Vox Voxel

2014, 3D printer and realtime processing, Ambisonics
[►] ICMC2014, video with stereo audio

John Granzow, Fernando Lopez-Lezcano

Program Notes

From an IBM 720 line printer playing "Three Blind Mice" in 1954 to dot matrix printers playing love songs and Queen, mechanical noises coming from printers were slowly tamed, domesticated and controlled, and countless unproductive hours of programming time were spent in figuring out how to make those noises into musical notes, phrases and whole pieces for the enjoyment of the IT team. From deafening antique mainframe line printers to whisper quiet inkjets, all have been at the spotlight of a concert performance (or at least a basement computer room).

VoxVoxel is "composed" by designing a suitably useless 3D shape and capturing the sound of the working 3D printer using piezoelectric sensors. Those sounds are amplified, modified and multiplied through live processing in a computer using ardour and LV2/LADSPA plugins, and output in full matching 3D sound. 3D pixels in space.

The piece is dedicated to our endangered wooden 3d printer, slowly declining with the rise of folded metal frames in entry-level machines. The wood, (if fragile) is good for contact vibrations, to amplify rhythms of the tool-path and the frequencies of stepper motors. This rare 3d printer takes six minutes to warm up its extruder. For this, it has also fabricated an array of extensions for its equally endangered human performer.

• I. warmup
• II. extrusion
• III. layering

Performances

• Sound Symposium 2016, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, July 12th 2016
• 5th Electronic Music Week, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Shanghai, China, October 23 2015
• Noisebridge 2014, Noisebridge, San Francisco, June 13 2015
• Transitions 2014, CCRMA, Stanford, October 2, 2014
• ICMC / SMC 2014 Concert, Onassis Cultural Center Upper hall, Athens, Greece, September 16, 2014
• CCRMA Winter Concert, Bing Studio, Stanford, March 14th, 2014

Pictures

Vox Voxel at the Sound Symposium 2016:

Fernando Lopez-Lezcano

Composer, performer, lecturer and computer systems administrator at CCRMA, Stanford University

Quick Links

El Dinosaurio
Applesauce Modular Mark V
Planet CCRMA

Music & Performances

Of Dinosaurs and Other Creatures
The Well Modulated Dinosaur
The Love Songs of Flying Dinosaurs
El PianoSaurio
Dinosaur He[a]rd!
Wings
Resurrections
Pia[NOT] Etude
The Miraculous Multiplication of Strings
Y Sonó Como Arpa Vieja
Un Esqueleto en la Cocina
The Hidden and Mysterious Machinery of Sound
Modulate me, please?
Space, S[acred|ecular]
Vox Voxel
Toast and Jam
Divertimento de Cocina
Velvet Skin, Heart of Steel
Fugue 1 (Fanfare)
Jurassic Modulations
Earth Songs
Dinosaur Skin
A Very Fractal Cat, Somewhat T[h]rilled
65 Second Bycicle
The Dinosaur At War
Exit Variations
El Dinosaurio Habla
Kitchen <-> Miniature(s)
Instant Knoll
iICEsCcRrEeAaMm
House of Mirrors
With Room to Grow
Knock knock, anybody there?
Three Dreams
Espresso Machine II
Hot'n Cold
Quest