Communicative contract analysis constructs an analytic methodology, taking musical semiotics as a theoretical basis, to look at the ways in which pieces of popular music define themselves generically, and how they make reference to other genres. By taking the different components of a sound as referential to parent genres or foreign genres, one can tease out these references in hybrid musical forms. The method is then applied to three contemporary works, The Kaiser Chiefs' Ruby, Hadouken!'s That Boy, That Girl and Bjork's Joga, and the pertinent issues raised in these works are discussed.

The author reflects on the past decades with reference to predictions of several paradigm shifts offered in the 1990s, including a broad range of issues covering acoustics, psychoacoustics, the role of the composer, compositional models, environmental sound perception, soundscape composition, and the integration of music and context. Contemporary developments that were not predicted, such as the proliferation of compressed audio, the rapid development of sound studies, the elimination of electroacoustic music from state-funded broadcasting, and the proliferation of mobile listening and online sound databases, are also discussed.

Since the 1950s the spatiality of sound has become a key concept in different fields of artistic practice, emerging as one of the most relevant subjects in the contemporary arts. Ideas related to sound and space have been used in different discourses and practices to refer to or to explore perceptually different facets of the spatiality of sound. In the field of fine art they have been associated with the emergence of sound art, while in music, they have been associated with spatial music. In spite of this widespread interest in sound and space, the uses of spatial concepts in relation to sound and music have been inconsistent, with different authors and practitioners referring to different aspects of the complex relationship between the two. In this article I suggest a typology with five categories to describe five meanings of space I identified in the recent literature of music and sound art: metaphor, acoustic space, sound spatialisation, reference and location. With this typology I expect to clarify the contemporary uses of space and spatial concepts in music and sound art.

Analysis–resynthesis (A–R) systems gain their flexibility for creative transformation of sound by representing sound as a set of musically useful features. The analysis process extracts these features from the time domain signal by means of a time–frequency representation (TFR). The TFR provides an intermediate representation of sound that must make the features accessible and measurable to the rest of the analysis. Until very recently, the short-time Fourier transform (STFT) has been the obvious choice for time–frequency representation, despite its limitations in terms of resolution. Recent and ongoing developments are providing several alternative schemes that allow for a more considered choice of TFR. This paper reviews these contemporary approaches in comparison with the more classical ones and with reference to their applicability, merits and shortcomings for application to sound analysis. (Where they have been successfully applied, details are provided.) The techniques reviewed include linear, bilinear and higher-order spectra, nonparametric and parametric methods and some sound-model-specific TFRs.

Software packages developed for visualising time-varying timbres, finding parameter settings for modelling acoustic instrument tones, and for synthesising timbres are described. The sndan package, written in C for Unix machines, provides spectrum analysis, pitch tracking, spectrum display, parameter modification, and additive synthesis. Other programs that estimate the best possible parameters for recreating acoustic sounds using techniques such as multiple FM and wavetable synthesis and extended nonlinear/filter synthesis are outlined. Hybrid instruments created by fashioning sounds out of the recombined spectral characteristics of two or more very different tones are also presented.

Inspired by Denis Smalley's theoretical ideas on spectromorphology and Albert Bregman's (1990) auditory scene analysis, I began an investigation into the formation and segregation of timescales1 in electroacoustic music. This research inevitably led me to an exploration of the factors that shape our perception of time passing and estimation of durations, where spectromorphological issues intermingle with extra-musical associations, autobiographical experiences, emotional responses, and the surrounding environment at the time of listening. Ultimately, time perception affects the structural balance of a composition. This paper, which is part of my ongoing research, examines how the perception of time is affected by the semantic meaning and the spectromorphological characteristics of sound events.

