CCRMA
Apr, 2021
Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA)
Stanford University

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There's magic on the horizon!

We're creatures who in our physical realms listen and function with inherent delays. We are adapted to live in lag, so to speak. Our senses of place and presence make profound use of time delays as sounds bounce around. Sounds allow us to synchronize with each other. The instruments we make for music derive their pitch from recirculating waves. We know dolphins and bats are exquisitely capable of using echoes for orientation and we are the same. I like to think Internet acoustics is the new realm into which we're expanding. Pre-COVID, that was more on the level of a thought experiment and now we're accelerating towards it.

There's magic on the horizon! (cont'd)

Packet loss concealment research to cover gaps from transmission dropouts is proving that we already have technologies which can do decent "ahead of real-time" prediction. "Pretention" (in phenomenlogy-speak) could be almost science fiction-like. But it's actually not, our brains do it, and it's a part of what philosophers and psychologists would call time consciousness. Add in that simultaneity across larger network distances can be achieved through prediction -- a possibilty which is already under investigation -- and here we go... Musicians enclosed in soundscapes that can be transmitted. Sound objects that are made of network delays.

session 1 -- intro -- 6-Apr-2020

This course inaugurates the Internet Ensemble Tech Force which is needed urgently worldwide and locally to support music ensembles going online. Calling it urgent is not an exaggeration and we can provide a valuable service. Course participants will quickly come up to speed on low-latency audio collaboration technology and will then pair with ensembles interested in using it.

153b participants will work from home and be able to use CCRMA facilities remotely. The course can be audited or coordinated with another course. Let's help make group playing possible during this public health challenge and period of 'musical distancing.' Ensemble rehearsals, coaching and concert broadcasting are planned in conjunction with several local ensembles.