Publications (chronological, since 1985)

2018

Philippe Kocher
Visuelle Synchronisierung. Musizieren mit computergestützter Tempovermittlung
In: Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (# 3_2018), pages 42–45.

Stefano Papetti / Saitis, Charalampos (publisher)
Musical Haptics
Cham: Springer Open

Jan C. Schacher
Algorithmic Spatialization
In: McLean, Alex / Dean, Roger T. (Hg.): The Oxford Handbook of Algorithmic Music, pages 471-496.
New York: Oxford University Press

Jan Schacher
Musical Strokes: Calligraphic Performance as Gesture and Sound.
In: Liang, Huang, editor, Ink Art Week: An International Platform for Contemporary Ink Art Research, Experimentation and Discussion, pages 87–89.
Culture and Arts Publishing House, Beijing, China.

Jan Schacher
Sounding the World: Listening and Sounding as Art and Research.
In: Erkkilä-Hill, Jaana and Rinne, Jari editors, Arctic Sound and Nature, Perspectives on Vibrating Worlds, pages 33–44.
University of Lapland, Rovaniemi, Finland.

Jan C. Schacher
What Quality? Performing Research on Movement and Computing.
In: MOCO: 5th International Conference on Movement and Computing, June 28–30, 2018, Genoa, Italy.
ACM, New York, https://doi.org/10.1145/3212721.3212834.

2017

Federico Avanzini / Federico Fontana / Hanna Järveläinen / Stefano Papetti
Detection of keyboard vibrations and effects on perceived piano quality
In: Journal of the Acoustical Society of America: pages 2953–2967.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Lucas Bennett
Restaurer ou réinterpreter
In: Schweizer Musikzeitung, 3/2017, pages 9-10.

Lucas Bennett / Germán Toro Pérez
Performance Practice of Electroacoustic Music
Towards a practice-based exchange between musicology and performance
In: International Computer Music Conference Proceedings. Shanghai: pages 135–139.

Lucas Bennett / Germán Toro Pérez
Spatial Concepts and Performance Practice. On the Impact of Evolving Sound Diffusion Standards on Electroacoustic Music
In: Proceedings of the Electroacoustic Music Studies Network Conference, Shanghai.

Bisig, Daniel/ Unemi, Tatsuo
Rapid Biography in a Society of Evolutionary Lovers
In: Proceedings of the Generative Art Conference, Ravenna, Italy, 13.-15.12.2017.

Daniel Bisig / Florian Bogner
Pendulum — Exploiting Simple Physics for Generative Art
In: Proceedings of the Generative Art Conference. Ravenna, Italy.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Daniel Bisig / Philippe Kocher
Musical Approaches for Working with Time-Delayed Feedback Networks
In: Proceedings of the Sound and Music Computing Conference. Finland: pages 343–350.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Daniel Bisig
Watchers – An Installative Representation of a Sound Synthesis System
In: Proceedings of the 5th Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics & X. Lisbon: pages 172–181.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Daniel Bisig / Ephraim Wegner
JETZT
In: Proceedings of the 5th Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics & X. Lisbon: pages 360–363.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Daniel Bisig / Pablo Palacio
Piano & Dancer – Interaction Between a Dancer and an Acoustic Instrument
In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Movement and Computing. London.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Giordano, Bruno L.; H. Järveläinen, Hanna; Fröhlich, Martin; Papetti, Stefano; Schiesser, Sébastien
Vibrotactile Sensitivity in Active Touch Effect of Pressing Force.
In: IEEE Trans. Haptics. vol. PP, no.99, 2016.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Philippe Kocher
Technology-Assisted Performance of Polytemporal Music
In: Proceedings of the Sound and Music Computing Conference. Espoo, Finland: pages 133–138.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Philippe Kocher
Rhythmische Techniken in der Musik von Elliott Carter
In: Lang, Benjamin (publisher): Lost in Contemporary Music? Neue Musik analysieren. Regensburg: Con Brio, pages 11–54.

Philippe Kocher
Über die Notwendigkeit technologischer Hilfsmittel in tempopolyphoner Musik
In: Hochholdinger-Reiterer, Beate / Gartmann, Thomas (publisher): Beiträge der Graduate School of the Arts, Bd. 1, Hochschule der Künste Bern und Universität Bern, pages 53–65.

Marcus Maeder (publisher)
Kunst Wissenschaft Natur. Zur Ästhetik und Epistemologie der künstle-risch-wissenschaftlichen Naturbeobachtung
Bielefeld: Transcript.

Germán Toro Pérez
Líneas de fuga: creación e investigación en las academias de arte
In: Quaranta, Daniel (publisher): Creación musical, investigación y producción académica: desafíos para la música en la universidad. CMMAS, Morelia, Mexico.
eBook available (last access: 01.12. 2017)

Germán Toro Pérez / Mouritzen, Ken
Über die Mannigfaltigkeit der Rinde. «24 Variations» von Horacio Vaggione im Kontext einer wahrnehmungsinformierten Analyse elektroakustischer Musik
In: Lang, Benjamin (publisher): Lost in Contemporary Music.
Regensburg: Con Brio, 2017, pages 173–227.

Jan C. Schacher
Sound Presence, Performing with Bodies and Technologies
Ph.D.-Thesis, Royal Conservatoire, University of Antwerp, Belgium, 2017.
In the last two decades, the question about the role of the body and perception in our engagement with the world has gained centre stage. However, relatively little research is undertaken to investigate bodily presence and inner states of performing musicians. Although music psychology makes great strides in uncovering basic principles and underlying processes of musical perception from an audience viewpoint, the import and contribution of the corporeal presence and the perceptual capabilities of the performer is receiving little attention. With this project I address these questions and construct a field of reference that enables an understanding of musical performance practices centred around the body. I do so by investigating physical performing through the lenses of the body, the instrument, and the performer's awareness, sensations, and perceptions. In order to frame this perspective, I unfold a number of theoretical positions about the constitutive role of the body, perception, and cognition. The resulting insights constitute a field of relationships, which covers the central issues about body, perception, awareness, and presence, and through my interpretation may facilitate the understanding of the fundamental role of the body in music making and listening.

Jan C. Schacher / Angela Stoecklin
Unequal Twins, Asymmetrically Coupled
In: Kaross, Sabine; Schroedter, Stephanie (publisher): Klänge in Bewegung. Spurensuchen in Choreografie und Performance. Bielefeld: Transcript, pages 143–152.
Jan Schacher und Angela Stoecklin geben in ihrem Beitrag einen Einblick ihre eigene künstlerisch-experimentelle Forschungspraxis, die der Entwicklung und Analyse von Bewegungs-Klangrelationen unter Einsatz von Sensortechnologien dient. Eine grundsätzliche Intention des in diesem Zusammenhang erörterten Projekts bestand darin, ein elektronisches Musikstück zu kreieren, dessen Form, Energie und Dynamik Tanzbewegungen entspringt, die wiederum choreografischen Verfahren unterliegen. Dennoch kommen in dieser Versuchsanordnung keine präskriptiven Anordnungen bzw. Notationen zum Einsatz, stattdessen entwickelt sich das Stück aus dem gemeinsamen Erfahrungsaustausch zwischen dem Musik-Komponisten und der Tänzer-Choreografin, die als asymmetrische Interdependenz charakterisiert wird (Sabine Karoß & Stephanie Schroedter, publisher, S. 14–15)

Jan C. Schacher
Trans-Form: Sketches, Experiments, and Concepts in Artistic Creation
In: Coessens, Kathleen (publisher): Experimental Encounters in Music and Beyond. Leuven: Leuven University Press, pages 83–95.
Is it then the limited flow of information between composer and performer that disables the interpretation of and experimentation with (electroacoustic) materials? Jan Schacher provides a partial answer in the last chapter of this part, “Trans-form”, regarding these interrelations between different artists in a technological constellation from a positive perspective. Collaborative and interdisciplinary work processes and dialogue are at the heart of this project, emerging from the richness at the junction or boundaries between dance, electronic music, real-time motion-graphics, technologically mediated interaction, and scenography. This project opens new spaces for inter-media collaboration in performing arts and at the same time questions the residues or traces such a process leaves behind in both the experiential and epistemic domain (Kathleen Coussens (Editor), p. 14–15).

Jan C. Schacher and Daniel Bisig
Haunting Space, Social Interaction in a Large-Scale Media Environment
Human-Computer Interaction – INTERACT 2017: 16th IFIP TC 13 International Conference, Mumbai, India, 25–29 September 2017.
In: Bernhaupt, Regina; Josh, Anirudha; Balkrishan Devanuj K. et al. (publisher): Proceedings, Part I. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS), Cham: Spinger, pages 242–262.
The Immersive Lab is a platform for the development and experience of large-scale audio-visual and interactive media arts. In this article we investigate questions of audience engagement, artistic strategies, and interaction principles, as well as the effects of embodied and social interactions that become evident in this media environment. Using the catalogue of artistic works developed for this platform within the past five years as our material, we carry out qualitative inquiries through interviews and categorisations. The emerging insights generate a clear perspective on the convergence as well as discrepancies between the artist’s intentions and the behaviours of visitors in the media space and allow us to, if not definitively state, then at least speculate about universal aspects that each encounter in the media arts context entails.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

2016

Daniel Bisig / Pablo Palacio
Neural Narratives. Dance with Virtual Body Extensions
In: Proceedings of the 3rd International Symposium on Movement and Computing.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Daniel Bisig / Pablo Palacio / Muriel Romero
PIANO & DANCER
In: Proceedings of the 19h Generative Art Conference. pages 138–154.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Daniel Bisig / Pablo Palacio / Muriel Romero
The Neural Narratives Project. Multimodal virtual body extensions for Metabody
In: Asociación Transdisciplinar Reverso (publisher): METABODY Journal of Metacultural Critique, 2.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Emile Ellberger / Germán Toro Pérez / Linda Cavaliero / Johannes Schuett / Basile Zimmermann / Giorgio Zoia
Taxonomy and Notation of Spatialization
In: Hoadley, Richard; Nash, Chris; Fober, Dominique (publisher): Proceedings of the International Conference on Technologies for Music Notation and Representation – TENOR 2016. Cambridge, England, pages 212–219.
Available online (last access: 04.04.2017)

Andreas Henrici / Martin Neukom
Synchronization of van der Pol Oscillators with Delayed Coupling
In: Proceedings of International Computer Music Conference (ICMC), Utrecht, Netherlands.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Philippe Kocher
Polytempo Network: A System for Technology-Assisted Conducting
In: Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference. Athens: pages 532–535.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Philippe Kocher
Polytempo Composer: A Tool for the Computation of Synchronisable Tempo Progressions
In: Proceedings of the Sound and Music Computing Conference. Hamburg: pages 238–242.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Philippe Kocher
Rethinking »Open Form«
Proceedings of the Generative Art Conference. Florence: pages 339–349.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Marcus Maeder
trees: Pinus sylvestris
In: Journal for Artistic Research. 11.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Marcus Maeder / Roman Zweifel
“trees”: An artistic-scientific observation system
In: Proceedings Sound and Music Computing Conference SMC Hamburg 2016.

Chikashi Miyama / Götz Dipper / Robert Krämer / Jan C. Schacher
Zirkonium, SpatDIF, and Mediaartbase.de. an Archiving Strategy for Spatial Music at ZKM
In: Grossmann, Rolf; Hajdu, Georg (publisher): Proceedings of the 13th Sound and Music Computing Conference (SMC 2016). Hamburg, pages 318–325.

