Andrew Sorensen

Interacting with generative music through live coding

All music performances are generative to the extent that the actions of performers produce musical sounds, but in this article the authors focus on performative interaction with generative music in a more compositional sense. In particular they discuss how live coding of music involves the building and management of generative processes. They suggest that the human interaction with generative processes that occurs in live coding provides a unique perspective on the generative music landscape. Especially significant is the way in which generative algorithms are represented in code to best afford interaction and modification during performance. They also discuss the features of generative processes that make them more or less suitable for live coding performances. They situate live coding practice within historical and theoretical contexts and ground the discussion with regular reference to their experiences performing in the live coding duo aa-cell.

A communication model and partitioning algorithm for streaming applications for an embedded MPSoC

Energy efficient embedded computing enables new application scenarios in mobile devices like software-defined radio and video processing. The hierarchical multiprocessor considered in this work may contain dozens or hundreds of resource efficient VLIW CPUs. Programming this number of CPU cores is a complex task requiring compiler support. The stream programming paradigm provides beneficial properties that help to support automatic partitioning. This work describes a compiler for streaming applications targeting the self-build hierarchical CoreVA-MPSoC multiprocessor platform. The compiler is supported by a programming model that is tailored to fit the streaming programming paradigm. We present a novel simulated-annealing (SA) based partitioning algorithm, called Smart SA. The overall speedup of Smart SA is 12.84 for an MPSoC with 16 CPU cores compared to a single CPU implementation. Comparison with a state of the art partitioning algorithm shows an average performance improvement of 34.07%.

Evolving interactions: agile design for networked media performance

Network Jamming systems provide real-time collaborative performance experiences for novice or inexperienced users. In this paper we will outline the interaction design considerations that have emerged during evolutionary development cycles of the jam2jam Network Jamming software. In particular we have used agile software design as a research method exploring the co-evolution of features and usability. Several significant iterations of the jam2jam software are presented as case studies and we outline the how core experiences and meaningful engagement has been maintained whilst enhancing user experience and skill develop opportunities. We outline design considerations that support engagement of young people around digital media performance especially in the areas of community arts and education.

The many meanings of live coding

The ten-year anniversary of TOPLAP presents a unique opportunity for reflection and introspection. In this essay we ask the question, what is the meaning of live coding? Our goal is not to answer this question, in absolute terms, but rather to attempt to unpack some of live codings many meanings. Our hope is that by exploring some of the formal, embodied, and cultural meanings surrounding live-coding practice, we may help to stimulate a conversation that will resonate within the live-coding community for the next ten years.

Networked livecoding at VL/HCC 2013

Network connectivity offers the potential for a group of musicians to play together over the network. This paper describes a trans-Atlantic networked musical livecoding performance between Andrew Sorensen in Germany (at the Schloss Daghstuhl conference on Collaboration and Learning through Live Coding) and Ben Swift in San Jose (at YL/HCC) in September 2013. In this paper we describe the infrastructure developed to enable this performance.