Stephen D Beck

Louisiana State University, Center for Computation & Technology, Faculty Member

Followers

Following

Public Views

Phone: 225-578-2594
Address: Louisiana State University
Center for Computation & Technology
216 Johnston Hall
Baton Rouge, LA 70803

less

InterestsView All (13)

Uploads

Papers by Stephen D Beck

DARRT: Distributed Audio Rendering & Retrieval using Triana - Experiments in applying Grid Computing technologies for audio processing

International Computer Music Conference, 2006

Triana is a Java-based software framework that facilitates computational workflows over networks ... more Triana is a Java-based software framework that facilitates computational workflows over networks of Grid enabled computers. The framework enables researchers to automatically find available computational resources, transfer necessary code and data to those resources, process that data, and pass that data to other computational processes on other computers. The advantage of using Grid-enabled computers for audio processing is the unlimited availability of computing resources both in terms of CPU power, and DSP-imposed computational limits. The DARRT project, "Distributed Audio Rendering & Retrieval using Triana," explores the potential uses of Gridcomputing technologies towards sound computation and music synthesis. Our team of researchers is using Triana to control a cluster of 32 Apple Xserve computers in order to demonstrate the potential of distributed audio rendering over a gigabit network. We are developing software objects that will function much like unit generators, software instruments or effects processors that can run simultaneously or in parallel on different machines across a common network. Ultimately, we envision a Web-services or peer-to-peer virtual sound design engine or synthesizer to which anyone on the Web can subscribe, utilize and provide component parts.

Download

Force-Feedback Instruments for the Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana

Springer series on touch and haptic systems, 2018

Digital musical instruments yielding force feedback were designed and employed in a case study wi... more Digital musical instruments yielding force feedback were designed and employed in a case study with the Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana. The advantages of force feedback are illuminated through the creation of a series of musical compositions. Based on these and a small number of other prior music compositions, the following compositional approaches are recommended: providing performers with precise, physically intuitive, and reconfigurable controls, using traditional controls alongside force-feedback controls as appropriate, and designing timbres that sound uncannily familiar but are nonetheless novel. Video-recorded performances illustrate these approaches, which are discussed by the composers.

Download

Strange attractors v1.0b

The immersive computer-controlled audio sound theater

The Immersive Computer-controlled Audio Sound Theater (ICAST, pronounced "eye-cast") is an ongoin... more The Immersive Computer-controlled Audio Sound Theater (ICAST, pronounced "eye-cast") is an ongoing research project that addresses performance issues in electroacoustic music. By exploring a variety of differing performance modes through a computer-controlled loudspeaker environment that is malleable, adaptable and intuitive, we are able to explore new and novel metaphors for sound control using both conventional and unconventional interfaces. ICAST is a hardware and software solution, based on a client-server computer control system, commodity audio interface hardware, and high-quality audio amplifiers and loudspeakers. Our system has been deployed for concerts and conferences throughout the past year. Through this initial deployment phase, we have identified critical issues with respect to our client/server systems design, our client software control, and our audio server. This paper identifies both the successes and the struggles we have had, and outlines the solutions we have taken to address these issues. What we have learned from this research has applications that go well beyond concert hall performances, and include virtual reality environments, cinema, and video games.

Download

Grendl

Lichtbogen, Io, Verblendungen, Stilleben

Computer Music Journal, 1992

The Composer in the Computer Age -- II (CDCM Computer Music Series, Vol. 16)

Computer Music Journal, 1995

More Masses For The Masses

Physics-based modeling using floating-point computations can enable nuanced control of sound for ... more Physics-based modeling using floating-point computations can enable nuanced control of sound for applications in music. Historically, either powerful computers or custom hardware have been required to obtain high-fidelity sound, particularly as a large number of virtual masses or "virtual resonators" are for example needed to obtain complex timbres. However, over the past few years, low-cost (e.g. USD $35) embedded computers have become increasingly powerful and able to simulate a more impressive number of virtual masses or virtual resonators in real time. Benchmarks are conducted to compare how many virtual masses, virtual strings, or virtual resonators can be simulated in real time on the Raspberry Pi 1 and 2 embedded computers. It was observed that the Raspberry Pi 2 could provide for real-time audio bandwidths as large as 14 kHz (virtual masses) or 11 kHz (virtual resonators) for harmonic tones with f0 as low as 80 Hz, using only a single computational core. This will enable the creation of a whole new class of instruments called embedded acoustic instruments, which can be programmed using physics-based modeling techniques.

Electroacoustics laboratory assignments for computer music students

Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Apr 1, 2016

A series of pedagogical exercises are described that integrate concepts from traditional musical ... more A series of pedagogical exercises are described that integrate concepts from traditional musical acoustics laboratory assignments with the fundamentals of computer music. Students are asked to rapidly prototype hybrid devices that contain both musical acoustic components as well as sensors, embedded audio signal processing, and loudspeaker drivers. To help students rapidly complete working prototypes, students are provided with working audio effects and sound synthesizer programs. Students learn the programming language (Pure Data) only by example for making small changes to the previously designed programs, as they are integrated with custom-made, physical acoustics components (e.g., D-I-Y vibrating strings, drums, columns of air, rattles, etc.). Music students first learned that building quality acoustic instrument components is harder than they originally thought. Although out-of-the-box thinking is regarded as an important factor in devising novel electroacoustic prototypes, students starting from previously existing designs and making small changes tended to be more successful (at least initially) than students striking out on completely new paths. Several pictures of completed instruments will be shown, and one or two example prototypes of electroacoustic instruments and electroacoustic audio effects will be presented live. The example “starter“ programs in Pure Data will be made available for community members wishing to run them on the Raspberry Pi 2, as supported by the author's Satellite CCRMA platform.