Opwis, Klaus; Papetti, Stefano; Schmid, Gian-Marco; Tuch, Alexandre Nicolas
Three Facets for the Evaluation of Musical Instruments from the Perspective of the Musician
In: Proceedings Music and HCI workshop at ACM CHI, San Jose, USA, 2016.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Jan C. Schacher
Moving Music. Exploring Movement-to-Sound Relationships
In: Proceedings of the 3rd International Symposium on Movement and Computing (MOCO 2016). Thessaloniki, Greece: ACM org.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Jan C. Schacher
Gestural Performance of Electronic Music – A »NIME« Practice as Research
In: Leonardo, Februar 2016, Vol. 49 / 1, pages 84–85.
The practice of gestural electronic music performance provides a valid context for artistic or practice-based investigations in the field of «NIME». To this end, the material and conceptual conditions for the development of performance pieces using gestural actions need to be explored. The use of digital musical instruments and concepts for the expressive performance with digital sounds leads to questions of perception – by the musician and by the audience – of movements and actions, the body, the instruments, and of their affordances. When considering this performance mode as a topic for investigation, it becomes evident that in order to be based on practice, research in this field needs a definition and differentiation that helps to identify the specific perspectives that are only made possible through application in an actual artistic practice.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Jan Schacher / Daniel Bisig
Face to Face. Performers and Algorithms in Mutual Dependency
In: Experimental Music Technologies (EMuTe) Lab, University of Sussex (publisher): Proceedings of the 2016 International Conference on Live Interfaces. Sussex: REFRAME Books.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Jan C. Schacher / Daniel Bisig
Face to Face. Performers and Algorithms in Mutual Dependency
In: Magnusson, Thor; Kiefer, Chris & Duffy Sam (publisher): Proceedings of the International Conference on Live-Interfaces ICLI. Brighton: Emute Lab University of Sussex, pages 80–88.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Jan Schacher / Daniel Bisig / Patrick Neff
Exploring Gesturality in Music Performance
In: Proceedings of the Sound and Music Computing Conference 2016.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Jan C. Schacher / Daniel Bisig / Patrick Neff
Exploring Gesturality in Music Performance
In: Großmann, Rolf; Hajdu, Georg (publisher): Proceedings of the 13th Sound and Music Computing Conference (SMC 2016). Hamburg: pages 407–414.
Available online (last access: 08.03.2017)

Jan C. Schacher / Patrick Neff
Moving Through the Double Vortex. Exploring Corporeality In and Through Performance Creation
In: Journal for Artistic Research 12.
Available online (last access: 08.03.2017)

Jan C. Schacher / Patrick Neff
Skill Development and Stabilisation of Expertise for Electronic Music Performance
In: Kronland-Martinet, Richard; Aramaki Mitsuko; Ystad, Sølvi (publisher): Music, Mind, and Embodiment: 11th International Symposium, CMMR 2015, Plymouth, UK, 16–19 June 2015, revised Selected Papers. CMMR 2016, LNCS 9617, Cham: Springer, pages 111–131.

Jan C. Schacher / Nils Peters / Trond Lossius / Chiskashi Miyama
Authoring Spatial Music with SpatDIF Version 0.4
In: Großmann, Rolf & Hajdu, Georg (publisher): Proceedings of the 13th Sound and Music Computing Conference (SMC 2016). Hamburg, Germany: Zentrum für Mikrotonale Musik und Multimediale Komposition (ZM4) Hochschule für Musik und Theater, pages 415–421.

Jan C. Schacher / Angela Stoecklin
Sounding Bodies – Moving Sounds. Encounters in Improvised Play Across Disciplines and Cultures
In: Gaunt, H. (Hg.): Arts and Humanities in Higher Education. 15, Special Digital Issue Reflective Conservatoire (3–4), London, UK: Sage Publications.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Pablo Ventura / Daniel Bisig
Algorithmic Reflections on Choreography
In: Human Technology. 12, University of Jyväskylä, Agora Center, pages 252–288.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

2015

Davide Rocchesso / Stefano Delle Monache / Stefano Papetti
Multisensory texture exploration at the tip of the pen
In: International Journal of Human-Computer Studies. Special issue on Data Sonification and Sound Design in Interactive Systems. Volume 85, January 2016, pages 47–56.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Bojan Milosevic / Jan C. Schacher
The Immersive Lab: An interactive audio-visual space for artistic exploration
In: Proceedings of Korean Electro-Acoustic Music Society's 2015 Annual Conference (KEAMSAC 2015) Seoul, Korea, 2–3 October 2015.
This article discusses the Immersive Lab, an artistic and technological research project of the Institute of Computer Music and Sound Technology at the Zurich University of the Arts. The installation is a media space that integrates panoramic video, surround audio with full touch interaction on its screens. The main characteristics of this project as well as the way of functioning and organization of installation structure are exposed. Through examples of completed artistic works the possibilities provided by the Immersive Lab environment are highlighted, and the realization of various ideas by a number of artists shows the potential and limitations of this idea.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Jens Badura / Selma Dubach / Anke Haarmann / Dieter Mersch / Anton Rey / Christoph Schenker / Germán Toro Pérez (publisher)
Künstlerische Forschung
Ein Handbuch
Zürich-Berlin: Diaphanes.

Anton Rey / Germán Toro Pérez (publisher)
Disembodied Voice
SubTexte 10
Berlin: Alexander Verlag.

Germán Toro Pérez
Komponieren
In: Badura, Jens, Dubach, Selma, Haarmann, Anke, Mersch Dieter, Rey, Anton, Schenker, Christoph und Toro Pérez, Germán (Hg.). Künstlerische Forschung. Ein Handbuch. Zürich-Berlin: Diaphanes, pages 173–175.

Germán Toro Pérez
Nicht Effekte. Phänomene! Elektroakustische Technik und Stimme im Kontext künstlerischer Forschung
In: Rey, Anton and Toro Pérez, Germán (Ed.), SubTexte 10. Disembodied Voice. Berlin: Alexander Verlag.

Jan C. Schacher
Sonozones Mülheim
In: Krusche, Jürgen, (publisher): Labor Mülheim. Berlin: Jovis, pages 142–146.

Jan C. Schacher
Music Means Movement – Musings on Methods for Movement Analysis in Music
In: Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Movement and Computing MOCO 2015, Intersecting Art, Meaning, Cognition, Technology – 14-15 August, 2015, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada.
This article addresses the intersection of technical, analytical and artistic approaches to perceiving and measuring musical movement. The point of view taken is situated between the development and application of technological tools, the de- sign and running of exploratory experiments, and the musical performance moment, where perception of the body and its movements constitutes an integral part of the experience. Through a use-case that is shared with other artists and researchers, a wide range of necessary developments, both conceptually and in software is shown. The tools and the methods generated are juxtaposed with the realisation that movement analysis is merely one possible usage of acquired data. Artistic translations provide alternate ways of generating meaning from movement data, in particular when translating musical actions to pieces that span multiple modalities. With the proposed multi-perspective methodology, ways and means are sketched out that address the inherent multiplicity of domains involved in music performance and perception.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Jan C. Schacher / Hanna Järveläinen / Christian Strinning / Patrick Neff
Movement Perception in Music Performance – A Mixed Methods Investigation
In: Proceedings of The 12th Sound and Music Computing Conference (SMC 2015), 26 July – 1 August 2015, Maynooth, Ireland.
What are the effects of a musician's movement on the affective impact of experiencing a music performance? How can perceptual, sub-personal and cognitive aspects of mu- sic be investigated through experimental processes? This article describes the development of a mixed methods approach that tries to tackle such questions by blending quantitative and qualitative methods with observations and interpretations. Basing the core questions on terms and concepts obtained through a wide survey of literature on musical gesture and movement analysis, the iterative, cyclical advance and extension of a series of experiments is shown, and preliminary conclusions drawn from data and information collected in a pilot study. With the choice of particular canonical pieces from contemporary music, a multi- perspective field of questioning is opened up that provides ample materials and challenges for a process of converging, intertwining and cross-discipline methods development. The resulting interpretation points to significant affective impact of movement in music, yet these insights remain subjective and demand that further and deeper investigations are carried out.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Jan C. Schacher / Chikashi Miyama / Daniel Bisig
Gestural Electronic Music using Machine Learning as Generative Device
In: Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression NIME 2015, 31 May – 3 June 2015, Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge, LA
When performing with gestural devices in combination with machine learning techniques, a mode of high-level interaction can be achieved. The methods of machine learning and pattern recognition can be re-appropriated to serve as a generative principle. The goal is not classification but reaction from the system in an interactive and autonomous manner. This investigation looks at how machine learning algorithms fit generative purposes and what independent behaviours they enable. To this end we describe artistic and technical developments made to leverage existing machine learning algorithms as generative devices and discuss their relevance to the field of gestural interaction.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Jan C. Schacher / Patrick Neff
The Fluid and the Crystalline – Processes of the Music Performing and Perceiving Body
In: Proceedings of The 11th International Symposium on Computer Music Multidisciplinary Research (CMMR), 16–19 June 2015, Plymouth UK.
In music performance the perceptions of musician and audience are fluid and depend on shared embodiment and cognitive processes. This article explores skill development and the stabilisation of expertise through practise, and the corporeal as well as the neural mechanisms at work in music performance and perception. Key questions centre around the affective, embodied but also neurological aspects of this domain. The types of awareness on a corporeal level and the neural processes that occur within the musician and the listener-viewer are investigated. The aim is to show that »enactive«, embodied concepts merely provide a different perspective of the same complex matter than what the cognitive neurosciences propose. The insights arising from blending the two fields can be productive both for artistic practice as well as systematic research in music. A concrete musical piece that exposes an improvising gestural practice using sensor-based instruments and digital sound processing serves as an example to show the problematic relationship between musician, instrument, technology and the audience.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Jan C. Schacher
Konzertieren
In: Badura, Jens, Dubach, Selma, Haarmann, Anke, Mersch Dieter, Rey, Anton, Schenker, Christoph und Toro Pérez, Germán (Hg.): Künstlerische Forschung. Ein Handbuch. Zürich-Berlin: Diaphanes, pages 177–180.

Federico Fontana / Federico Avanzini / Hanna Järveläinen / Stefano Papetti / Giorgio Klauer / Lorenzo Malavolta
Rendering and Subjective Evaluation of Real vs. Synthetic Vibrotactile Cues on a Digital Piano Keyboard
In: Proceedings of The 12th Sound and Music Computing Conference (SMC 2015), Maynooth, Ireland.
Available online (last access: 10.1.2018)

Alan Del Piccolo / Stefano Delle Monache / Davide Rocchesso / Stefano Papetti /
Davide Andrea Mauro
To »Sketch a Scratch«
In: Proceedings of The 12th Sound and Music Computing Conference (SMC 2015), 26 July – 1 August. 2015, Maynooth, Ireland.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Stefano Papetti / Hanna Järveläinen / Gian-Marco Schmid
Vibrotactile sensitivity in active finger pressing
In: IEEE World Haptics Conference (WHC), Chicago, USA, 2015.
Available online (last access: 10.1.2018)

Stefano Papetti / Sébastien Schiesser / Martin Fröhlich
Multi-point vibrotactile feedback for an expressive musical interface
In: Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression NIME 2015, 31 May – 3 June 2015, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Los Angeles.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Germán Toro Perez / Johannes Schuett / Emile Ellberger / Giorgio Zoia / Linda Cavaliero
A Paradigm for Scoring Spatialization Notation
In: TENOR Proceedings, Université Paris-Sorbonne, IRCAM, Paris, France (2015)
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

2014

Germán Toro Pérez
Musik als Kunst des Ereignisses. Möglichkeiten künstlerischer Forschung und Praxis
In: Darmstädter Beiträge zur Neuen Musik, Band 22. Mainz: Schott Verlag.

