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Baby Reindeer

norbert — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 19:31:55 +0000

“Baby Reindeer” is a generative music app for iPhone and iPod Touch.

The “baby reindeer” is actually a toy—the Fisher-Price “Ocean Wonders Soothe and Glow Seahorse.” It was a gift to my son, who cuddled with it at night and enjoyed the mix of classical melodies and ocean sounds. When my daughter saw it for the first time she squealed with delight, saying, “Oh look! It’s a baby reindeer!” It was soft. It lit up when you squeezed its belly. Everyone was fond of the “baby reindeer.” I was fascinated with the way that, as its batteries ran down, the melodies and ocean sounds would detune and garble. Short, micro-recordings of these sounds comprise many of the parts heard in this music.

In 1996 Brian Eno invented the term generative music to describe a sound experience that is unique upon every listening. Simple compositional rules unfold to make each ‘performance’ distinct within a range of possibilities. This app uses the processing capabilities of your device to play continuous music that drifts within a mood and is unlikely to be repeated.

MP3 rough sketch of “Baby Reindeer” (initial rough sketch from April ’11)

‘Pac-Man Pop Music’ Chapter Available as PDF

norbert — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 16:21:30 +0000

My chapter ‘The Composition-Instrument: emergence, improvisation and interaction in games and new media’ appeared in the book From Pac-Man to Pop Music: interactive audio in games and new media, edited by Karen Collins in 2007.

This chapter is now available by permission of the Publishers of ‘The Composition-Instrument: emergence, improvisation and interaction in games and new media’, in From Pac-Man to Pop Music: interactive audio in games and new media, ed. K Collins, (Aldershot etc.: Ashgate, 2007), pp. 103-123.Copyright © 2007.

Download the PDF

Citation:
Herber, N 2007, ‘The Composition-Instrument: emergence, improvisation and interaction in games and new media’, in From Pac-Man to Pop Music: interactive audio in games and new media, ed. K Collins, Ashgate, Hampshire; Burlington, VT.

Oxford Handbook of Interactive Audio

norbert — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 15:54:47 +0000

Call for Papers: The Oxford Handbook of Interactive Audio

Deadline for Proposals: 1 April 2011

The Oxford Handbook of Interactive Audio is under contract at Oxford University Press.

Through a collection of chapters on interactivity in music and sound, the book is meant to offer a new set of analytical tools for the growing field of interactive audio. A series of related questions drive the book: What makes interactive audio different from non-interactive audio? Where does interacting with audio fit into our understanding of sound and music in media? Where is interactive audio heading in the future? And how do we begin to approach interactive audio from a theoretical perspective?

It is our belief that interacting with sound is fundamentally different from just listening to sound. The physical agency and control of interactivity adds a level of engagement and involvement with sound that alters the way we experience sound in games, interfaces, products, toys, environments (virtual and real) and art. There are considerable consequences of interactivity when it comes not only to audience, but also to practice, distribution, tools, and copyright law.

We encourage proposals that raise questions and explore new theories about how scholars and practitioners can approach interactive sound. A handbook chapter should make new and original arguments in a new piece composed specifically for the handbook. It may be a survey what you believe to be the essential issues and questions in the field and offer a contemporary critical analysis of these.

Potential topic areas include (but are not limited to):

Composition theory and practice (including improvisation, music-based games, virtual worlds, mobile music)
Sound design theory and practice (including sounds, interface, branding, web, sound art, interactive spaces, virtual worlds, toys, pinball)
Voice interaction
Mixing, implementation of interactive audio
Playback and distribution systems
Interactive audio tools (composition, synthesis, note tracking, etc.)
Distribution, copyright and legal issues

Submission details: Chapter proposals of about 500 words and short bio (name, affiliation) in English to be submitted by April 1, 2011 to the editors at one of the email addresses below. Please address any questions or queries to the editors at one of the email addresses below.

Decisions will be made by June 1, 2011. Upon acceptance, full guidelines will be furnished. Completed chapters of about 6000 words are to be submitted by June 1, 2012.

Editors: Karen Collins (collinsk@uwaterloo.ca), Bill Kapralos (bill.kapralos@uoit.ca) and Holly Tessler (h.tessler@neu.edu)

Umba-Imba Player

norbert — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 05:14:57 +0000

The Umba-Imba Player (1.5 MB) requires Adobe Shockwave Player: get it here.
The Umba Imba player was a collaboration with Michael Caporale. Mike did all of the photography, Photoshop, design, and Umba playing; I did the audio recording, editing, and programming in Director/Lingo.
Instructions: In attempting to offer you a musical experience via the computer and the internet that could fully replicate playing the Umba-imba, we have to concede that it is not really possible.
The instrument is played intuitively and that requires direct audible-visual-tactile feedback. Additionally, stick technique such as multiple mallets, variation of types of mallets, and strength and location of the attack on a key all vary the sounds. So that you may experience it to the fullest in this limited way, we offer you three playing modes, each with distinct benefits: Screen Mode, Pattern Mode, and Keyboard mode. These are represented by the three buttons labeled S, P and K, respectively. In screen mode you can get a good feeling for the sound that each note makes by simply mouse- clicking on any given note. In pattern mode you can get a sense of how phrases or patterns are constructed from sections of the instrument. We have divided the instrument into quadrants. By mouse clicking in the left or right halves of the wooden or metal portions of the keyboard, you can trigger a phrase composed of notes from that section of the instrument. Once you understand the instrument, you are ready for keyboard mode. We have assigned the various notes of the UMBA to keys on your keyboard.