Informed by a proposed theoretical framework for the field of interconnected musical networks (Weinberg 2005), I describe a set of local musical networks that utilise novel gestural controllers for interdependent collaborative performance. The paper begins by contextualising developments in the field of musical networks in correlation with development of technological innovations, leading to the utilisations of gestural controllers in local musical networks. This introduction leads to the definition and categorisation of theoretical and practical approaches for the design of local gestural networks, addressing motivations, social strategies, network architectures, musical content, and control software and hardware. Based on this theoretical framework I describe the evolution of four local musical networks that utilise newly developed gestural controllers, titled ‘Squeezables’, ‘Musical Fireflies’, ‘Beatbugs’ and ‘Voice Patterns’. The paper discusses the design and development process of these projects and ends with a comparative analysis of the networks and controllers based on conceptual and practical criteria.

A comparison is made between two systems of real-time sample selection using timbral proximity that has relevance for live performance. Sound files in large sample libraries are analysed for audio features (amplitude RMS, spectral centroid, spectral flatness, and spectral energy using a Bark auditory modeller), and this data is statistically analysed and stored. Two methods of organisation are described: the first uses fuzzy logic to rate sample similarity, the second uses a self-organising map. The benefits and detriments of each method are described.

This issue of Organised Sound focuses on mapping in computer music. Unlike many issues of the journal, all articles in this edition are related to the theme. The call for contributions resulted in a significant collection of work which covered a broad range of activity in the field. This number of articles would normally fill more than one issue of the journal but we decided to keep the collection together as a representative body of work.

We were delighted to welcome Marcelo Wanderley as Guest Editor for this issue. I would like to thank him for his hard and diligent work throughout the preparation of this issue.

This article is a development, refinement and expansion of a paper presented at the Electroacoustic Music Studies Conference, 2007 (EMS07). It aims to provide a framework and terminology for the discussion, analysis and creation of music that articulates mimetic discourse and structure. In doing so, it also intends to enable parallel and complementary analytical approaches to those concerned with the aural and spatial aspects of musical articulation. It proposes the notion of multidimensional mimetic space, taking as its point of departure Emmerson's Language Grid (Emmerson 1986), and constructing additional axes representing compositional continua, similar in function to those proposed by spectromorphology (Smalley 1986), but applicable to mimetic material. The argument considers the mimetic implications of both purely acousmatic music and works that combine the acousmatic with live performance. After a brief consideration of the relationship between mimetic space and space-form (Smalley 2007a), the discussion concludes with a perspective on narrative as a component of mimetic space; providing an extensive discussion of issues pertinent to the idea of signifier space, which was originally introduced in the preceding paper.

Guided by the idea of participatory culture, networked pulse synchronisation and live coding have been core approaches in the activity of the Cybernetic Orchestra, an electronic performance ensemble at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. Following general discussion of the way in which networked pulse-based music and live coding work within this orchestra, there is specific discussion of a number of compositional models and practices that have been found effective, including code-sharing, instruction-scores, code as material, and physical performance.

The ‘comprovisation’ (Dudas 2010) of electroacoustic music in an affective manner through Internet2, using a directed dramaturgy approach, poses unique scoring problems. Building on prior work (Whalley 2009, 2012c), GNMISS (Graphic Networked Music Interactive Scoring System) was developed to address this. The system has four visual layers that illustrate the structure of works, represented on a circle with parts for each player. One layer maps emotions to colours based on associated words as a primary basis for gesture and timbre representation. A second layer gives musical motives and frequency information for participants to follow. A third allows for more detailed indications of gesture and sound archetypes through representative symbols. Finally, an inside layer represents macro key centres. For timing, the circle score turns in clock time with the current playing position always at noon, and a central metronome shows speed independent of clock time. Technically, client programs sit on distributed machines across the Internet, with data being coordinated by an OSC Server. Distributed scores can be built by a composer or by a team, and all content can be altered simultaneously across client machines. Two works are discussed as initial examples of its implementation: Sensai na Chikai and SymbolAct.