Jan C. Schacher / Philippe Kocher / Daniel Bisig
The Map and the Flock – Emergence in Mapping with Swarm Algorithms
In: Computer Music Journal, 38 / 3.
In mapping for computer music and interactive media, flocking algorithms represent a special case, offering dynamic, self-organized domain translations. In this article we attempt a classification of fundamental mapping relationships that can be established with the help of swarm simulations. By regarding flocks as systems of abstract entities, a number of models arise that deal with the reassignment of perceptual and semantic qualities to the simulated entities. These models represent basic mapping processes, but become domain-specific when used for music and interactive art. To illustrate these concepts, we outline a number of strategies that relate to musical practice, fostering an understanding of the role of swarm simulations in mapping. We show two artistic use cases where these concepts are applied in an exemplary manner. In the first artwork, swarms play a central role in the compositions presented in an audiovisual installation, and serve as an intermediate translation space between audience and artwork. In the second realization, swarms interact with dancers and together they control the visual and musical aspects of the piece. Both examples show how the emergent behavior of flocks can be mapped conceptually and can evoke natural phenomena, thus making the mapping relationships less predictable and more organic.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Federico Fontana / Federico Avanzini / Hanna Järveläinen / Stefano Papetti / Valerio Zanini
Perception of Interactive Vibrotactile Cues on the Acoustic Grand and Upright Piano
In: Proceedings of the Joint International Computer Music and Sound and Music Computing Conference, Athens, Greece.

Emile Ellberger / Germán Toro Perez / Johannes Schuett / Giorgio Zoia / Linda Cavaliero:
Spatialization Symbolic Music Notation at ICST
In: Proceedings of the Joint International Computer Music and Sound and Music Computing Conference, Athens, Greece, 2014.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Martin Neukom
Ambisonics User Defined Opcodes for Csound
In: Proceedings of the joint International Computer Music and Sound and Music Computing Conference (ICMC-SMC), Athens, Greece
This text describes the implementation of Ambisonics as user defined opcodes (UDOs) for Csound. The presented package of UDOs includes a basic encoder and a decoderup to 8th order, an encoder with distance correction, an in-phase decoder, opcodes for the two-dimensional equivalent of Ambisonics for any order, opcodes for Ambisonicsequivalent panning (AEP) and several utilities such as coordinate converters, Doppler effect and more. Finally the usage of the UDOs is explained in some examples.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Jan C. Schacher / Chikashi Miyama / Trond Lossius
The SpatDIF library – Concepts and Practical Applications in Audio Software
In: Proceedings of the Joint International Computer Music and Sound and Music Computing Conference, Athens, Greece.
The development of SpatDIF, the Spatial Sound Description Interchange Format, continues with the implementation of concrete software tools. In order to make SpatDIF usable in audio workflows, two types of code implementations are developed. The first is the C/C++ software library ‘libspatdif’, whose purpose is to provide a reference implementation of SpatDIF. The class structure of this library and its main components embodies the principles de- rived from the concepts and specification of SpatDIF. The second type of tool are specific implementations in audio programming environments, which demonstrate the methods and best-use practices for working with SpatDIF. Two practical scenarios demonstrates the use of an external in MaxMSP and Pure Data as well as the implementation of the same example in a C++ environment. A short-term goal is the complete implementation of the existing specification within the library. A long-term perspective is to develop additional extensions that will further increase the utility of the SpatDIF format.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Jan C. Schacher
Corporeality, Actions and Perceptions in Gestural Performance of Digital Music
In: Proceedings of the Joint International Computer Music and Sound and Music Computing Conference, Athens, Greece, 2014
What is the relationship between the performer’s body, the instrument, the musical actions and their perception by an audience? And how do they relate when the music is generated by abstract digital processes controlled through actions on technical control surfaces, or gestural, tangible interfaces? This article investigates these questions by examining elements and concepts from physiology, the cognitive sciences with an ‘enactive’ and phenomenological perspective and from the point of view of an artistic performance practice, which brings these elements together on stage. In a broad arc the investigation covers instrumental and perceptual affordances, the physical senses of the body, different levels of awareness, corporeal states and modes of awareness, the senses of agency and intentionality, and the sense of movement inherent to music. Based on these insights, the contradiction between the corporeal space of performance and the abstract, codified domain of the digital sound processes is revealed. By looking at the prevalent metaphors, but also the interaction concepts and models of control and their shortcomings, it becomes evident that they need to be refined, possibly based on the perceptual and corporeal criteria developed here.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Jan C. Schacher
Investigating Gestural Electronic Music
In: Proceedings of the Practice-Based Research Workshop at NIME, June 30–July 03 2014, Goldsmiths, University of London.
The practice of gestural electronic music performance provides the background for an artistic, practice-based investigation. To this end, the material and conceptual conditions for the development of performance pieces using gestural actions need to be explored. Digital musical instruments and concepts for the expressive use of their affordances lead to questions of the perception, by the musician and by the audience, of movements and actions, body and instrument. The practice of developing pieces and performing them ex- poses the issue of tacit knowledge that remains embedded within the subjective experiences of the artist. Means and ways are sought to establish – if not knowledge from within – then at least a meaningfully contextualized web of relationships that is drawing on terminologies and concepts from relevant neighbouring fields.
Available online (last access: 09.01.2018)

Jan C. Schacher / Daniel Bisig
Watch This! Expressive Movement in Electronic Music Performance
In: Proceedings of the International Workshop on Movement and Computing --- June 16-17, IRCAM, Paris, France, 2014.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)
How does bodily awareness relate to instrumental action, how is movement perceived and what role does it play in music performance with technology? This article investigates such questions in the light of the application of concepts and models for machine-based gesture recognition. The problematic relationship between paradigms of control and the notion of ‘inter-action’ in the technically mediated art-form of electronic music is revealed. The concepts used when apply- ing gesture-recognition display a problematic limited scope as well. The challenge in using these advanced algorithms is to be able to detect and translate salient and expressive aspects of a movement-based music performance. Acknowledging this as a goal exposes the need for a unified high-level descriptive system for expressive movements or gestures in music and dance performance.

Jan C. Schacher / Cathy van Eck / Trond Lossius / Kirsten Reese
sonozones – sound art investigations in public places
In: Journal for Artistic Research, Issue 6, 2014
The 'sonozones' project investigates sound art practices in public places through personal and public acts of listening and sounding. The topic is explored using artistic processes developed on site in Mülheim in the Ruhr region of central Germany. Four sound art practitioners collaboratively explore ideas and concepts that question the significance and impact of listening and sounding in public places and suburban and urban spaces. The project collects traces and artefacts of the artistic processes as a basis for investigations into key elements of the individual and social dimensions of sound art. The exploration of forms sets the stage for experiments, interventions, and performative presences carried out on site by the artists. A continuous dialogue and the collection of verbal reflections frames these activities. In addition to texts, this exposition lays out a collection of audio recordings, photographs, and videos in order to document and convey sensory experiences as well as thoughts.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Paola Cesari / Ivan Camponogara / Stefano Papetti / Davide Rocchesso / Federico Fontana
Might as Well Jump: Sound Affects Muscle Activation in Skateboarding
In: PLOS ONE, 9(3), 2014.
The aim of the study is to reveal the role of sound in action anticipation and performance, and to test whether the level of precision in action planning and execution is related to the level of sensorimotor skills and experience that listeners possess about a specific action. Individuals ranging from 18 to 75 years of age - some of them without any skills in skateboarding and others experts in this sport - were compared in their ability to anticipate and simulate a skateboarding jump by listening to the sound it produces. Only skaters were able to modulate the forces underfoot and to apply muscle synergies that closely resembled the ones that a skater would use if actually jumping on a skateboard. More importantly we showed that only skaters were able to plan the action by activating anticipatory postural adjustments about 200 ms after the jump event. We conclude that expert patterns are guided by auditory events that trigger proper anticipations of the corresponding patterns of movements.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Marcus Maeder
Der Klang der Bäume. Ökophysiologische Prozesse hörbar machen
In: Christoph Flamm (Hg.): Baum / Mensch / Klang / Kunst. Klagenfurt: Ritter, page 152.

Stefano Delle Monache / Davide Rocchesso / Stefano Papetti
Sketch a Scratch
In: Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction, TEI 2014, Munich, Germany, 2014
We present a tool for the multisensory sketching and exploration of surface or sound textures, by scraping, rubbing, or rolling. Such actions are governed by physical laws and give rise to a wide range of dynamic phenomena.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Germán Toro Pérez / Nadine Schütz
Etre au-aedans. Un echange entre Architecture du paysage et musique
In: SONORITÉS 8, 2014.

Germán Toro Pérez
Luc Ferrari revisited: Versuch einer Neueinschätzung von Luc Ferraris anekdotischer Kunst
In: Dissonance, Issue 125, pages 16-20.

2013

Martin Neukom
Signale, Systeme und Klangsynthese
Bern: Peter Lang Verlag.

This book introduces readers to the fundamentals of digital signals and systems andexplains the most important techniques of computer-based sound and score synthesis.There are numerous illustrations. The accompanying CD contains a wide range of soundexamples, animations, and interactive programmes that help readers implement the book’scontents into practice. «Signals, Systems and Sound Synthesis» is aimed at composers,music theorists, musicologists, sound technicians, musicians, and lay readers interested in the subject.

Chikashi Miyama / Jan C. Schacher / Nils Peters
Spatdif Library – Implementing the Spatial Sound Descriptor Interchange Format
In: Journal of the Japanese Society for Sonic Arts, Vol. 5, No. 3, December 2013, p. 1–5.

The development and specification of SpatDIF, the spatial sound descriptor interchange format, is complemented with an actual software implementation in order to become usable in various environments. In this report, the current state in the development of a software library called ‘SpatDIFlib’ is discussed. The design principles derived from the concepts and specifications of SpatDIF, the class structure of the library, and code demonstrating its usage is presented. Furthermore, an application that utilizes the library is introduced as an exemplary use case.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Jan C. Schacher
An Exercise in Freedom – Researching Bodily Performance in Electronic Music
In: L'Esmuc Digital, Revista de l'Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya, Número 21, octubre 2013.

«Non-knowing is not a form of ignorance but a difficult transcendence of knowledge. This is the price that must be paid for a work to be, at all times, a sort of pure beginning, which makes its creation an exercise in freedom.»
(Lescure 1956) cited in (Bachelard 1957, p. 24)
This quote from the middle of the last century delineates in a beautiful way the crux of artistic creation but also of research in the domain and with the methods of the arts. If one of the de?nitions of research is the creation and dissemination of new knowledge, then the obligation for art as research to fulil this criterion is evident.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Hanna Järveläinen /Stefano Papetti / Sébastien Schiesser / Tobias Grosshauser
Audio-tactile feedback in musical gesture primitives: finger pressing
In: Proceedings of the Sound and Music Computing Conference 2013, SMC 2013, Stockholm. Berlin: Logos, pages 109–114.

We present a study on the effect of auditory and vibrotactile cues in a finger-pressing task. During a training phase subjects learned three target forces, and had to reproduce them during an experiment, under different feedback conditions. Results show that audio-tactile augmentation allowed subjects to achieve memorized target forces with improved accuracy. A tabletop device capable of recording normal force and displaying vibrotactile feedback was implemented to run several experiments. This study is first in a series of planned investigations on the role of audio-haptic feedback and perception in relation to musical gestures primitives.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Marcus Maeder / Roman Zweifel
Downy Oak: Rendering Ecophysiological Processes Audible
In: Proceedings SMC/SMAC Sound and Music Computing Conference 2013, Stockholm, Sweden, 2013.

In our research project trees: Rendering Ecophysiological Processes Audible, we are working on the acoustic recording, analysis and representation of ecophysiological processes in plants and studying the acoustic and aesthetic requirements for making them perceptible. Measurements of acoustic emissions in plants are only interpretable in relation to climatic and physiological dynamics such as microclimatic conditions, sap flow and changes in trunk radius and water potential within the plants—all measurement data that is not auditory per se. Therefore, our work involves analysing the acoustic emissions mathematically, on one hand, and sonifying ecophysiological data on the other. How can phenomena that are beyond our normal perception be made directly observable, creating new experiences and opening a new window on the processes of nature? The sound installation trees: Downy Oak, exhibited at swissnex in San Francisco in summer 2012, is a first approach to a spatial audio sonification and research system. Our experiments show that immediate and intuitive access to measurement data through sounds and their spatial positioning is very promising in terms of new forms of data display as well as generative art works.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Nils Peters / Trond Lossius / Jan C. Schacher
The Spatial Sound Description Interchange Format: Principles, Specification, and Examples
In: Computer Music Journal, Vol. 37, No. 1, Spring 2013, p. 11–22.

SpatDIF, the Spatial Sound Description Interchange Format, is an ongoing collaborative effort offering a semantic and syntactic specification for storing and transmitting spatial audio scene descriptions. The SpatDIF core is a lightweight minimal solution providing the most essential set of descriptors for spatial sound scenes. Additional descriptors are introduced as extensions, expanding the namespace and scope with respect to authoring, scene description, rendering, and reproduction of spatial sound. A general overview presents the principles informing the specification, as well as the structure and the terminology of the SpatDIF syntax. Two use cases exemplify SpatDIF’s potential for pre-composed pieces as well as interactive installations, and several prototype implementations that have been developed show its real-life utility.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Jan C. Schacher
The Quarterstaff, a Gestural Sensor Instrument
In: Proceedings of the 2013 Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, NIME’13, 27–30 May 2013, KAIST, Daejeon, Korea, 2013.

This article describes the motivations and reflections that led to the development of a gestural sensor instrument called the Quarterstaff. In an iterative design and fabrication process, several versions of this interface were built, tested and evaluated in performances. A detailed explanation of the design choices concerning the shape but also the sensing capabilities of the instrument illustrates the emphasis on establishing an ‘enactive’ instrumental relationship. A musical practice for this type of instrument is shown by dis- cussing the methods used in the exploration of the gestural potential of the interface and the strategies deployed for the development of mappings and compositions. Finally, to gain more information about how this instrument com- pares with similar designs, two dimension-space analyses are made that show a clear relationship to instruments that precede the Quarterstaff.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Jan C. Schacher
Hybrid Musicianship – Teaching Gestural Interaction with Traditional and Digital Instruments
In: Proceedings of the 2013 Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, NIME’13, 27–30 May 2013, KAIST, Daejeon, Korea, 2013.

This article documents a class that teaches gestural interaction and juxtaposes traditional instrumental skills with digital musical instrument concepts. In order to show the principles and reflections that informed the choices made in developing this syllabus, fundamental elements of an instrument-body relationship and the perceptual import of sensory-motor integration are investigated. The methods used to let participants learn in practical experimental settings are discussed, showing a way to conceptualize and experience the entire workflow from instrumental sound to electronic transformations by blending gestural interaction with digital musical instrument techniques and traditional instrumental playing skills. The technical interfaces and software that were deployed are explained, focusing of the interactive potential offered by each solution. In an attempt to summarise and evaluate the impact of this course, a number of insights relating to this specific pedagogical situation are put forward. Finally, concrete examples of interactive situations that were developed by the participants are shown in order to demonstrate the validity of this approach.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Stefano Papetti / Hanna Järveläinen / Sébastien Schiesser / Thomas Grosshauser
Effects of audio-tactile feedback on force accuracy in a finger pressing task
In: Proceedings Haptic and Audio Interaction Design workshop (HAID), Daejeon, Korea, 2013.

A pilot experiment is presented which investigates the role of auditory and vibrotactile feedback in reaching target pressing- forces with the finger. Relying on kinesthetic memory as in musical practice, the target forces were learned in advance during a training phase. First results show that audio-tactile augmentation allowed subjects to achieve memorized target forces with improved accuracy.

Stefano Papetti
Design and Perceptual Investigations of Audio-Tactile Interactions
In: Proceedings AIA-DAGA Conference on Acoustics, Meran, Italy, 2013.

In recent years, multimodal interaction has become increasingly relevant in human-computer interfaces. Often following an ecological approach, several researchers now take into consideration multiple sensory modalities that humans employ during their interactions with the surrounding environment or the act of playing a traditional musical instrument. From the investigation in a multimodal and ecological perspective of such consolidated everyday experiences, researchers aim at achieving seamless interaction and at enhancing the user’s performance on novel interfaces, spacing from digital musical instruments to computer desktops, smart objects, virtual and augmented environments. In this effort, besides traditional and novel visualization paradigms, researchers are especially focusing on auditory and haptic display concepts.

Karmen Franinovic / Manuel Kretzer / Daniel Bisig / F. Wille / M. Gmachl / R. Wingfield
Actuated Matter
In: Rashida Ng and Sneha Patel (Ed.): Input_Output: Performative Materials In Architecture And Design. Intellect Books.

2012

Daniel Bisig
Kunst und Künstliches Leben – zwischen Autonomie und Interaktion
In: Blum A., Krois J., and Rheinberger H. (publisher): Verkörperungen. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag.

Künstler, welche sich mit Fragestellungen und Methoden aus dem Forschungsgebiet des Künstlichen Lebens (Artificial Life, ALife) auseinandersetzen, bewegen sich in einem spannenden Experimentierfeld, welches reich ist an thematischen, gestalterischen und technischen Herausforderungen. Der folgende Text diskutiert einige dieser Herausforderungen und stellt anhand mehrerer Arbeiten des Authors mögliche Formen künstlerischer Auseinandersetzung mit ALife vor.

Daniel Bisig / Pablo Palacio
STOCOS – Dance in a Synergistic Environment
In: Proceedings of the Generative Art Conference. Lucca, Italy, 2012.

STOCOS is a dance performance that combines stochastic processes and artificial life based simulations in order to create mutual aesthetic and behavioural dependencies between dancers, simulated entities, music and imagery.
At the core of Stocos lies the notion of a synergistic environment whose physical and virtual characteristics are interrelated via simulations of natural phenomena. The environment is populated by natural and artificial entities whose mutual perception and engagement alternate between different forms of autonomy and dependency. The choreographic structure of the performance emerges from these changing behavioural relationships.
Stocos is centered on the analysis and development of gestural relationships between dancers, music and simulated entities. The activities of the dancers, music and visuals relate to each other via underlying processes of brownian movement and flocking behaviour. A dense network of mutual influences emerges that establishes coherency among the spatial, perceptional and behavioural properties of its natural and artificial participants.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Daniel Bisig / Philippe Kocher
Tools and Abstractions for Swarm based Music and Art
In: Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference. Ljiubljana, Slovenia, 2012.

A new version of our swarm simulation environment for musical and artistic applications is presented. The main improvements of this version concern the integration of an OSC based communication protocol and the addition of a graphical user interface. These extensions offer a variety of approaches for the configuration, manipulation and application of simulated swarms in real time. We hope, that these improvements open up the application of swarm simulations to a wider audience of artists and musicians.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Esthir Lemi / Jan C. Schacher
Rhythm as a Link between the Visual and the Acoustic
In: Music and The Body Conference, Hong-Kong University, 9–11 March 2012.

This paper focuses on the perceptual function of rhythm in painting, music composition and choreography, and how it affects memory space. It explores the way composition in all forms of art constitutes the free space of interpretation within flexible limits of space depending on our perception. Furthermore it proposes ways in which rhythm and temporal developments might be comprehended spatially in the form of imagined visual elements via the closed form and structure they represent. The repetitive constant flow of rhythm is present in its various representations, as organised musical meters. This is described as a map-like composition process, which is a constructed collection of parameters where composers, performers, and listeners share parts of information never revealed, in other words information which is selective; hidden information offers directional choices while describing sound, vision, time and, more importantly, action. There is a suggestion of a spatial differentiation of imaginary masses and physical schemata: aspects which form part of a free mental space and affect synchronization of external and internal phenomena, their theory based in abstract painting but usable in all forms of composition (music and movement). The constant revelation of information provides an instructive map that helps us reach the balance between rest and active points for a further interpretation of the three-dimensional world. This process is analogous with music composition where we are led to a period of rest after which follows a span of activity, thus forming a dual rhythmical structure of body endurance.

Jan C. Schacher / Sébastien Schiesser
SABRe: Affordances, Realizations and Perspectives
In: Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference ICMC, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2012.

This paper focuses on the Sensor Augmented Bass clarinet Research (SABRe) in terms of musical practice, instrumentalist skills and compositional approaches. After a short overview of the concept of embodiment and instrument, the new possibilities of the SABRe instrument are exposed. Then, the first realized compositions present the strategies they deploy in view of the new control modalities and the exploration of affordances this augmented bass clarinet offers. Finally, some possible improvements and perspectives are outlined.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Jan C. Schacher / Sébastien Schiesser
SABRe: The Augmented Bass Clarinet
In: Proceedings of the Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression NIME, Ann Arbor Michigan, USA, 2012.

An augmented bass clarinet is developed in order to extend the performance and composition potential of the instrument. Four groups of sensors are added: key positions, inertial movement, mouth pressure and trigger switches. The instrument communicates wirelessly with a receiver setup which produces an OSC data stream, usable by any application on a host computer. The SABRe projects intention is to be neither tied to its inventors nor to one single player but to offer a reference design for a larger community of bass clarinet players and composers. For this purpose, several instruments are made available and a number of composer residencies, workshops, presentations and concerts are organized. These serve for evaluation and improvement purposes in order to build a robust and user friendly extended musical instrument, that opens new playing modalities.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Nils Peters / Trond Lossius / Jan C. Schacher
SpatDIF: Principles, Specification, and Examples
In: Proceedings of the 9h Sound and Music Computing Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark, 11–14 July 2012.

SpatDIF, the Spatial Sound Description Interchange Format, is an ongoing collaborative effort offering a semantic and syntactic specification for storing and transmitting spatial audio scene descriptions. The SpatDIF core is a lightweight minimal solution providing the most essential set of descriptors for spatial sound scenes. Additional descriptors are introduced as extensions, expanding the namespace and scope with respect to authoring, scene description, rendering and reproduction of spatial audio. A general overview of the specification is provided, and two use cases are discussed, exemplifying SpatDIF’s potential for file-based pieces as well as real-time streaming of spatial audio information. This paper won a best paper award of the SMC 2012 Conference.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Jan C. Schacher
The Body in Electronic Music Performance
In: Proceedings of the 9h Sound and Music Computing Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark, 11–14 July 2012.

This text discusses the notions of physical presence, perception and ‘gestural’ actions as an important element of a performance practice in electronic music. After discussing the meaning of the term ‘gesture’ in music and dance, a brief overview about current trends and methods in research is presented. The skills associated with the performance of electronic instruments are compared to those acquired with traditional instruments, for other physical performing arts such as dance and in technologically mediated art forms that extend the concept of the stage. Challenges and approaches for composing and performing electronic music are addressed and finally a tentative statement is made about embodiment as a quality and category to be applied to and perceived in electronic music performance.

Stefano Papetti / Federico Fontana
Effects of audio-tactile floor augmentation on perception and action during walking: preliminary results
In: Proceedings of the 9th Sound and Music Computing Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark, p. 17–22, 2012.

Two pilot experiments have been conducted to investigate the influence of auditory and underfoot tactile cues respectively on perception and action during walking. The former experiment shows that illusory tactile perception can be generated, biased by the intensity of auditory cues in the low-frequency region. The latter experiment suggests that non-visual foot-level augmentation may influence the gait cycle in normally able subjects. In the respective limits of significance, taken together both experiments suggest that the introduction of ecological elements of augmented reality at floor level may be exploited for the development of novel multimodal interfaces.

Stefano Papetti
The ICST DSP Library: A Versatile And Efficient Toolset For Audio Processing And Analysis Applications
In: Proceedings of the 9th Sound and Music Computing Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark, p. 535–540, 2012.

The ICST DSP library is a compact collection of C++ routines with focus on rapid development of audio processing and analysis applications. Unlike other similar libraries it offers a set of technical computing tools as well as speed-optimized industrial-grade DSP algorithms, which allow one to prototype, test and develop real-time applications without the need of switching development environment. The package has no dependence on third-party libraries, supports multiple platforms and is released under FreeBSD license.
Online verfügbar (letzter Zugriff: 9.1.2018)

Germán Toro Pérez
Musik als Kunst des Ereignisses. Möglichkeiten künstlerischer Forschung und Praxis
In: Dissonance, Issue 120, pages 4–9.

Germán Toro Pérez
«Comprenez-vous Stockhausen?» Abstraction and Realiy in Contemporary Music
In: Christoph Brunner und Giaco Schiesser (publisher): Praktiken des Experimentierens. Forschung und Lehre in den Künsten heute. Zürich: Scheidegger & Spiess, pages 202–215.

2011

Balàzs Bank / Valentina Del Bello / Marco Civolani / Federico Fontana / Stefano Papetti
Influence of vibrotactile cues during digital piano playing
Sound and Music Computing conference (SMC), Padova, Italy, 2011.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Daniel Bisig / Jan Schacher
Flowspace – A Hybrid Ecosystem
In: Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, 30 May - 1 June 2011, Oslo, Norway, 2011.

In this paper an audio-visual installation is discussed, which combines interactive, immersive and generative elements. After introducing some of the challenges in the field of Generative Art and placing the work within its research context, conceptual reflections are made about the spatial, behavioural, perceptual and social issues that are raised within the entire installation. A discussion about the artistic content follows, focussing on the scenography and on working with flocking algorithms in general, before addressing three specific pieces realised for the exhibition. Next the technical implementation for both hard- and software are detailed before the idea of a hybrid ecosystem gets discussed and further developments outlined.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Daniel Bisig / Martin Neukom / Jan C. Schacher
Composing With Swarm Algorithms – Creating Interactive Audio-Visual Pieces Using Flocking Behaviour
In: Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference 2011, University of Huddersfield, UK, 31 July - 5 August 2011.

In this paper, methods and concepts for algorithmic musical composition with flocking algorithms are discussed. Taking three pieces from an exhibition as examples, the strategies for building the specific relationships between each swarm-system and its musical results are shown. General considerations about the structures of self-organising systems and their potential for shaping musical dynamics as well as about adaptive and interactive behaviours in an installation- context follow. The central aspects of a low-level unified algorithmic thinking in artistic processes are made evident and further scenarios for the organisation of flocking systems and the application to algorithmic musical composition are developed. Finally, some details are given about the technical tools that were used in the implementations.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Daniel Bisig / Tatsuo Unemi
From Shared Presence to Hybrid Identity
In: Proceedings of the Consciousness Reframed Conference. Lisbon, Portugal, 2011.

Artists can draw inspiration and techniques from the synthetic natural sciences in order to realize interactive works that exhibit autonomous and life-like behaviors. If the activities of the artwork and the human participant are connected via the same physical, perceptual and behavioral space, a situation of shared presence arises. Depending on the degree of proximity, intimacy and mutual dependency between artwork and participant, their respective identities increasingly overlap, up to a point when they merge into a single hybrid identity. The authors of this article have realized several computer based works for interactive installations and dance performances that experiment with these shifting phenomena of presence and identity. This article presents these artworks and describes the conceptual background and motivation that underlies their realization.

Clemens Kuhn-Rahloff / Martin Neukom / Mathias S. Oechslin
The Doppler Effect in Warning Signals: Perceptual Investigations into Aversive Reactions Related to Pitch Changes
In: FORUM ACUSTICUM 2011, 27. June - 1. July, Aalborg, 2011.

This paper presents investigations into the applicability of the Doppler effect in warning signals. Listening tests with vehicle noises have been carried out to investigate the influence of pitch changes on perceived velocity and dangerousness of moving sound sources. Simulations included amplitude and pitch changes of radial components (diotic sound reproduction). Results of the first experiment indicate that the Doppler effect is a sufficient cue to differentiate speed and dangerousness of vehicles. Furthermore, a second experiment revealed that the Doppler effect influences the reaction time in a paired comparison experiment. Applications of the Doppler effect in warning signals are discussed.
Available online (last access: 10.1.2018)

Martin Neukom
Applications of Synchronization in Sound Synthesis
In: Proceedings of the 8th Sound and Music Computing Conference SMC, 6. - 9. July 2011, Padova, Italy.

The synchronization of natural and technical periodic processes can be simulated with self-sustained oscillators. Under certain conditions, these oscillators adjust their frequency and their phase to a master oscillator or to other self-sustained oscillators. These processes can be used in sound synthesis for the tuning of non-linear oscillators, for the adjustment of the pitches of other oscillators, for the synchronization of periodic changes of any sound parameters and for the synchronization of rhythms. This paper gives a short introduction to the theory of synchronization [1, 2, 3, 4, 5], shows how to implement the differential equations which describe the self-sustained oscillators and gives some examples of musical applications. The examples are programmed as mxj~ externals for MaxMSP. The Java code samples are taken from the perform routine of these externals. The externals and Max patches can be downloaded from Downloads.
Available online (last access: 10.1.2018)

Jan C. Schacher
Traces – Body, Motion and Sound
In: Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, 30 May - 1 June 2011, Oslo, Norwegen.

In this paper the relationship between body, motion and sound is addressed. The comparison with traditional instruments and dance is shown with regards to basic types of motion. The difference between gesture and movement is outlined and some of the models used in dance for structuring motion sequences are described. In order to identify expressive aspects of motion sequences a test scenario is devised. After the description of the methods and tools used in a series of measurements, two types of data-display are shown and the applied in the interpretation. One salient feature is recognized and put into perspective with regards to movement and gestalt perception. Finally the merits of the technical means that were applied are compared and a model-based approach to motion-sound mapping is proposed.
Available online (last access: 10.1.2018)

Germán Toro Pérez
Entfesselter Gesang (Hören ist innerlich singen)
Zur Bestimmung des Melodischen in der (elektronischen) Musik von Luigi Nono
In: Dissonance, Issue 114, pages 6-13.

Germán Toro Pérez
Sprachspuren. Anmerkungen zu Rulfo / voces: vacío el cielo azul
In: Haselböck, Lukas (publisher): Klangperspektiven. Hofheim: Wolke Verlag, pages 271-287.

Germán Toro Pérez
Composer and Researcher. The Link between Artistic and Scientific Practice in Electroacoustic Music
Conference at the Symposium Modes of Collaboration between the Arts and Sciences, Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, 29. April 2011.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

2010

Daniel Bisig / Tatsuo Unemi
Cycles – Blending Natural and Artificial Properties in a Generative Artwork
In: Proceedings of the Generative Art Conference. Milano, Italy, 2010.

Cycles is an interactive installation that establishes an intimate relationship between the visitor's physical body and simulated organisms. It explores notions of transience and identity that draw inspiration from Buddhist philosophy. Cycles creates a situation that causes the visitor to experience his or her own body in a state of mutability and transience. Cycles merges the appearance of the visitor's hand with a visual representation of a swarm simulation. By bridging the gap between the virtual and physical, a hybrid entity comes into existence whose rapidly changing body blends artificial and natural properties. This hybrid entity progresses through a life cycle that reenacts the four Buddhist sufferings.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Peter Färber / Philippe Kocher
The Mobile Ambisonics Equipment
In: Proceedings of the 2010 International Computer Music Conference (ICMC 2010), Stony Brook, New York.

The experience of having performed numerous concerts with the large technical setup required for Ambisonics has led to the development of equipment that is much easier to handle and that enables us to reduce drastically the amount of time and work used for its installation. The Mobile Ambisonics Equipment is a prototype that reflects expert knowledge in its design and is highly flexible in order to do justice to any demands that might arise in the realization of a wide variety of musical projects.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Marcus Maeder (publisher)
Milieux Sonores. Klang – Raum – Virtualität
Bielefeld: Transcript.

Ob im Computerspiel, im Architekturentwurf oder auf dem GPS-Display im Auto – unsere Lebenswelt wird vermehrt durch den virtuellen Raum ergänzt, erschlossen und entworfen. Medientechnologien haben die räumliche Gestaltung des Klangs und darüber hinaus die mediale Definition des Raums vorangetrieben. Dass damit auch die Gestaltung klanglicher Milieus – unserer Umgebung – durch Sound-Designer, Akustiker, Künstler und Musiker Einfluss auf unsere Wahrnehmung sowie unser Verständnis von Wirklichkeit hat, liegt auf der Hand. Perspektivenreich und informativ untersucht dieses Buch die perzeptiven, kulturellen, technischen und künstlerischen Bedingungen der akustischen Virtualität.

Jan C. Schacher
Seven Years Of ICST Ambisonics Tools For MaxMSP
In: Proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium on Ambisonics and Spherical Acoustics May 6–7, 2010, Paris, France.

A brief overview of the practice and developments in Ambisonics at the ICST in the last decade is given. The paper traces the evolution of the ICST tools for MaxMSP and a number projects using them in concerts and installations is shown. Finally the current state of the software and the newly available features and implementations are discussed.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

Jan C. Schacher
Motion To Gesture To Sound: Mapping For Interactive Dance
In: Proceedings of the 2010 Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME 2010), Sydney, Australia.

