Ars Electronica Archive
Prix
Prix Map
Pictures
Videos
Publications
Special Projects
Women in Media Art
Prix
The Prix Ars Electronica Archive is a collection enabling search and viewing of all the submissions since 1987. The award-winning projects are documented with catalogue texts and audio-visual media. All other submissions can be searched by title/artist and displayed with year, category in list form. Please cite the credits (artwork name, artist and photographer) and only use the materials if your article is related to Ars Electronica.
Borderlands Granular
Chris Carlson
Original: borderlands_improvisation.wav | None | 27.7 MB
Original: Borderlands Granular | 5184 * 3456px | 6.2 MB
Original: Borderlands Granular | 5184 * 3456px | 6.4 MB
Original: Borderlands Granular | 5184 * 3456px | 6.7 MB
Original: Borderlands Granular | 5184 * 3456px | 7.7 MB
Original: Borderlands Granular | 400 * 690px | 492.8 KB
Original: Borderlands Granular | 1024 * 768px | 154.9 KB
Original: Borderlands Granular | 500 * 190px | 29.4 KB
_Borderlands Granular_ is a new musical instrument that allows users to explore, touch and transform sound with granular synthesis, a technique that involves the superposition of small fragments of sound, or grains, to create complex, evolving timbres and textures. The software enables flexible, real-time improvisation and is designed to allow users to directly engage with sonic material on a fundamental level. The user is envisioned as an organizer of sound, simultaneously assuming the roles of curator, performer, and listener. Gestural interaction and visual feedback are emphasized through knobs and sliders to encourage a sculptural approach to making music and reinforce the malleability of audio. Users create, drag and throw pulsing collections of grains over a landscape of resizable audio files, dynamically and polyphonically sampling the waveforms beneath their fingertips. The iPad's built-in accelerometer may also be employed to shape sound with gravity. Performances may be recorded and saved to the user’s computer or shared externally via SoundCloud.
Peter Kirn wrote a wonderful review of _Borderlands Granular_ in an April 2012 post on the music technology blog _Create Digital Music_:
"How do you visualize the invisible? How do expose a process with multiple parameters in a way that’s straightforward and musically intuitive? Can messing about with granular sound feel like touching that sound – something untouchable? Music’s ephemeral, unseeable quality, and the ways we approach sound in computer music in similarly abstract ways, are part of the pleasure of making noise. But working out how to then design around that can be equally satisfying. That’s why it’s wonderful to see work like _Borderlands_ for iPad and desktop. It solves a problem familiar to computer users – designing an interface for a granular playback instrument – but does so in a way that’s uncommonly clear." (Source: http://createdigitalmusic.com/2012/04/borderlands)
Links: https://vimeo.com/48931904 www.borderlands-granular.com
Peter Kirn wrote a wonderful review of _Borderlands Granular_ in an April 2012 post on the music technology blog _Create Digital Music_:
"How do you visualize the invisible? How do expose a process with multiple parameters in a way that’s straightforward and musically intuitive? Can messing about with granular sound feel like touching that sound – something untouchable? Music’s ephemeral, unseeable quality, and the ways we approach sound in computer music in similarly abstract ways, are part of the pleasure of making noise. But working out how to then design around that can be equally satisfying. That’s why it’s wonderful to see work like _Borderlands_ for iPad and desktop. It solves a problem familiar to computer users – designing an interface for a granular playback instrument – but does so in a way that’s uncommonly clear." (Source: http://createdigitalmusic.com/2012/04/borderlands)
Links: https://vimeo.com/48931904 www.borderlands-granular.com
Chris Carlson: concept, design, and implementation. (http://www.modulationindex.com)
Menu icons and splash screen produced by Ben Nicholson (http://www.bennicholsondesign.com)
This project would not exist without the support of Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) and a generous graduate fellowship from the Carmen Christensen Foundation. Many thanks to Ge Wang, Mike Rotondo, and Jorge Herrera for their mentorship during the early phases of development.
Menu icons and splash screen produced by Ben Nicholson (http://www.bennicholsondesign.com)
This project would not exist without the support of Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) and a generous graduate fellowship from the Carmen Christensen Foundation. Many thanks to Ge Wang, Mike Rotondo, and Jorge Herrera for their mentorship during the early phases of development.
Chris Carlson (US) is an interactive developer who designs and builds immersive software and expressive interfaces. His work draws upon a breadth of experience in the areas of interactive audio, mobile music and physical computing and aims to inspire others to explore and create. He has an MA from Stanford University’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics and a BSc in physics from James Madison University. _http://www.modulationindex.com_