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Orchestra Machines, Old and New

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2018

Jonathan De Souza
Jonathan De Souza*
Affiliation:
Don Wright Faculty of Music, Talbot College, Western University, 1151 Richmond St, London, ON N6A 3K7, Canada
*
*Email: jdesou22@uwo.ca
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Abstract

What is ‘orchestral’ about a networked laptop orchestra? And what is network-like about a classical orchestra? This article juxtaposes orchestras, nineteenth-century music machines and twenty-first-century network music projects. Drawing on organology and cybernetics, it asks how these systems connect people and instruments. It considers interaction and coordination in particular networks, from the panharmonicon to PLork, but also their abstract informational topologies. Ultimately, orchestra machines, old and new, involve both technical and social organisation – and, as such, they can be used to problematise the ontological separation of technology and society.

Type
Articles
Information
Organised Sound , Volume 23 , Special Issue 2: New Wor(l)ds for Old Sounds , August 2018 , pp. 156 - 166
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2018 

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