Mapping in interactive dance performance poses a number of questions related to the perception and expression of gestures in contrast to pure motion-detection and analysis. A specific interactive dance project is discussed, in which two complementary sensing modes are integrated to obtain higher-level expressive gestures. These are applied to a modular non-linear composition, in which the exploratory dance performance assumes the role of instrumentalist and conductor. The development strategies and methods for each of the involved artists are discussed and the software tools and wearable devices that were developed for this project are presented.
Available online (last access: 27.06.2023)

2009

Daniel Bisig / Tatsuo Unemi
Swarms on Stage – Swarm Simulations for Dance Performance
In: Proceedings of the Generative Art Conference, Milano, Italy, 2009.

Simulations of swarm behaviour have been employed as a generative processes in many musical and artistic realizations. Despite this popularity, the application of swarm simulations as a visual and interactive component for stage performances seems to be very rare. This paper tries to show that swarm simulations can be employed as flexible and fascinating choreographic elements for dance performance. In particular, a swarm's strong spatial presence and it's behavioural flexibility provide a wide range of choreographic possibilities that accentuate or complement the human dancers' activities. This paper places a particular focus on the presentation of several examples of swarm based stage effects that have been realized as collaboration between the authors and choreographers.
Available online (last access: 04.07.2023)

Pascal Baltazar / Charles Bascou / Timothy Place Trond Lossius / Nils Peters / Jan Schacher
A Stratified Approach For Sound Spatialization
In: Proceedings of The 6th Sound and Music Computing Conference, 23-25 July 2009, Porto, 2009.

We propose a multi-layer structure to mediate essential components in sound spatialization. This approach will facilitate artistic work with spatialization systems, a process which currently lacks structure, flexibility, and interoperability.
Available online (last access: 15.1.2018)

Irena Kulka / Dennis Majoe / Jan C. Schacher
Towards an Interactive Multimedia Experience for Club Music and Dance
In: Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Advances in Mobile Computing & Multimedia 14-16 December 2009, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; MoMM 2009.

In this paper, we describe completed and ongoing work towards an interactive multimedia system that will appeal to today’s youth culture identified as most likely to adopt such novel mobile applications that combines music, dance and technology. We describe our work in the application of three types of successful movement recognition applied in the field of Tai Chi with the objective being to identify gestural primitives of club dance associated with electronic dance music. In this approach, dance movements are first recognized and classified and then mapped, using multiple levels of complexity, to higher level algorithms that can modify multimedia content in real time. The paper describes the mechanisms supporting an attractive alternative to the now standard Video Disc Jockey (VJ) in which members of the dance public are empowered to create multimedia content in real time as opposed to the VJ.
Available online (last access: 04.07.2023)

Martin Neukom
Ambisonics Einführung
«Ambisonics Einführung» is an attempt to present some aspects of Ambisonics in a comprehensible way with diagrams and animations. The text is available as a Mathematica Player notebook and in a pdf version.
Online verfügbar (last access: 15.1.2018)

Martin Neukom
Tempo Polyphony

In tempo polyphony each voice runs at an independent tempo and is based on subdivisions derived from this basic pulse. Ratios, superposition, and synchronization between voices are achieved only in an absolute time domain and not on an abstract structural level. To use this technique a composer faces as well theoretical challenges as practical challenges in the domain of notation and audition. This text introduces the time depending tempo and beat functions and shows how to deal with them. Typical tempo changes as accelerando are discussed and solutions for different demands are presented.

Martin Neukom
Ambisonics Equivalent Panning AEP
The results were first published in: «Neukom Martin, Ambisonic Panning, 2007, In AES 123st Convention, New York, NY, USA, 2007» and «Neukom Martin, Jan C. Schacher, Ambisonics Equivalent Panning AEP, 2008, ICMC, Belfast, 2008».

This text describes in detail the panning which results from ambisonic en- and decoding. The text (only in English) is available as a Mathematica notebook and as a pdf file.
Available online (last access: 15.1.2018)

Jan C. Schacher
Action and Perception in Interactive Sound Installations: An Ecological Approach
In: Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME) 2009, Pittsburg, USA, 2009.

In this paper mappings and adaptation in the context of interactive sound installations are discussed. Starting from an ecological perspective on non-expert audience interaction a brief overview and discussion of mapping strategies with a special focus on adaptive systems using machine learning algorithms is given. An audio-visual interactive installation is analysed and its implementation used to illustrate the issues of audience engagement and to discuss the efficiency of adaptive mappings.
Available online (last access: 04.07.2023)

Sébastien Schiesser
midOSC: a Gumstix-Based MIDI-to-OSC Converter
In: Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME), 2009.

A MIDI-to-OSC converter is implemented on a commercially available embedded linux system, tighly integrated with a microcontroller. A layered method is developed which permits the conversion of serial data such as MIDI to OSC formatted network packets with an overall system latency below 5 milliseconds for common MIDI messages.
The Gumstix embedded computer provide an interesting and modular platform for the development of such an embedded applications.
The project shows great potential to evolve into a generic sensors-to-OSC ethernet converter which should be very useful for artistic purposes and could be used as a fast prototyping interface for gesture acquisition devices.
For further developments, the current midOSC setup show potential pointing into two interesting directions. On the one hand it will be further optimized as low-latency four-port MIDI-to-OSC converter to cover the needs of conversion demanding applications like the mAe.
On the other hand, a generic and modular sensor-to-OSC ethernet converter will be implemented, which, by taking advantage of the available robostix connectivity, will provide a quick prototyping tool for pedagogical and artistic purposes.
Available online (last access: 15.1.2018)

Germán Toro Pérez
On the Difference Between Artistic Research and Artistic Practice
In: Caduff, Corina; Siegenthaler, Fiona; Wälchli, Tan (publisher): Art and Artistic Research. Zürich: Scheidegger & Spiess, pages 32–41, 2009.

2008

Gerald Bennett / Mathias Oechslin / Martin Neukom
The Doppler Effect – an Evolutionary Critical Cue for the Perception of the Direction of Moving Sound Sources
Objects that are about to confront us are crucial for prospective actions. Even if we are not able to see what is approaching, the processing of auditory information enables us to identify the direction of moving sound sources. Various mechanisms allow us to accomplish this task most effectively. To date all of the mechanisms that have been widely discussed are based on sound-level differences or on timing aspects of incoming sounds. We considered sound sources which move radially towards or away from the listener emitting signals with constant amplitudes. If objects are too far away from us to produce any perceivable level differences, we have to rely on other acoustic cues.
In an experiment using synthesized sounds in a virtual environment, we show that the so-called Doppler effect, which shifts the frequency of the direct sound and its reflections, is sufficient to identify correctly whether a moving sound source approaches or recedes.
Available online (last access: 04.07.2023)

Lucas Bennett / Andreas Fatton
Ein Haus aus Behauptungen: die Zürcher-Komponisten-Plattform «domizil»
In: Au carrefour des mondes. Saarbrücken: Pfau, 2008, pages 92-97.

Daniel Bisig / Martin Neukom
Swarm Based Computer Music - Towards a Repertory of Strategies
In: Proceedings of the Generative Art Conference. Milano, Italy, 2008.

Algorithms, simulations and data collections from the sciences constitute an important source of inspiration and manipulation for generative art. One of the main challenges in adapting such material for artistic purposes consists in the creation of aesthetically meaningful correspondences between the underlying data and the appearance and behavior of the artwork. This paper focuses on the application of swarm simulations for the creation and control of computer music. The authors propose different categories of relationships that can be established between a swarm’s behavior and musical processes. These categories include: parameter mapping, proximity based events, procedural patching, physical representation. We hope that the identification and evaluation of these different categories will contribute to the establishment of a repertoire of strategies that help musicians to assess and harness the aesthetic potential of swarm based music.
Available online (last access: 15.1.2018)

Daniel Bisig / John Flury / Martin Neukom
Interactive Swarm Orchestra - An Artificial Life Approach to Computer Music
In: Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference. Belfast, Ireland, 2008.

The project Interactive Swarm Orchestra (ISO) employs swarm algorithms to create computer music. The project tries to highlight some of the potentials that Artificial Life provides for computer music. The project is moti- vated by the assumption that Artificial Life and computer music are related disciplines that benefit from a practical and conceptual exchange. In particular, the authors believe that simulations of life-like systems can help to address some of the fundamental challenges of musical creation and performance. This paper elucidates the ra- tionale behind these assumptions. A first practical result of the ISO project consists of a series of programming libraries that are intended to aid in the development of swarm-based computer music. This paper outlines some of the libraries' design considerations with respect to the intended goal of supporting the creation of interesting forms of swarm-based computer music.
Available online (last access: 04.07.2023)

Martin Neukom / Jan C. Schacher
Ambisonic Equivalent Panning
In: Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference, pages 592–595, Belfast, UK, 2008.

In Ambisonics sound is encoded and stored in multi- channel sound files and is decoded for playback. In the en- and decoding process complicated functions are used. In this paper panning functions equivalent to the result of en- and decoding are presented which can be used for real-time panning in an arbitrary high ambisonic order. In the function equivalent to the so- called in-phase decoding the order of ambisonic resolution is just a variable that can be any positive number not restricted to integers and that can be changed during playback. The limitations and advantages of the technique are mentioned, real time applications are described and the computational costs are estimated. The described procedure offers a new intuitive understanding of Ambisonics.
Available online (last access: 15.1.2018)

Jan C. Schacher
Live Audiovisual Performance as a Cinematic Practice
In: B. Debackere and A. Altena, editors, The Cinematic Experience. Sonic Acts XII, Amsterdam, 2008.In live cinema we witness, like in many other recent digital art forms, the development of an artistic practice that uses technology to explore a symbolic and at times non-descriptive intermedia/te space.

Elements known from traditional narrative cinema are eliminated and a type of performance is established that has more in common with electronic music and digital arts than with cinema as it has been canonized in the last one hundred years. Narration and its dramaturgical devices as well as naturalist representation are replaced by abstraction and the pure juxtaposition of image and sound.
Available online (last access: 15.1.2018)

Jan C. Schacher
davos soundscape, a location based interactive composition
In: Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME) Genova, 2008.

Moving out of doors with digital tools and electronic music and creating musically rich experiences is made possible by the increased availability of ever smaller and more powerful mobile computers. Composing music for and in a landscape instead of for a closed architectural space offers new perspectives but also raises questions about interaction and composition of electronic music. The work we present here was commissioned by a festival and ran on a daily basis over a period of three months. A GPS-enabled embedded Linux system is assembled to serve as a location-aware sound platform. Several challenges have to be overcome both technically and artistically to achieve a seamless experience and provide a simple device to be handed to the public. By building this interactive experience, which relies as much on the user's willingness to explore the invisible sonic landscape as on the ability to deploy the technology, a number of new avenues for exploring electronic music and interactivity in location-based media open up. New ways of composing music for and in a landscape and for creating audience interaction are explored.
Available online (last access: 04.07.2023)

Germán Toro Pérez
Beitrag zu Mathew Adkins
In: [60]Project. Québec: empreintes digitales, 2008.

2007

Daniel Bisig / Tatsuo Unemi
Identity SA – an interactive swarm-based animation with a deformed reflection
In: Proceedings of the Generative Art Conference. Milano, Italy, 2007.