In this paper the ingredients of computing auditory perception are reviewed. On the basic level there is neurophysiology, which is abstracted to artificial neural nets (ANNs) and enhanced by statistics to machine learning. There are high-level cognitive models derived from psychoacoustics (especially Gestalt principles). The gap between neuroscience and psychoacoustics has to be filled by numerics, statistics and heuristics. Computerised auditory models have a broad and diverse range of applications: hearing aids and implants, compression in audio codices, automated music analysis, music composition, interactive music installations, and information retrieval from large databases of music samples.

With the development of modern high-speed communication our sense of local and global are blurred to the point that these two topological extremes are often conflated as ‘glocal’. This paper examines the significance of this change and assesses its effects on the productivity and creativity of electroacoustic musicians. More profoundly, it also considers whether this shift in social geography had any bearing on the constitution of an explicit electroacoustic community.

To specifically carry out this analysis we consider how an understanding of the system of social relations as a non-random network changes our perception of proximity and distance. We then derive a typology for the contemporary critiques of new technologies and highlight the opportunities it offers to interpret social relations anew. This analysis helps firm up the notion of virtuality that we use to explore our understanding of electroacoustic musical creation with respect to the benefits it can derive from a ‘glocal’ environment. It also establishes the premise of a collective subject emerging from ‘glocal’ communications that may serve as a seed to a renewed electroacoustic community.

Acousmatic music is heavily informed by a central duality which lies at the heart of the art form, between the musical layer on the one hand, and the narrative layer on the other. Emphasis shifts between these two layers, and they interact to construct further layers of meaning. In his book Sweet Anticipation: Music and the Psychology of Expectation, David Huron proposes that our responses to musical stimuli are in fact identical to our responses to real-world stimuli, and follow the same processes. This appears to negate somewhat the dichotomy of musical and narrative layers. We propose a shift in perspective away from a vision of parallel musical and narrative layers, and towards a dualism built from staggered response times to different aspects of the same material.

NOMADS (Network-Operational Mobile Applied Digital System) is a network client–server-based system for participant interaction in music and multimedia performance contexts. NOMADS allows large groups of participants, including the audience, to form a mobile interactive computer ensemble distributed across a network. Participants become part of a synergistic interaction with other performers, contributing to the multimedia performance. The system enhances local performance spaces, and it can integrate audiences located in multiple performance venues. Individual user input from up to thousands of simultaneous users across a network is synthesised into a single emergent sound and visual structure in an approach we call socio-synthesis. This paper recounts research leading up to NOMADS, outlines its technological architecture, and describes several implementations. Current applications include the telematic opera Auksalaq, and performances by the MICE Orchestra. The authors also consider the potential of large-scale human–computer ensembles as a paradigm for composition and performance.

There is growing evidence of widespread acceptance of timbre as a primary surface feature and as a structural device in music across genres. This is a result of a growing body of source material available in musical contexts through recording and sampling. Composers using new sounds are creating new musical syntax and structures, and consequently, new contexts and paradoxical or ‘synchretic’ situations that motivate resolution by the listener. New source materials, syntax, structure and synchresis pose challenges for the analyst in this largely non-notated music as well. Research in perception and the formation of conceptual frameworks is providing key information towards understanding this growing timbral common practice and how to talk about it with cogency and depth.

The SndObj Sound Object Library is a C++ object-oriented audio processing framework and toolkit. This article initially examines some of the currently available sound processing packages, including sound compilers, programming libraries and toolkits. It reviews the processes involved in the use of these systems and their strengths and weaknesses. Some application examples are also provided. In this context, the SndObj library is presented and its components are discussed in detail. The article shows the library as composed of a set of classes that encapsulate all processes involved in synthesis, processing and IO operations. Programming examples are included to show some uses of the system. These, together with library binaries, source code and complete documentation, are included in the downloadable package, available on the Internet. Possible future developments and applications are considered. The library is demonstrated to provide a useful base for research and development of audio processing software.

The background to the creation of an international resource organisation is discussed. The author goes on to describe various activities of the Foundation, including the provision of hard-to-obtain CDs and access to other materials of interest to the electroacoustic community. The Foundation maintains a substantial presence on the World Wide Web: http://www.emf.org