web audio: research

Nov 18

Generative Music (text by Hilary Jeffery)

Brian Eno defined Generative Music as 'any music that is ever-different & changing, created by a system'. This algorithmic approach is well suited to presenting music online and different to typical consumer based services which mostly provide playback of pre-recorded soundfiles, often in curated streams. We are investigating ways to present music online which is more playful and fitting to browsing multiplie streams of online content. There are obvious connections to Eric Satie's "furniture music", to John Cage's aleatoric approaches and to the ambient music genre. This approach also highlights current listening fashions. How often does anyone really sit down and listen to music, while doing nothing else? There is an intrinsic value in making the time and space to do that, but at the same time there is an equal value in allowing for some less focused / more drifting modalities. As I write this text I am listening to the latest iteration of our prototype web audio site, featuring music by Duane Pitre. I find it helps me to concentrate on writing while keeping other parts of my mind engaged, making it a liberating and very musical experience!

more about Brian Eno + Generative Music
inmotionmagazine.com

virtual-megus@medium.com

a concise history of algorithmic composition
ccrma.stanford.edu

Web Audio (text by Benjamin Jefferys)

Web Audio and Javascript offer powerful tools for interactive audio online. Recent developments such as WebAssembly brings the power of desktop DSP to the web, allowing applications to function in the browser. While conventional streaming struggles to emulate the live music experience, using these new techniques truly play to the strengths of the medium. While conventional streaming struggles to simulate the live music experience, the use of these new techniques brings the strengths of the medium to the fore.

Online Music (text by Hilary Jeffery)

To be a professional and active musician involves more than just playing an instrument. In the 90s / early 2000s the WWW was a very creative space which offered unique new outlets for musicians to self-publish and promote their work. The advent of "myspace" somehow anounced a change, "big tech" then moved in and "social media" took over. The promised new levels of connectivity and wide ranging possibilties for self-publishing turned out in many ways to be illusory. The centralised and commercialised model where the "users" become the unwitting "product" is now starting to be rejected and new developments reflect more the early days of the internet, but with far superior technology and a collective experience of more than 30 years online! Important questions for musicians who want their music to be heard include:

How to get an equitable amount of attention compared to artists who have corporate backing, especially when communicating via mainstream channels?
How can one "break through" on these channels?
When communicating via other, less known channels, how can one reach anyone at all? Is it just useless posting in the void?!
How can one speak to audiences who are already over saturated with multiple streams of online content?

Inevitably to really engage with and work in this medium, one has to become somehow "tech savvy", understand the technology and find one's own unique ways. New social media channels are now starting to appear which offer different approaches. Starting in November information about this project is being posted on a variety of different social media channels, from mainstream to streams less travelled. We are observing what happens...

Project Channels

zincandcopper.org/web-audio
welltunedbrass.net/web-audio-projekt-5

mainstream social media
facebook.com/welltunedbrass
instagram.com/welltunedbrass

other social media
Berlintune @ Mastodon
Berlintune @ Flote

Project Results

websites