"Talking Drum" is an interactive computer network piece based on cyclical rhythms. It expands on the idea of the drum-machine to enable much of what commercial instruments lack: performer interactivity, poly-rhythmic complexity, temporal flexibility, and timbral variety. It extends these capabilities spatially to multiple-speaker installations, creating synchronized interlocking rhythms that exploit distance and resonance effects of the performance space, playing the environment like the membrane of a drum.
"Talking Drum" runs on a local computer network of up to eight players installed outdoors or in a very large room.
The network ensemble is interactive with acoustic musicians, up to one player for every speaker/channel used in the performance. Each instrumentalist plays with rhythms generated by the computer, and the program responds to the player's feel (the emphasis placed on specific beats and patterns through subtleties of timing, loud-ness, density, and pitch) by continuously changing its music. "Talking Drum" can take many different forms: it is an ongoing project that supports different collaborations at each performance.

Chris Brown (USA), born 1953, San Francisco based composer, pianist, and electronic instrument builder, studied composition with William Brooks, electronic music with Gordon Mumma, and computer music with David Rosenboom. He is currently Co-Director for the Center for Contemporary Music (CCM) at Mills College in Oakland, where he also teaches Composition and Electronic Music.