Output details

Livecell is a system for the interactive real-time composition and performance of music for live string quartet. NEM ART prize winner (Spain).

Users interact with a touch screen to create and destroy cells in a continuously evolving artificial life simulation based on cellular automata. The state of these cells is continuously translated into a musical score, which is then transmitted over the network to the musicians' laptops to be performed by the string quartet live as it appears on their screens. Different areas of the interface correspond to the different instruments in the string quartet, and cells are able to grow and move between these areas allowing the composition and the instrumentation to evolve both under the direction of the user and with the natural evolution of the cells. Users are able to determine and change the rules used in the cell evolution calculations, as well as affect the form, rhythm and harmonic colour of the musical material produced. Through the system a single user can take on the roles of both composer, conductor and improviser to determine the textures, harmonies, tempo and other musical parameters of the emerging composition, mediated by the technology and performed live by the string quartet. The musical output is complex and the result of a careful balance between the influence of the user and the calculations of the algorithm, resulting in a very engaging experience for the user, performers and listeners alike. Paper presentation/performance at ICMC 2011, Huddersfield Paper presentation at Music & Technologies Conference, Lithuania, 2011 Paper/Demo at Korean Electroacoustic Music Society Conference, Korea, 2012 Demo at BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking Festival 2011, Newcastle Demo at EVALondon 2012 Conference Performances at: Interface 2012, Birmingham, IFIMPaC 2012, Leeds New Resonances Festival, London, 2012