Development and proving of a software environment for the algorithmic composition with concrete/electroacoustic sounds

A framework for the algorithmic composition with electroacoustic material (in the following called "framework") will be developed. An electroacoustic reference work based on this framework will be composed.

While the means of computer-based sound synthesis and transformation are well-elaborated, the tools used in different forms of electro-acoustic composition (i.e. organization of sound/noise) mostly follow traditional paradigms known from instrumental music, particularly the concept of a score which is composed once and is identically performed at a later time.

Two main problems exists:

• Concepts taken from algorithmic composition software are often inappropriate for the work with concrete sounds. They impose questionable models of sound organization on the composer that stem from the instrumental division between structure and sound (e.g. event-based scores). Instead it is believed that "feedback" is the core element of the electroacoustic composition: in a circular process, structural thought is transformed into sound, and sound is analyzed and used inversely to generate or modify the structuring elements.
• Time is the essential parameter when allowing indeterminate elements in a composition. Every possible variation of a parameter of a piece can be seen as a different path that the piece takes in time. To construct these variations, it is essential to be able to navigate back and forth in time, to be able to quickly compare different paths in time, rule out some, favour others, etc. With the insufficiencies of existing realtime synthesis systems, the composer often takes the route of using realtime synthesis environments as material generators and bringing that material to a traditional linear-time fixed environment which allows him/her to have a better overview and control of organization in (macro-)time.

It must be also noted that even if the composer wishes not to use indeterminate elements in his/her pieces, the possibility to leave decisions open during the exploratory phase of a composition, the possiblities of chance – the surprising and inspiring quality of unforseen coincidences – cannot be overestimated.