[°poly°] is a generative and (quasi-)interactive musical installation based on autonomous, tangible and connected music boxes. As a research project, the installation is dedicated at exploring technical, artistic and scientific ideas on distributed music systems. As an artistic project, it aims at exploring the concept of habitat by proposing a space where the music boxes and the public can interact loosely while keeping their own particular temporality and autonomy.
Research Objectives
As a research-creation work, [°poly°] is inscribed in the broader context of a
research conducted in the {Sound Music Movement} Interaction team at IRCAM, and committed to the design and development of an experimental platform
dedicated to distributed music systems.
One objective was to extend the artistic and expressive possibilities
of our software framework (http://collective-soundworks.github.io/) using embedded nano-computers such as the Raspberry Pi while staying in
a coherent software environment.
A second objective was to investigate and design a low cost solution for
creating large fleets of distributed musical components.
Compositionnal Aspects
[°poly°] can be described as a generative system based on cyclic rhythmical and polymetrical patterns, algorithmically generated using techniques inspired by Georgy Ligeti, early american minimalists or Aka pygmies. Each box autonomously generate patterns synchronized on a common pulse of 200ms, from the superposition and entanglement of these different layers emerges an ever evolving and complex web of rhythmico-melodic structures.
Technical Aspects
On the software side, [°poly°] has been realized using the soundworks framework (http://collective-soundworks.github.io/) for network communications and synchronization, and the node-libpd library (https://github.com/ircam-jstools/node-libpd/) for audio synthesis and rendering.
The boxes are realized in a DIY / Maker / Hacker mindset, using laser cutting, 3d printing and consumer grade electronic components. Each box contains a Rapsberry Pi, a soundcard, a battery and a surface transducer. The boxes are connected to a central server through WiFi for communications and clock synchronization.
Links / Publications
- soundworks framework - http://collective-soundworks.github.io/
- node-libpd library - https://github.com/ircam-jstools/node-libpd/
- Benjamin Matuszewski. Soundworks - A Framework for Networked Music Systems on the Web - State of Affairs and New Developments. Proceedings of the Web Audio Conference (WAC) 2019, Dec 2019, Trondheim, Norway. ⟨hal-02387783⟩
- Benjamin Matuszewski, Norbert Schnell, Frédéric Bevilacqua. Interaction Topologies in Mobile-Based Situated Networked Music Systems. Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing, Hindawi Publishing Corporation, 2019, 2019, pp.9142490. ⟨10.1155/2019/9142490⟩. ⟨hal-02086673⟩
- Benjamin Matuszewski, Frédéric Bevilacqua. Toward a Web of Audio Things. Sound and Music Computing Conference, Jul 2018, Limassol, Cyprus. ⟨hal-01874968⟩
Credits
- IRCAM ISMM team and colleagues for their ideas and support
- Bastien Rechke for the design and blueprint of the wooden box
- Reservoir Festival, Linachtalsperre, Germany for hosting the first public presentation of [°poly°]