Identity SA is an interactive and generative installation that combines a swarm-based simulation with real time camera based interaction. The agents’ distributions are transformed into “painterly” images by employing a variety of different visualization techniques and styles, such as texture surfaces, short line segments, font glyphs, curved lines, etc. Camera based Interaction is based on a simple motion detection algorithm that affects the agents’ movements as well as their coloring. Normally, an agent’s color is solely determined by its orientation, but whenever the tracking system detects a visitor’s motion, the agent’s color is additionally affected by the corresponding pixel color in the camera frame. It acts as a visual and acoustic mirror, which distorts the continuity of the visitor’s physical existence into ephemeral patterns and flowing motions.
Available online (last access: 04.07.2023)

Daniel Bisig / Martin Neukom / John Flury
Interactive Swarm Orchestra
In: Proceedings of the Generative Art Conference. Milano, Italy.

The project Interactive Swarm Orchestra (ISO) employs flocking algorithms to control computer sound synthesis and 3D sound positioning. Synthesis, positioning and movement of several simultaneous sound events are modeled according to swarm behavior. Camera-based tracking allows visitors to interact with this acoustic flock and thereby change its spatial distribution and synthesis properties. This paper fo- cuses on the description of the software components that have been developed spe- cifically for this project. These components encompass of a sound synthesis frame- work, functionality for 3D sound projection based on Ambisonics, a generic multi- agent simulation environment, and video tracking software for conventional video cameras and for SwissRanger 3D cameras. All software source code is publicly available.
Available online (last access: 04.07.2023)

Beat Frei
Digital Sound Generation

The most recent version of my dynamic online book about digital sound generation is available for download on the corresponding project page.
Available online (last access: 04.07.2023)

Philippe Kocher
Computerunterstützte interaktive Gehörbildung
In: E-Learning Dossier, Ausgabe 2007/01 der Zürcher Fachhochschule, 2007.

Das Musikgehör. Sogar der Volksmund kennt es und ahnt damit, wie wichtig der Hörsinn für den Musiker sein muss. Tatsächlich beinhaltet eine musikalische Ausbildung auch die Entwicklung eines höchst differenzierten Hörvermögens.
Available online (last access: 04.07.2023)

Philippe Kocher / Jan C. Schacher
Raumklang mit Ambisonics in Max/MSP
In: Beitrag zum Symposium ‚Musik im Raum’, 23. Juni 2007 im ZKM, Karlsruhe, 2007.

Seit einigen Jahren wird in Zürich im Bereich der räumlichen Klangprojektion geforscht und man hat sich auf die aus Grossbritannien stammende Technologie Ambisonics spezialisiert, die nicht nur der Wiedergabe mit dem Soundheld Microphone Herstellter, periphoner Aufnahmen dient, sondern mit der es auch möglich ist, Klangquellen im virtuellen Raum zu setzen und diesen über eine beliebige Anzahl Lautsprecher zu reproduzieren. Die am ICST entwickelten Externals für Max/MSP ermöglichen dem Benutzer einen einfachen und intuitiven Zugriff auf dieses Raumklangverfahren, einerseits durch Module für das Encodieren und Decodieren in Ambisonics bis dritter Ordnung, andererseits durch eine graphische Schnittstelle zur räumlichen Manipulation virtueller Klangquellen in Echtzeit und einem Modul für die algorithmischen Steuerung von Bewegungen im dreidimensionalen Raum.
Available online (last access: 04.07.2023)

Marcus Maeder
Immersion im Möglichen
In: Netzhammer, Yves; Schurer, Bernd (Hg.): Soundscapes/Hörlandschaften. Zürich: Hochbauamt.

Das aus einem Kunst am Bau-Wettbewerb der Stadt Zürich als Gewinnerprojekt hervorgegangene «Soundscapes/Hörlandschaften» von Yves Netzhammer und Bernd Schurer sah sich in der Umsetzung der grossen Aufgabe gegenüber, gleich drei Schulhäuser an unterschiedlichen Standorten in der Stadt Zürich mit einer künstlerischen Intervention zu versehen, der ein einheitliches Konzept zugrunde liegen sollte. Netzhammer und Schurer entschieden sich dazu, die Gebäude akustisch zu beleben. Pro Schulhaus wurde eine künstliche Fauna mit Tieraufnahmen angelegt, welche sich interaktiv ans Geschehen in den Fluren anpasst. Ist viel Betrieb in den Gängen, zieht sich die Tierwelt wie in der Natur zurück; wird es still, beginnt sie sich auszubreiten. Jedem Schulhaus wurde ein Element zugeordnet – es sind Geräusche von Tieren zu hören, welche im Wasser, in der Luft oder an Land leben. Ergänzt ist die Computer- Kamera- und Lautsprecherinstallation durch Wand- und Bodenbilder von Yves Netzhammer, welche auf einer frei assoziativen Ebene auf die jeweiligen Elemente und Tiergruppen eingehen.

Marcus Maeder
Ich bin auch ein Label
In: www.clickhere.ch.

Dieses Wochenende fand in der Roten Fabrik das erste Netlabel-Festival statt, eine Veranstaltung, welche sich als Digital-/Analogwandler eines schnell gewachsenen, internationalen Netzwerks von im Internet publizierenden Musikern und Labels verstehen will. Ein Augenschein.

Martin Neukom
Ambisonic Panning
In: Proceedings, 123st Convention AES, New York, NY, USA, 2007.

Ambisonics is a surround-system for encoding and rendering a 3D sound field. Sound is encoded and stored in multi-channel sound files and is decoded for playback. In this paper a panning function equivalent to the result of ambisonic encoding and so-called in-phase decoding is presented. In this function the order of ambisonic resolution is just a variable that can be an arbitrary positive number not restricted to integers and that can be changed during playback. The equivalence is shown, limitations and advantages of the technique are mentioned and real time applications are described.
Available online (last access: 15.1.2018)

Martin Neukom / Jan C. Schacher
Where's the Beat? Tools For Dynamic Tempo Calculations
In: Proceedings of the 2007 International Computer Music Conference, Copenhagen, 2007.

«Timegrid» is a set of methods and tools geared towards working with polyphonic tempo structures. Common tempo operations such as linear and exponential accelerandi and more uncommon ones such as arbitrarily complex functions are used, which are converted to simple time and tempo pairs. Aimed at the composer these processes produce a variety of files useful for audition, graphical scoring and direct use in algorithmic composition. The methods and tools described here can be used to solve a variety of problems. As an additional example a method for the generation of random numbers from an arbitrary distribution is shown. «Timegrid» is implemented as an external and an application in MaxMSP and made publicly available together with its source code.
Available online (last access: 04.07.2023)

Jan C. Schacher
Gesture Control of Sounds in 3D Space
In: Proceedings of the 2007 New Interfaces for Musical Expression Conference, New York, 2007.

This paper presents a methodology and a set of tools for gesture control of sources in 3D surround sound. The techniques for rendering acoustic events on multi-speaker or headphone-based surround systems have evolved considerably, making it possible to use them in real-time performances on light equipment. Controlling the placement of sound sources is usually done in idiosyncratic ways and has not yet been fully explored and formalized. This issue is addressed here with the proposition of a methodical approach. The mapping of gestures to source motion is implemented by giving the sources physical object properties and manipulating these characteristics with standard geometrical transforms through hierarchical or emergent relationships.
Available online (last access: 04.07.2023)

Germán Toro Pérez
Stereo oder Zweikanal: Eine kompositorische Anmerkung
In: Beitrag zum Symposium «Musik im Raum», 23. Juni 2007 im ZKM, Karlsruhe.

«Was uns als natürlich vorkommt, ist vermutlich nur das Gewöhnliche einer langen Gewohnheit, die das Ungewohnte, dem sie entsprungen, vergessen hat. Jenes Ungewohnte hat jedoch einst als ein Befremdendes den Menschen angefallen und hat das Denken zum Erstaunen gebracht.» (Martin Heidegger, aus Der Ursprung des Kunstwerkes)

Germán Toro Pérez
Juan Rulfo: Sprache, Einsamkeit und Erinnerung
In: Almanach Wien Modern 2006, Saarbrücken: Pfau Verlag.

2006

Daniel Bisig / Tatsuo Unemi
MediaFlies – A Video and Audio Remixing Multi Agent System
In: Proceedings of the Generative Art Conference. Milano, Italy, 2006.
The project MediaFlies realizes an interactive multi agent system, which remixes life and prerecorded audio and video material. Agents engage in flocking and behavior synchronization and thereby control the material’s continuously changing fragmentation and rearrangement. Visitors can influence the agents’ behaviors via a video tracking system and thus shift the ratio of disorder and recognizability in MediaFlies acoustic and visual feedback.
Available online (last access: 04.07.2023)

Daniel Bisig / Tatsuo Unemi
Flocking Messengers
In: Proceedings of the Generative Art Conference. Milano, Italy, 2006.
Flocking Messengers is an entirely new type of real-time communication tool, which utilizes a technique from artificial life to allow two remote persons to speak to each other. Messages that travel through a computer network, cross a virtual 3D space that is inhabited by flocking agents. Attracted by the speaker’s motions, agents approach and memorize his/her voice. Subsequently, they move towards the opposite space boundary and recite the speakers’ message in their own voice. The rules controlling each agent are simple, but the reactions of the entire system are complex and unpredictable since they combine acoustic and visual interaction with collective behaviour. Agents possess their own emotional state, which they occasionally express through their own words. Thereby they guide the visitor’s reactions and increase his/her enjoyment of the communication.
Available online (last access: 04.07.2023)

Daniel Bisig / Tatsuo Unemi
MediaFlies – An Interactive Flocking Based Tool for the Remixing of Media
In: Proceedings of the 19th International FLAIRS Conference. Melbourne, USA, 2006.
The project MediaFlies implements an interactive multi-agent system that incorporates flocking and synchronization in order to generate a constantly changing visual output. It relies on prerecorded or life video material, which is fragmented and recombined via the agents’ activities. Users influence these visuals via video based tracking and thereby affect the amount of disturbance of the original material. The project draws its inspiration from the biological phenomena of flocking and synchronization. Simulations of these phenomena form the basis for the generative behavior of MediaFlies. In its current implementation, MediaFlies does not support audio. Future improvements will address this shortcoming and will also implement feedback mechanisms by which the agents’ behaviors are influenced by qualitative properties of the media material itself.
Available online (last access: 15.1.2018)

Philippe Kocher / Jan C. Schacher
Ambisonics Spatialization Tools for Max/MSP
In: Proceedings of the 2006 International Computer Music Conference, New Orleans, 2006.
Ambisonics is an effective way of describing and projecting spatial sound. Based on the theoretical works of the late Michael Gerzon, it is more and more frequently being used not only to reproduce recordings made with a soundfield microphone and encoded in the corresponding B-format but also to place virtual sources in a periphonic space and decode them to an arbitrary number and configuration of speakers. The tools developed at the ICST implement Ambisonics in the form of Max/MSP externals and allow the encoding and decoding in three dimensions of up to third-order Ambisonics. In addition they include a graphical control module for real-time manipulation of source placement and modules for algorithmic control of source motion in three-dimensional space.
Available online (last access: 04.07.2023)

Marcus Maeder
Die Wunschmaschinen
Exposé für ein ambisonisches Hörspiel – ein Forschungsprojekt des ICST, 2006.
Ein Surround-Hörspiel von Marcus Maeder
Nach Anti-Ödipus – Kapitalismus und Schizophrenie I
Von Gilles Deleuze und Félix Guattari
Für den Rundfunk und als akusmatische Uraufführung für 8 Lautsprecher in einem Kinosaal
Detailed information on the radio play (last access: 04.07.2023)

Martin Neukom
Decoding Second Order Ambisonics to 5.1 Surround Systems
In: AES 121st Convention, San Francisco, CA, USA, 2006.
In this text the problems are described which arise by decoding B-format files for the asymmetric setup of 5.1 systems and different solutions are proposed. The text is only available from the AES.
Available online (last access: 04.07.2023)

Jan C. Schacher
Teaching Digital Tools for Live Audio-Visual Creation
In: FoAM, okno, nadine, and iMAL, editors, .x-med-a. experimental media arts FoAM, Brussels, Belgium, 2006.
Available online (last access: 04.07.2023)

Sébastien Schiesser / Caroline Traube
On making and playing an electronically-augmented saxophone
In: Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME), Paris, 2006.
A low-tech electronically-augmented saxophone has been developed with a modular palette of sensors and their corresponding control interfaces. This paper describes the modules and proposes mapping strategies derived from a reflection on the various uses of live-electronics and an analysis of the functions of gestures applied to the saxophone. It also discusses the functional mutation of the performer’s gesture induced by the electronic augmentation of an acoustic instrument.
Available online (last access: 04.07.2023)

2005

Gerald Bennett
Was heisst hier Musik? – Zum Buch von Ulrich Mosch
In: Dissonanz, no. 89. Zürich, 2005.
Available online (last access: 04.07.2023)

Daniel Bisig / Tatsuo Unemi
Music by Interaction among Two Flocking Species and Human
In: Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Generative Systems in Electronic Arts, Melbourne, Australia, 2005.

