In the literature dedicated to twentieth-century music, the early history of electronic music is regularly presented hand in hand with the development of technical repetitive devices such as closed grooves and magnetic tape loops. Consequently, the idea that such devices were ‘invented’ in the studios of the first great representatives of electronic music tends to appear as an implicit consequence. However, re-examination of the long history of musical technology, from the ninth-century Banu Musa automatic flute to the Hammond organ of the 1930s, reveals that repetitive devices not only go right back to the earliest days of musical automation, but also evolved in a wide variety of contexts wholly unconnected from any form of musical institution. This article aims to shed light on this other, forgotten, history of repetitive audio technologies.

R. Murray Schafer's soundscape, predicated on a schizophonic engagement with sound, and Pierre Schaeffer's musique concrète, based on an acousmatic relationship, have for some time been the dominant approaches for those who wish to compose with sounds sourced from the environment. Following Brian Kane and Timothy Morton, this paper critiques the ideologies behind these systems, instead suggesting an approach that uses Deleuze and Guattari's rhizome as a generative metaphor. The Garden of Adumbrations, a multi-channel electroacoustic piece, is used to illustrate several compositional possibilities: the tracing of place through subjectivity, the machinic phylum as emergent intelligence, the interplay between Katharine Norman's self-intended and composer-intended listening, and the encouragement of accidents of listening. Also discussed are Antonin Artaud's Body without Organs, conceptions of Nature and the garden, and Luc Ferrari's Presque rien ou le lever du jour au bord de la mer. The goal is to develop an integrated and sustainable model of sonic practice that addresses the acousmatic while supporting an embedded and non-hierarchical relationship with our ecological milieu.

We introduce an analytical methodology to approach the perception of time in the electronic works Thema: Omaggio a Joyce (1958), by Luciano Berio, and Gesang der Jünglinge (1955–6), by Karlheinz Stockhausen. Such works have already been widely analysed and discussed. Moreover, similarities between them have been pointed out, such as the use of the voice as their main compositional material and the search for a continuum between the voice and electronic sounds. Despite their similarities, we argue that the perception of time in those works is significantly different. For that purpose, we bring theoretical references such as time concepts related to complex dynamic systems, and the perception of time according to the Gestalt theory. We discuss segmentation and texture evolution in time of both works employing graphical representations based on perceptual audio descriptors such as the mel scale and the volume. In addition, aiming to find recurrences, repetitions and variations of the spectral material in time, we apply phase space graphs addressing the values of the descriptors employed in the analysis. The features found will lead to conclusions on the emergence of time perception in which the continuity depends on the presence of similar events, periodicities and pregnancies, while discontinuity is given by the presence of more variation, instability and saliences. We emphasise the differences of form perception in those pieces, arguing that they are the result of the manipulation of sound materials and organisation in time by the composers.

In this paper, I will focus on the musical work as a self-organising entity within a systemic framework. In particular, two significant and inter-related systemic concepts will be mentioned: self-organisation and open system. Firstly, I shall explain the two concepts within the context of systems thinking with reference to a graphical model of second-order cybernetics. This section will conclude with a discussion of the difference between natural and artificial self-organising systems. I will then extend the systemic perspective, describing what I call self-organising music, and discussing my algorithmic composition Ephemeron as a case study.

The Alternative Histories of Electronic Music conference in 2016 reflected a rise in research that explores new and alternative directions in electronic music historiography. Accordingly, attention has been focused on practitioners previously either ignored or thought to be marginal; a significant number of these figures are women. This fact has caught the attention of print and online media and the independent recording industry and, as a result, historical narratives of female electronic musicians have become part of the modern music media discourse. While this has many positive aspects, some media representations of the female electronic musician raise concerns for feminist scholars of electronic music history. Following the work of Tara Rodgers, Sally MacArthur and others, I consider some new media representations of electronic music’s female ‘pioneers’, situate them in relation to both feminist musicology and media studies, and propose readings from digital humanities that might be used to examine and critique them. This article expands on a talk given at AHEM and was first conceived as a presentation for the Fawcett Society event Sound Synthesis and the Female Musician, in 2014.

In mixed electroacoustic music it is common to find the erroneous conception according to which interaction should base itself exclusively on the fusion between instrumental writing and electronic devices, whereas the contrast between these sound spheres is as significant as the fusional states. Although fusion may be seen as the most important ingredient for an efficacious compositional strategy concerning interaction, it is actually through contrast that the identities of spectral transfers in mixed composition can be evaluated by the listener. This text intends to introduce a discussion about the many possibilities offered by the morphology of interaction between acoustic sources and electroacoustic resources and structures. In this sense it tries to identify intermediate types between the extremes of pure fusion and pure contrast, which can be established by the composer that sees in interactive music one of the most advantageous poetic realms of electroacoustic music.