Toward rapid and iterative development of tangible, collaborative, distributed user interfaces

ABSTRACT Distributed, tangible, collaborative applications involve potentially complex interactio... more ABSTRACT Distributed, tangible, collaborative applications involve potentially complex interactions of users, computing platforms, and physical artifacts. Realizing the necessary connections for these interactions can create hardware and software dependencies early in development, resulting in a system that is difficult to adapt to design changes. The Ensemble architecture is designed to encourage exploratory development of these systems by limiting the impact of changing components. Ensemble is a product of the exploratory design process it supports, evolving through use in two distinct application domains. The experience gained from these implementations has shaped Ensemble&#39;s structure and design priorities, resulting in a component-based architecture that includes: (i) an application framework and graphical user interface support; (ii) a service framework, including service publication and discovery; (iii) local and remote event handling; (iv) distributed user and resource coordination; and (v) a structured configuration language shared by all Ensemble components.

Strange Attractors: A Virtual Instrument Algorithm for Acoustic Instruments

International Computer Music Conference, 1991

2018-10-01 Cinema for the Ears

The Lab for Creative Arts & Technologies 2008 Studio Report

International Computer Music Conference, Oct 1, 2009

The Laboratory for Creative Arts & Technologies (LCAT) is an interdisciplinary research center th... more The Laboratory for Creative Arts & Technologies (LCAT) is an interdisciplinary research center that explores the intersections of creativity, technology and human expression. A part of LSU's Center for Computation & Technology (CCT), the lab has become the university's focal point for research and creative activity in digital media, computer music, scientific visualization and human-computer interface. This paper will discuss recent activities, both research and creative, at the lab.

Download

Reconsidering Laptop Orchestras as a Computational Grid for Music Performance

ICMC, 2011

The Virtuoso in the Computer Age -- III (CDCM Computer Music Series Volume 13)

Computer Music Journal, 1994

The virtual instrument paradigm: An alternative approach to interactive computer music

Computers & mathematics with applications, Jul 1, 1996

Research in Interactive Computer Music (ICM) is based upon the paradigm that the electronic mediu... more Research in Interactive Computer Music (ICM) is based upon the paradigm that the electronic medium serves as an accompaniment to the human performer. In this paper, we present a software package that reacts on an event-by-event basis rather than a temporal basis. We discuss this software in the context of the Virtual Instrument Paradigm.

Download

Very Slack Strings: A Physical Model And Its Use In The Composition Quartet For Strings

Virtual ``slack'' strings are designed for and employed by the Laptop Orchestra of Louisi... more Virtual ``slack'' strings are designed for and employed by the Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana. These virtual strings are ``slack'' in the sense that they can be very easily displaced, bent, tugged upon, etc. This enables force-feedback control of widely ranging pitch glides, by as much as an octave or more, simply by bending the virtual string. To realize a slack string design, a virtual spring with a specific nonlinear characteristic curve is designed. Violin, viola, and cello-scale models are tuned and employed by the Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana in \emph{Quartet for Strings}.

Download

Tangible Performance Management of Grid-based Laptop Orchestras

Laptop Orchestras (LOs) have recently become a very popular mode of musical expression. They enga... more Laptop Orchestras (LOs) have recently become a very popular mode of musical expression. They engage groups of performers to use ordinary laptop computers as instruments and sound sources in the performance of specially created music software. Perhaps the biggest challenge for LOs is the distribution, management and control of software across heterogeneous collections of networked computers. Software must be stored and distributed from a central repository, but launched on individual laptops immediately before performance. The GRENDL project leverages proven grid computing frameworks and approaches the Laptop Orchestra as a distributed computing platform for interactive computer music. This allows us to readily distribute software to each laptop in the orchestra depending on the laptop’s internal conguration, its role in the composition, and the player assigned to that computer. Using the SAGA framework, GRENDL is able to distribute software and manage system and application environm...

Download

Icast: Trials & Tribulations of Deploying Large Scale Computer-Controlled speaker Arrays

The Immersive Computer-controlled Audio Sound Theater (ICAST, pronounced “eye-cast”) is an on-goi... more The Immersive Computer-controlled Audio Sound Theater (ICAST, pronounced “eye-cast”) is an on-going research project that addresses performance issues in electroacoustic music. By exploring a variety of differing performance modes through a computer-controlled loudspeaker environment that is malleable, adaptable and intuitive, we are able to explore new and novel metaphors for sound control using both conventional and unconventional interfaces. ICAST is a hardware and software solution, based on a client-server computer control system, commodity audio interface hardware, and high-quality audio amplifiers and loudspeakers. Our system has been deployed for concerts and conferences throughout the past year. Through this initial deployment phase, we have identified critical issues with respect to our client/server systems design, our client software control, and our audio server. This paper identifies both the successes and the struggles we have had, and outlines the solutions we have t...

Download

Force-Feedback Instruments for the Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana

Musical Haptics, 2018

Download

Stephen D Beck

Uploads

Papers by Stephen D Beck

Log In