Organised Sound has until now been principally concerned with the audioarts. However, we live in a rapidly changing world; in particular, given therelentless evolution of competent technology in the form of multimedia PCs,new rendering technologies and standardised distributive media such as theweb and MPEG, it seems timely to explore the relationship between the audioand visual spheres in the digital arts.

Once upon a time there was a computer music system called GROOVE (GeneratingRealtime Operations On Voltage-controlled Equipment, Bell TelephoneLaboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey) which outputted in the realm ofsound, and was a wonderful and still-unique tool for the compositionthereof. At that time a then-young composer who was using GROOVE for musicgot the harebrained idea that if she made a few minor changes here and thereshe could use it to compose images as well. This she did in 1974-6, andthough the untimely demise of the system prevented creation of muchdocumentation in the form of aesthetic works of its output, the system didfunction sufficiently to make some description worthwhile. While it is truethat the mid-1960s DDP-224 computer on which GROOVE became a VAMPIRE (VideoAnd Music Program for Interactive Realtime Exploration/Experimentation) wasa massive room-sized computer, it has by now long been eclipsed in power bythe constantly improving home computer. It is worth describing the conceptsinvolved in part because there are by now many small computers capable ofemulating its musical methods. Besides, I had a deep personal relationshipwith that computer, and wish to commemorate it. Here then follows the taleof Graphical GROOVE, aka the VAMPIRE.

Electroacoustic music, since its inception, has been situated in a cross-disciplinaryno-man's-land, with areas of interest spread in many directions; fromideas of musical structures ordered through traditional pitch-classes to researchon physical modelling and analysis of sound and compositional structures through theuse of neural networks. Much of the material found in computer music has been developedthrough processes of appropriation, both from sound recordings of physical eventsand from the application of various principles found in the natural sciences.

The challenge of composing both sound and moving image within a coherentcomputer-mediated framework is addressed, and some of the aesthetic issueshighlighted. A conceptual model for an audiovisual delivery system isproposed, and this model acts as a guide for detailed discussion of someillustrative examples of audiovisual composition. Options for types of scoregenerated as graphical output of the system are outlined. The need forextensive algorithmic control of compositional decisions within aninteractive framework is proposed. The combination of Tabula Vigilans AudioInteractive (TVAI), an algorithmic composition language for electroacousticmusic and realtime image generation, with MIDAS, a multiprocessoraudiovisual system platform, is shown to have the features desired for theconceptual outline given earlier, and examples aregiven of work achieved using these resources. It is shown that ultimatelydelivery of new work may be efficiently distributed via the World Wide Web,with composers' interactive scripts delivered remotely but renderedlocally by means of a user's ‘rendering black box’.

The ‘art’ we produce today attempts to incorporate an increasinglevel of computer technology. There are many reasons for this trend, themost significant being a thirst for an exploration of the ‘new’, and thedesire to parallel the increasing level of technology seeping into everydaylife. However, when surveying recent developments we find an arrayof technology-related arts projects that instead of reaching forward intothe previously unknown, often reproduce the past simply in a digital form,designed to appeal to our immediate senses but lacking in depth andsubstance. Likewise, it can be observed that in many cultures (ancient andmodern), mimesis grows out of what seems to be a human reaction totechnological change. Qualities familiar from past usage tend to bereproduced in new materials and with new techniques, regardless ofappropriateness. This may have religious origins, or simply result frominertia, reworking concepts within the current paradigm. Parallels can bedrawn from evolution, which can be observed to progress in a series of largeadvancements alternating with periods of extremely slow or zero development(Eldredge and Gould 1972), and from the progress of science, which seems tobe similarly stepped (Kuhn 1962).

This paper describes Mimetric Dynamics – an audiovisual interactive installation exploringone of the many possible relationships between nature and technology. Inthis work, real and simulated fluid dynamics are presented simultaneously,allowing both artist and viewer to explore the relationship between‘digital’ and ‘analogue’ media in both sound and visual dimensions. It gains insight from physical laws and time flows derivedfrom the natural world, where digital technology is used to producemathematical models simulating real physical attributes. In doing so we areable to harness qualities of the ‘natural’ and use theircharacteristics to control aspects of the ‘artificial’ (virtual).

Visual rendering is the process of creating synthetic images of digital models. Themodelling of sound synthesis and propagation in a virtual space is called sound rendering. Inthis article we review different audiovisual rendering techniques suitable for realtimerendering of three-dimensional virtual worlds. Virtual environments are usefulin various application areas, for example in architectural visualisation. With audiovisualrendering, lighting and acoustics of a modelled concert hall can be experiencedearly in the design stage of the building. In this article we demonstrate aninteractive audiovisual rendering system where an animated virtual orchestra plays ina modelled concert hall. Virtual musicians are conducted by a real conductorwho wears a wired data dress suit and a baton. The conductor and the audiencehear the music rendered according to the acoustics of the virtual concert hall,creating a lifelike experience.

Requiem per una veu perduda (Requiem for a lost voice in Catalan) is a piecefor mezzo-soprano with on-stage effects processing and recordedelectroacoustic material. The electroacoustic material consists mainly ofsynthesised vocal sounds and the pitches for the mezzo-soprano part weredefined based upon the functioning of the speech synthesis methodsused. This paper outlines the basics of one of the speech synthesis methodsused to compose the piece and introduces the scheme for the definition ofthe pitch material for the singing. The relationship between the speechsynthesis methods and the pitch material establishes the structuralfoundations of the piece.

Complete Listings for Volume 3