This article documents the resolution of a problem encountered during the design of a semi-permanent interactive sound and video installation currently being installed at a tram station located in Dublin, Ireland. This artwork generates video and multi-channel sound output in real time, responding to changes in traffic patterns on an adjacent street. While the visuals are composed from pre-recorded content, the sound environment explores the use of site-specific sound within public urban space by sampling and processing sounds that occur naturally in and around the station. Regulations involving the artwork's volume resulted in the sound output being reduced to a level at which it was too subtle to be noticed amidst the busy activity of the station. It was therefore necessary to strengthen the artwork's aural presence without interfering with the subtleties of the site-specific sound environment. A dynamic field of sine tones and rhythmic glitches was composed to augment the more subtle sounds of the installation. This juxtaposition of site-specific sound with compositional structures associated with the popular musical genre known as microsound proved to be effective, calling attention to the mediated sound environment even at low volume levels and balancing the artwork's presence with the other functions of the site.

This article describes a manual actions expressive system (MAES) which aims to enable music creation and performance using natural hand actions (e.g. hitting virtual objects, or shaking them). Gestures are fully programmable and result from tracking and analysing hand motion and finger bend, potentially allowing performers to concentrate on natural actions from our daily use of the hands (e.g. the physical movement associated with hitting and shaking). Work carried out focused on the development of an approach for the creation of gestures based on intuitive metaphors, their implementation as software for composition and performance, and their realisation within a musical composition through the choice of suitable mappings, sonic materials and processes.

Real-time computer music is now common and ubiquitous, no longer a new or experimental practice. In its infancy, it helped to solve perceived issues with the fixity of tape pieces, a natural continuation in the practice of live electronics. However, real-time computer music did not have the same consequences as live electronic music. This situation engendered many discussions about the liveness of real-time computer music performances at the time. It is now 20 years past those first conversations, and it is important to revisit what is ‘live’ and how it applies to real-time musics. Additionally, in some ways, the language surrounding descriptions of fixed medium works, mixed works, live electronics and real-time computer music has evolved and, perhaps, even settled into conventions distinguishing musical approach and philosophies. This article first defines the language, not to proselytise, but rather to ground the argument. The conclusion asserts that liveness is a spectrum despite the fact that ‘live’ is often used categorically. Though one may have an intuitive understanding of what constitutes a ‘live’ event, this article explicitly articulates the most significantly contributive factors. The nature of real-time computer music is explored in relation to these factors of liveness. Using musical examples, this article shows that ‘real-time’ music does not guarantee a ‘live’ performance, contrary to what is typically held to be true. Instead, ‘real-time’ simply becomes a descriptor of compositional method, and any real-time work can exist along a broad range of the liveness spectrum.

This article explores the similarities and differences between live coding and traditional music performances. The focus is on how bodily movements are expressed and whether pre-reflective processes may be activated during a live coding performance. While reports from practitioners vary on percepts of embodiment, the community is missing a theoretical background that reflects on practice. Understanding pre-reflective processes in live coding can benefit performance practices and tool development. As a live coder, I reflect on personal experiences and explore what I call ‘interactivity variations’, a term to denote different gestural manners of interactions during a performance. I observe patterns of embodiment among various live coders who use diverse performance systems from online videos. Out of 11 examples of performance systems, two cases demonstrate interactivity variations that can activate pre-reflective processes while another exploits direct manipulation. I present some implications for the patterns of bodily movement during a live coding performance and discuss how descriptive and prescriptive notation can be important and potentially influence our sensorimotor network. The article contributes a first account of a sensorimotor theory on live coding performances, reflecting on practice and embodied music cognition by presenting an aesthetic analysis of 11 online video examples.

The experimental music of Chinese musicians including Yan Jun, Li Jianhong, Jun-Y Chao, Shen Piji and the Tea Rockers Quintet embodies a particular mode of thinking rooted in Chinese qi-philosophy known as shanshui (山水)-thought, which considers nature and the environment as secret and nurturing. Shanshui-thought cultivates an existential gesture of following rather than obeying or conquering; it requires tacit resonance rather than object knowing. Shanshui-thought enables us to recognise the cosmic, aesthetic and moral values of music qualities of dan (淡) (quiet and bland) and you (幽) (inward expandedness), once described as ‘poverty’ and ‘darkness’ by the composer Christian Wolff of what he calls ascetic minimalism.

As Jonty Harrison himself acknowledges, a significant body of acousmatic music exists which has, directly or indirectly, challenged aspects of the Schaefferian theory from which acousmatic music first developed (Harrison 1995). Few pieces, however, have so clearly and deliberately confronted Schaeffer’s notion of the ‘sound object’ as Harrison’s Unsound Objects. Harrison does more than merely reject Schaeffer’s definition of the sound object through the use of expanded compositional strategies. Rather, he both employs Schaeffer’s methodology and subverts it, systematically demonstrating the potential and the limitations of Schaeffer’s epoché and its product, the sound object. The result is what might be aptly termed the ‘unsound object’: a sonic entity which both demonstrates and defies Schaeffer’s ideals, and exemplifies the rich ambiguities which can arise from the compositional exploitation of referentiality and association, in addition to the intrinsic, morphological characteristics emphasised within Schaeffer’s reduced listening. Throughout his engagement with Schaefferian theory, however, Harrison never abandons the fundamental musical radicalism at the heart of Schaeffer’s project: positing ‘concrete sound material’, rather than ‘abstract concept’, as the basis for the language of electroacoustic music (Chion 1983: 37).