This paper describes a new version of «Flocking Orchestra» that generates a type of music through inter- action among flocking agents and human visitors. The agents move through a virtual 3D space and respond to the visitor’s motions within the observation range of camera. Each agent controls a MIDI instrument whose play depends on the agent’s state. The agents are divided into two groups. One group plays melodic tones and the other group plays percussive instruments. The original BOIDS algorithm was extended by adding two forces in order to support interaction. An attractive force causes the agents to move towards the front part of the virtual world when they perceive visitor motion. A repellant force pushes the agents away from the front part in the absence of any visitor’s motion. By attracting or repelling the flocking agents a user can change the instrumentation, melodic and rhythmic patterns the flock generates. By this way, the user plays with the flock and can enjoy a type of generative music.
Available online (last access: 04.07.2023)

Marcus Maeder
Interviews mit Bruno Spoerri, Ova l/ M. Popp, J.-C. Risset
In: Eröffnungsbroschüre ICST, 2005.

Nun ist es soweit, das Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology wird offiziell eröffnet, und wir möchten Sie ganz herzlich zu unseren Eröffnungsveranstaltungen einladen. Der Begriff Computermusik hat sich in den letzten Jahren mit der massiven Verbreitung des alltäglichen Arbeits- und Musikinstruments Computer radikal gewandelt. Wir möchten Ihnen einen Überblick über das Schaffen und Denken einer Musik – aber auch über die vielfältigen Kontexte, in denen sie sich entfaltet – verschaffen. Eine Musik, welche überraschend, andersartig, neu und doch vertraut klingt und so eine künstlerische Synonymie für unser Denken, Fühlen und Sprechen, für unsere Interaktion mit der Welt überhaupt, herstellt.
Achim Szepanski, Initiant des Musiklabels «Mille Plateaux» – beeinflusst vom gleichnamigen Buch von Gilles Deleuze und Félix Guattari – sprach von «Deterritorialisierungsströmen», welche die synthetische, digitale Musik hervorbringt. Damit meinte er das Potential, welches in der musikalischen Arbeit mit dem Computer und des so entstehenden, musikalischen Ereignisses liegt. Dieses Potential kann Prozesse in Gang setzen, welche Hörgewohnheiten auflösen und eingefahrene Produktions- wie Wahrnehmungsweisen von Musik hinterfragen, also gewohnte Territorien verlassen und neue erschliessen, sich im Neuen re-territorialisieren.
Unsere Veranstaltungen stellen eine unvollständige Übersicht dar, sie sind eine Bestandesaufnahme in progress. Sie sollen einen Ausgangspunkt definieren, von welchem aus wir eine künstlerische Topografie und ihre technologischen Bedingungen entwerfen und erschliessen wollen. Dass Computermusik wie Sound Technology als Arbeitsfelder historischen Hintergrund haben, wollen wir dabei nicht ausser Acht lassen, vor allem in Bezug auf eine Dokumentation der Geschichte wie der Gegenwart unserer Erkundungen.
Ich hoffe nun, dass Ihnen die vorliegende Gebrauchsanleitung von Nutzen sein wird, Ihre Neugierde weckt, Ihrer Offenheit begegnet. Im Namen der Hochschule Musik und Theater Zürich wünsche ich Ihnen viel Vergnügen!

2004

Daniel Bisig
Biosonics: Sensual Explorations of a Complex System
In: Proceedings of the 9th international conference on Intelligent user interface, Island of Madeira, Portugal, 2004.

Complex systems abound in nature and are becoming increasingly important in artificial systems. The understanding and controlling of such systems is a major challenge. This paper tries to take a fresh approach to these issues by describing an interactive art project that involves cross-modal interaction with a complex system. By combining sound and vision, the temporal and spatial dynamics of the system are conveyed simultaneously. Users can influence its dynamics in real time by using acoustics. Preliminary experiments with this system show that the combination of sound and vision can help users to obtain an intuitive understanding of the system’s behavior. In addition, usability profits from the fact that the same modality is employed for both interaction and feedback.
Available online (last access: 04.07.2023)

Marcus Maeder / Jan C. Schacher
Transient Travels
In: Trans_it, New Music Days 2004, Switzerland, 2004.

Transient Travels was a temporary travel agency which operated in a carriage of the Sound Train during the World New Music Days 2004 in Switzerland featuring a panorama of contemporary computer music. Travel agents Jan Schacher (alias Jasch) and Marcus Maeder were commissioned by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia and World New Music Days 2004 to assemble a team of artists to take Transient Travels’ passengers on journeys to various areas of digital music. Six artists presented their individual interpretation of the term «sonic journey» at the listening stations in the carriage and Transient Travels’ interactive compartment. Transient Travels is part of «Gallerie 57/34.6 km», the cultural programme which is being organised by Pro Helvetia in connection with the tunnel construction sites at the Gotthard and Lötschberg.

2003

Gerald Bennett
A marriage of the Director Musices program and the Conductor
In: R. Bresin (Ed.). Proceedings of SMAC 2003. Stockholm. 2003 (with M. Mathews, A Friberg, C. Sapp, J. Sundberg).
This paper will describe an ongoing collaboration between the authors to combine the Director Musices and Conductor programs in order to achieve a more expressive and socially interactive performance of a midi file score by an electronic orchestra. Director Musices processes a “square” midi file, adjusting the dynamics and timing of the notes to achieve the expressive performance of a trained musician. The Conductor program and the Radio-baton allow a conductor, wielding an electronic baton, to follow and synchronize with other musicians, for example to provide an orchestral accompaniment to an operatic singer. These programs may be particularly useful for student soloists who wish to practice concertos with orchestral accompaniments.
Available online (last access: 04.07.2023)

Daniel Bisig
Biosonics – Interactive Growth System
In: Proceedings of the Generative Art Conference, Milano, Italy, 2003.
BioSonics is an interactive art installation that explores the transformation of human interaction into spatial and temporal patterns by a dynamical and self-organized system. It both looks at aesthetic qualities of pattern formation processes and explores means of intuitive interaction with complex systems. In BioSonics, users interact with the growth processes of an organism. These processes are controlled by a chemical reaction network whose underlying dynamics eventually leads to changes in the organism’s appearance and behavior. BioSonics produces both visual and acoustic feedback. Each chemical in the system controls its own sound synthesis engine whose acoustic output depends on the characteristics of the chemical, its concentration and its spatial position. Users interact with the organism by means of several microphones. The sounds picked up by the microphones are converted back into chemicals, therefore leading to changes in the dynamics of the chemical reactions and the growth processes they control. By using an acoustic interface, the user’s influence on the system is embedded within the acoustic properties of the environment of which the interactive system as well as other users are a part. Interaction therefore becomes a collaborative endeavor to which the growing organism continually responds by changing its appearance as well as by modifying its acoustic feedback and sensitivity.
Available online (last access: 04.07.2023)

Martin Neukom
Signale, Systeme und Klangsynthese - Grundlagen der Computermusik
Zürich: Peter Lang.
Dieses Buch behandelt die Erzeugung und die Verarbeitung von Klängen mit dem Computer. Mit Hilfe von Abbildungen, Animationen, Klangbeispielen und Beispielprogrammen werden die wichtigsten Techniken zur Klang- und Partitursynthese vorgestellt und die technischen und mathematischen Grundlagen erläutert, die zum Verständnis dieser Techniken notwendig sind. Nach einer Übersicht über die Grundlagen der Akustik stellt der Autor die Theorie der Signale und Systeme dar und gibt eine Einführung in die allgemeinen Programmiersprachen C und Mathematica und in die Programme Csound und CPS.
Es folgen die Darstellungen der traditionell wichtigen Synthesetechniken, der nichtlinearen Techniken und der Synthese mit physikalischen Modellen. Den Abschluss bilden die Kapitel zur Klangprojektion im Raum und zur Verwendung algorithmischer und stochastischer Prozesse in der Computermusik. Der Anhang enthält eine Übersicht über mathematische Grundlagen, Tabellen und einen detaillierten Index. Auf den beiden CDs finden sich der Buchtext mit zusätzlichen Kapiteln und Erläuterungen, Klangbeispiele, Animationen und Programme.

1985–1999

1999
Martin Neukom
Computer Music and Mathematics
In: Dissonanz # 62, November 1999.

1998

Gerals Bennett
Interview with L. P. Hagen
Oslo, Norway, and Muttenz, Switzerland, 21 February 1998.
This interview was conducted in writing, almost a year after I had spent a month at the Norsk nettverk for Teknologi, Akustikk og Musikk, NOTAM in Oslo. I had met Lars Petter Hagen there, among many other interesting people. Lars Petter Hagen’s questions arrived more or less in telegram style. I have left them largely unchanged in this text. The interview appeared in the Norwegian journal of contemporary music Parergon no. 3 (estetisk elektrisitet), 1998.
Available online (last access: 04.07.2023)

1997
Gerald Bennett
Music since 1945 and Oral Culture
In: H. Dufourt & J.-M. Fauquet (Ed.). La musique depuis 1945. Matériau, esthétique et perception. Sprimont (Belge) 1997.
Available online (last access: 04.07.2023)

1995
Gerald Bennett
En réécoutant Boulez
In: Basler Zeitung vom 26. März 1995.

1991
Gerald Bennett
Den Klang komponieren – Notizen zur elektroakustischen Musik
In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Nr. 85, 13./14. April 1991.

1990
Gerald Bennett
Notes on Electroacoustic Music – In Musiques Electroniques
In: Contrechamps No. 11. Geneva 1990.

1985
Gerald Bennett
Simplicity and Complexity
In: Proceedings of the ICEM Conference on Electro-acoustic Music, Stockholm, 25–27 September 1985.
Available online (last access: 04.07.2023)

Gerald Bennett
Chaos, Self-Similarity, Musical Phrase and Form
Available online (last access: 04.07.2023)