Ars Electronica Garden Berkeley

Machine Creativity at CNMAT

The Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT), University of California, Berkeley (US)

CNMAT is dedicated to multidisciplinary research and the creative use of sound, linking the concert hall to the laboratory. Our center creates new works of music/art as well as researches, builds and distributes software tools at the intersection of AI and music.

Alice UnchainedFlower MatrixThe QuBits VR Space

Machine Creativity at CNMAT

Hybrid-Performance, Machine Listening, Computer-Assisted Music Orchestration, and Audio-Driven VR Environments

The projects presented in this garden focus on machine listening for hybrid-performance (analysis, extraction and application of parametric data from live sound), music information retrieval for creation (analysis, extraction, and application of data from audio files), as well as concepts related to composable algorithms that empower machines with varying degrees of autonomy for creative decision making.

Alice Unchained, Pioneer Works
Alice Unchained, Pioneer Works
Credit: Edwina Hay
Flower Matrix
Flower Matrix
Credit: CNMAT, Berkeley (US)
FlowerMatrix_02
FlowerMatrix_02
Credit: CNMAT, Berkeley (US)
Alice Uchanined
Alice Uchanined
Credit: CNMAT, Berkeley (US)

Timetable

Program

CNMAT ODOT
John MacCallum(USA), Jeff Lubow (USA) 

In this workshop, we will provide a brief, practical introduction to odot, a dynamic, multi-paradigm programming environment that operates on Open Sound Control. Developed at CNMAT beginning in 2007, odot has evolved into a powerful and robust suite of tools useful in a variety of contexts, from gesture signal processing to computer-aided composition. During this workshop, we will discuss the current state of the package and the future of the project.

The QuBits VR Space
Jon Kulpa

Jon Kulpa is available to host a live online demonstration/performance of QuBits VR. The QuBits project is a virtual reality (VR) environment built by the composer that offers an expanded medium for musical experience with integrated space and visuals.  The environment was designed to explore a musical aesthetic valuing sound mass, spatial sound, evolving sound, and algorithmically generated sonic structures.  The user of the VR system plays a key role in shaping these musical elements.  The user first discovers what behaviors are possible through exploration and chance encounters.  They can then shape each discovered behavior with nuance if they choose.  The system provides a unique experience each time it is run.  The sounds are a mix of real world sampled sound, granular synthesis, and real-time generated synthetic sound.

Performance of CORAIL
Edmund Campion

There is no pre-defined score for CORAIL (CORAL). CORAIL is a software environment that performs audio analysis of an incoming live signal that generates and organizes sound through the computer and the CORAIL algorithms. Persistence inside any one environment causes the program to move toward greater sound generation and machine autonomy.

ORCHIDEA with Composer and Lead Researcher at CNMAT
Carmine Cella

Carmine Cella is available to host a live online demonstration/workshop for ORCHIDEA, a framework for static and dynamic computer-assisted music orchestration. Orchestration consists largely of choosing combinations of sounds, instruments, and timbres that support the narrative of a piece of music. The ORCHIDEA project assists composers during the orchestration process by automatically searching for the best combinations of orchestral sounds to match a target sound, after embedding it in a high-dimensional feature space.

ALICE, ALICES UNCHAINED, and THE FLOWER MATRIX
Edmund Campion and Claudia Hart

ALICE, ALICES UNCHAINED, and THE FLOWER MATRIX is a long-term collaborative project between media artist Claudia Hart and composer Edmund Campion (CNMAT). Since 2013, they have collaborated on the ALICES project, a series of artworks, loosely connected to Alice in Wonderland, and appearing through the years as a series of pieces that migrate from performance-based multi-media theatre, video, gallery installations, to virtual reality environments. This film documents the history of the on-going project with excerpts from several of the works along with interviews with the artists and collaborators.

Live Performances in occasion of the AIxMusic Opening ceremony
Edmund Campion, CORAIL with Steve Adams of the Rova Saxophone Quartet, and Andrew Blanton, WAVEGUIDE, Claudia Hart, Edmund Campion

Edmund Campion, CORAIL with Steve Adams of the Rova Saxophone Quartet, and Andrew Blanton, WAVEGUIDE, Claudia Hart, Edmund Campion WAVEGUIDE – 2017 - percussion, distributed audio and electronics: Music composition and performance by Andrew Blanton  Text by Yvette Granata  Composition and software by Andrew Blanton  Special thanks to Neal Riley for technical support.  CORAIL - version 2020 - improvising saxophonist and interactive computer system: Composition and computer environment design by Edmund Campion, Director, CNMAT  Tenor Saxophone by Steve Adams  Software contributions by Manuel Poletti, Matthew Wright, Edmund Campion (and a host of others)  This concert is being streamed live from the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT) and made possible by CNMAT Researcher and Technical Director, Jeremy Wagner

Project Credits / Acknowledgements

Edmund Campion, Composer and Director, CNMAT
Carmine Cella, Lead Researcher, CNMAT
Jeffrey Lubow, Music Systems Designer, CNMAT
Jeremy Wagner, Researcher, CNMAT
Claudia Hart, Media Artist and CNMAT collaborator
John MacCallum, composer and CNMAT alumnus
Andrew Blanton, Media Artist, Percussionist, Ph.D. candidate
Jon Kulpa, Composer, Sound and Media Artist, Ph.D. UC Berkeley 2020

The AIxMusic Festival, a S+T+ARTS flagship event, is organised by Ars Electronica and the European Commission.

AIxMusic
European Commission
Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT)