Archive

RELEASED (August 15, 2017)

TESSELLATE: A CNMAT-OM OPEN MUSIC LIBRARY

DOWNLOAD CNMAT-OM Tesselate Library here: http://cnmat.berkeley.edu/downloads 

Link to instructions for installing OM and further CNMAT workshop materials for OM by Jean Bresson

Link to CNMAT and IRCAM/CNRS/UPMC collaborations page

CNMAT StompBox -- a breakout box for Teensy & Max

Introduction
Early in the Fall semester 2017, CNMAT director Edmund Campion came to me with a request to build a system that would allow for multiple foot-pedal controllers to be connected to Max.  The design criteria required that the system should:

ironic erratic erotic is a trio composed for dancer, tuba, contrabass, and motion-sensitive live electronics. It was premiered at Labor Neunzehn in Berin in May 2017 by Yuri Shimaoka (dance), Jack Adler-McKean (tuba), and Adam Goodwin (contrabass).

Kerosene Palace, for orchestra and electronics

by Scott Rubin, for David Milnes and the University of California Berkeley Symphony Orchestra

Kerosene Palace is a work scored for orchestra and electronics, which was written for David Milnes and the University of California Berkeley Symphony Orchestra. The electronics, composed of fixed soundfiles created by the composer that were cued during the performance. The diffusion of the electronic sound was supported with equipment and funds supplied by the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies.

negative expanse (2017)

For amplified string quartet and 8-channel speaker environment

Composed by Jon Kulpa

Performed by Friction Quartet

Commissioned by Sounds of Science Commissioning Club

Audio production and installation by Jeremy Wagner

This audio feedback system is a prototype designed to digitally manage or 'shape' resultant audio feedback tones as they resonate through an open cylinder waveguide. Pressure waves are produced in the air by a loudspeaker, guided through a configuration of pipes, and sensed by a microphone on the other end. By completing the partially open waveguide loop, energy flows seamlessly between external sound and digital environments.

Freedom from Fear (2017)
for oboe, two speaker arrays (6 around the audience and 4.2 on stage) and lights
Composed/electronics by Maija Hynninen
Performed by Kyle Bruckmann, oboe
‘sounDome’ homemade speakers manufactured by Maija Hynninen, designed by Roberto Ortiz-Soto and Maija Hynninen, programmed by Ilya Rostovtsev.
Audio production and installation by Jeremy Wagner and Maija Hynninen

Special thanks to Eric Paulos and CITRIS Invention Lab staff for all help and support with the 'sounDome'.

The UC Berkeley Department of Music, CNMAT and Cal Performances present Bloch Lecturer Martin Matalon.

Albany Records has released a new CD by composer Anthony Paul De Ritis: Electroacoustic Music, In memorium: David Wessel

Composer Anthony Paul De Ritis began studying with David Wessel at the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies after returning from his studies at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau. Wessel exerted a tremendous influence on De Ritis, both as a teacher and as a person. This recording of De Ritis' music is a tribute to David Wessel.

Jean Bresson (IRCAM) was in residence at CNMAT as a Fulbright visiting scholar from Feb. to Aug., 2016, carrying out a research fellowship entitled "Interactive visual programming systems for music composition". The objectives of this project, framed in the development of computer-aided composition software, were to explore multimedia interactions in compositional processes, and integrate CNMAT technology and approaches in the OpenMusic environment.

As a continuation of previous audio feedback and instrumental prototyping projects, this analog audio feedback system generates a Helmholtz-like standing wave inside a resonant semi-sphere. The electronic configuration is based on a generic bullhorn circuit (with an electret mic and two 4ohm transducers) and is filtered through a passive RC low-pass filter. Few components are required and the circuitry can be easily embedded into a variety of hardware interface designs.

CNMAT welcomes the Tana String Quartet as an ensemble in residence for November, 2018. Public events include a concert at CNMAT on November 11th featuring new works by UC Berkeley graduate student composers and a concert at the Center for New Music in San Francisco on November 13th featuring works from the group's repertoire.

Recent developments in Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) are opening up new, unprecedented ways of representation and interaction.

Alice Unchained is a virtual chamber for chamber music. It is the third work loosely inspired by Alice in Wonderland, created by media artist Claudia Hart and composer Edmund Campion, Director, at the Center for New Music and Audio Technology, UC Berkeley. Alice mashes 3D animation, motion-captured live performance, and music performed by live and virtual musicians whose sound is analyzed in real-time and remixed in the bodies of sculptural avatars. It feeds-back the virtual and the live, blending them together in a liminal, uncanny mix.

In the Summer of 2018 CNMAT was awarded a grant to construct infrastructure for producing mobile, multi-channel concert events.  We set out to construct a surround audio system, designed with robust mobility in mind, that can be rapidly deployed in numerous performance contexts.  The result is the CNMAT Mobile Array, an expandable mobile infrastructure for sonic events.  The system is conceived to be deployed in under an hour by a small crew of one or two people.  Its speaker elements are weather protected to enable work outdoors and we have included a number of flexible rigging options to

Sound and Habitat Audio Prototyping Environment (SHAPE) is a collection of nature-inspired electroacoustic devices created for sound art in public spaces. It is part of an ongoing audio feedback research project at the Center For New Music and Audio Technologies. By repurposing old electronics and manufactured objects, low-cost materials are used to make interactive sound sculptures and musical instruments. Subtle gestures and actions by participants change the sound in real time.

BLOOM is a flower-like analog oscillator on a transparent substrate comprised of three piezoelectric transducers, one transistor, one 3V battery, three LEDs, three photoresistors, and three resistors. Configured in a feedback loop, the circuit self-oscillates and produces variable light/sound sequences. The transparent substrate and stem-like conductive trace design gives each component an aesthetic quality. Photoresistors on the piezo elements provide subtle interaction by changing the electrical resistance when light is more or less present.

In Spring 2019 Jeremy Wagner set out to build a piano resonating device for upcoming research projects and performances by CNMAT composers.  This work draws heavily on prior design work by Per Bloland, et al. with some improvements specific to upcoming CNMAT projects.  The design brief called for a device meeting the following criteria:

TONE is an analog audio feedback circuit with a tree-like array of three electret condenser microphones, resonant 4Ω loudspeaker, 9V amplifier, and cylindrical waveguide. Acrylic 'leaf' microphone mounts are suspended at the end of each cylindrical 'branch.' Acoustic feedback is situated by arranging the loudspeaker upward toward the mic array. As pressure waves propagate upward from the loudspeaker, sound is filtered through the pipes before arriving at the mic array, thus introducing non-linearities and expressive opportunities.