Bruce W. Pennycook

Heart Rate Sonification: A New Approach to Medical Diagnosis

Ever since 1819, when Theophile Lannec first put a block of wood to a patients chest in order to listen to her heartbeat, physicians have used auscultation to help diagnose cardiopulmonary disorders. Here the authors describe a novel diagnostic method based in music technology. Digital music-synthesis software is used to transform the sequence of time intervals between consecutive heartbeats into an electroacoustic soundtrack. The results show promise as a diagnostic tool and also provide the basis of an interesting musical soundscape.

Live electroacoustic music: Old problems, new solutions

Abstract This paper presents some observations on certain fundamental issues associated with the presentation of music which combines performers and electronically generated and processed signals delivered by loudspeakers. I contend that several factors have limited the growth of the genre and will attempt to illustrate their origins and consequences. These comments lead to some general recommendations to correct the situation and to some observations from my own experiences as a composer and performer. Finally, I examine a few new technologies which may soon impact the genre.

EarGram: An Application for Interactive Exploration of Concatenative Sound Synthesis in Pure Data

This paper describes the creative and technical processes behind earGram, an application created with Pure Data for real-time concatenative sound synthesis. The system encompasses four generative music strategies that automatically rearrange and explore a database of descriptor-analyzed sound snippets corpus by rules other than their original temporal order into musically coherent outputs. Of note are the systems machine-learning capabilities as well as its visualization strategies, which constitute a valuable aid for decisionmaking during performance by revealing musical patterns and temporal organizations of the corpus.

Who will turn the knobs when i die

This paper addresses questions regarding the performance of interactive music compositions through an examination of the authors own works. The questions emerge from the compositional impetus and the subsequent technical design of each of the works. The paper also examines some of the forces impacting the performance, preservation and long-term viability of interactive works and non-interactive electroacoustic compositions.

Machine Songs II: The "PRAESCIO" Series: Composition-Driven Interactive Software

This paper describes the PRAESCIO series of compositions for one or more performers and interactive, computer-controlled, MIDI system. A chronological account of the process of composing, rehearsing, and performing the five works in the series is provided to illustrate the development of the MIDI-LIVE software system. A critical evaluation of the problems and solutions encountered over the three-year period of development accompanies the presentation of each phase and composition.

Gcomp: Graphic Control of Mixing and Processing

The Queens University Computer Music Facility has focused on the development of computer tools for digital musique concrete composition. Over the past few years, we have been working on a set of programs and sound file management utilities to assist users in the manipulation of digital sound files generated by Cmusic (Moore 1982) on a VAX 11/750 or digitally recorded and stored on a 300Mbyte disk. The central programs are Waves and Gcomp (Pennycook 1981). Waves is an interactive sound file editor that