere facts through dazzling stories to far-out visions and fantasies. Our views, along with those of other artists, writers, and industry insiders, attempt to give some insight into what is really happening, and what it will mean for the people who love music and for the people who make music.

We see ourselves not as predicting the future by any scientific means, but as providing inspiration, in order to jumpstart your imagination and get you juiced up about the future of music. A brave new world is waiting for those who can handle it– a world that very likely holds fantastic business opportunities for creative thinkers. Enjoy! [via mediateletipos]

STEIM promotes the idea that Touch is crucial in communicating with the new electronic performance art technologies. To much the computer has been used, and designed, as an exclusive extension of the formalistic capabilities of humans. At STEIM the intelligence of the body, for example: the knowledge of the fingers or lips is considered musically as important as the ‘brain-knowledge’. STEIM has stimulated the design of extremely physical interfaces and is widely considered the as the pioneering place for the new live electronic concepts.

STEIM’s artistic leader Michel Waisvisz is generally recognized as being the first to invent a practice for ecstatic live performance with live electronic instruments. Over the years a great variety of the pioneering artists of the live electronic performance arts have worked at STEIM. More recently STEIM is being discovered by DJ’s and VJ’s who want to liven up their act with physical control of their sound machines and laptops, also dancers, actors, visual artists and are coming up to STEIM to use the ideas found at STEIM and develop these further for there personal goals.

PRODUCTS:

LiSa X © v1.25: LiSa X © is sound manipulation software ultimately designed for live sonic performance. LiSa’s functionality is centered around creating a sound field in the computer, where the performer can record and manipulate multiple sound streams on the fly. Using live recorded sound and/or pre-stored revived sound montages; LiSa X combines the precision of studio practice with the liveliness of the stage. As a performance tool, LiSa X offers the oppertunity to use gestural input devices and control surfaces in an effective way to create augmented laptop music performances. As a specific studio tool, LiSa X allows the musician to compose and construct, play and resample multi layer sound structures with simple and fast moves.

LiSa X is built to simultaneously support: Live recording, gestural controlled playback, keyboard/control suface playback, automated pattern playback, sequencer controlled playback and immediate use and reshaping of other musicians live sound. LiSa X has been designed by musicians for musicians and is increasingly being used by performers for its rapidity and sonic feel.

junXion © v3: junXion © is a software tool to process incoming data from USB devices (joysticks, touchscreens, mice), MIDI devices and OSC sources using conditional processing and remapping. The outputted data (MIDI or OSC) can be routed to other MIDI controllable music and sound software or hardware.

BigEye © 1.1.4 (OS 9): BigEye © is a Macintosh program designed to take video information and convert it into Midi messages. Based on color information or a ‘reference image’ the software allows tracking of objects through space and converts their parameters into midi in real time. Using a powerful scripting language BigEye lets you build a ‘hands free’ digital control system for live performance and electronic installations.

We also offer concerts, sound poetry performances, lectures and documentaries in classical music, jazz, experimental music and other forms. The material you will find here is gleaned from thousands of hours of audio recordings from KPFA-FM radio in Berkeley (1949-1995), and concerts and talks produced by Other Minds in San Francisco (1993-2005).

We urge you to search our site often as new programs are added each month. Use of this site is free, but for unlimited access to the material registration is required.