This paper describes TAO, a system for sound synthesis by physical modelling based on a new technique called cellular sound synthesis (CSS). The system provides a general mechanism for constructing an infinite variety of virtual instruments, and does so by providing a virtual acoustic material, elastic in nature, whose physical characteristics can be fine-tuned to produce different timbres. A wide variety of sounds such as plucked, hit, bowed and scraped sounds can be produced, all having natural physical and spacial qualities. Some of the musical and philosophical issues considered to be most important during the design and development of the system are touched upon, and the main features of the system are explained with reference to practical examples. Advantages and disadvantages of the synthesis technique and the prototype system are discussed, together with suggestions for future improvements.

Cheryl E. Leonard is a San Francisco-based composer, performer and instrument maker who utilises sounds from natural objects and field recordings to create innovative compositions that are aesthetically appealing and also promote environmental awareness. This article examines Leonard’s work Antarctica: Music from the Ice (2009–2014), which comprises ten context-based pieces created from sounds produced with natural objects (such as penguin bones, rocks and shells) and field recordings the composer collected during her visit to Antarctica in 2008–9. In particular, the article focuses on the pieces Lullaby for E Seals, White on White, Greater than 20 Knots and Ablation Zone, showing how Leonard draws attention to pertinent environmental issues through her work, while at the same time producing compositions that are aurally pleasing and engaging for performers and listeners alike.

Fifty years down the line, the analysis of computer music is still a very complex issue, highly dependent on the identity of computer music itself: the variety of software, the lack of a common musical notation for scores, the absence or presence of computer data. This has led to the emergence of a multitude of analytical methods, including aesthesical analysis, which approaches music from the point of view of perception, and poietical analysis, which pays attention to the creative process.

This study aims to combine these two methods of analysis in order to understand the relationship between technology and the actual piece of music. The article presents a methodological approach – focused on six pieces produced at IRCAM in Paris and at CSC in Padua, between 1975 and 1985 – via an in-depth consideration of Mauro Graziani's Winter leaves, a work conceived in 1980 at the CSC using Music360. The method used consists of comparing data collected using a diversity of practices: repeated listening, the tracing of graphical schematics, sonogram and spectrogram analysis, data listing analysis. An algorithm has also been created in order to calculate the degree to which the software is exploited and to enable a comparison between the different analyses. It is hoped that this procedure will combine traditional musicological methods with new approaches suited to the medium and grounded in a thorough knowledge of computer technology and musical environments.

Understanding laptop music requires more than a new perspective on the configuration of a ‘weareable computer and an audio interface’ as a musical instrument for performance. It combines the strategies and traditions of electronic media-related music composition of the twentieth century, like reproductive music, electronic music, computer music and Net music in a single, digital, multi-purpose device originally designed for business and multimedia applications. Consequently, what we hear is mostly not a genuine laptop music, but one facet of the information-technological transformation of music that has been the result of the digital integration of these established traditions. This article gives an overview of the aesthetic implications of these traditions and with respect to laptop performance and musical style.

Given the growing acceptance of information and communication technology (ICT) as integral to today's middle and secondary school classrooms, electroacoustic music would seem on the surface to be a central feature of the music curriculum. However, models that approximate actual practices of electroacoustic music in the classroom are rare, with many schools focusing squarely on ICT, either as tools to facilitate traditional musical contexts or to explore innovative uses of that technology. Also, with the exception of some notable recent developments, there are few initiatives to bring middle and secondary students, or their teachers, into contact with the practices of electroacoustic music communities. The purpose of this article is to explore this problematic gap between the education and electroacoustic music communities in an attempt to identify some of the issues that lie at the foundation of an effective curriculum. The position taken is that these foundational matters need to be addressed prior to any discussion of ‘best practices’ for middle and secondary electroacoustic music education.

This article discusses technical and aesthetic aspects of sound synthesis in the context of anacoustic modes of sound construction – a neologism that underscores the unique ontology of information in the digital domain. Anacoustic modes address the computer at its most fundamental level: the syntactic level of information. This changes the nature of signification as sound is considered first as an informational construct rather than a material circumstance, rupturing the front-loaded meaning that arises from our acoustic experience. Following certain concepts encompassed by N. Katherine Hayles’s posthumanism, anacoustic modes can be viewed as an expression of the materiality of information.

Electroacoustic music, since its inception, has been situated in a cross-disciplinary no-man's-land, with areas of interest spread in many directions; from ideas of musical structures ordered through traditional pitch-classes to research on physical modelling and analysis of sound and compositional structures through the use of neural networks. Much of the material found in computer music has been developed through processes of appropriation, both from sound recordings of physical events and from the application of various principles found in the natural sciences.