This document provides an overview of networked music performance and how to address the challenges posed by latency over the network. It discusses how the human ear can perceive sounds separated by 20ms or less as simultaneous. For smooth musical interaction, latency needs to be on the order of tens of milliseconds. It also explores different approaches composers and musicians have taken to deal with latency, such as composition techniques, structured improvisation, and graphic scores. Complementary feedback modalities like visual and haptic can help compensate for latency. The document concludes with basic principles for shared sonic environments and remote performance under latency conditions.
1. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
3.
LIÇÃO
DE
SÍNTESE
Álvaro
Barbosa
abarbosa@porto.ucp.pt
www.abarbosa.org
PROVAS
DE
AGREGAÇÃO
6
de
Janeiro
2015
Escola
das
Artes
Universidade
Católica
Portuguesa
www.porto.ucp.pt
Faculdade
de
Indústrias
Cria>vas
Universidade
de
São
José
www.usj.edu.mo
2. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
Álvaro
Barbosa
BASIC
PRINCIPLES
OF
NETWORKED
MUSIC
PERFORMANCE
Research
developed
at:
7. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
Living with LAG by ume.net (2014)
8. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
Latency and Networked Music
In a vocal conversation it is possible to maintain it even with one-way
delays of up to 500 ms. (Holub, J., Kastner, M., Tomiska, O. 2007)
But in order to maintain a synchronized and smooth musical interaction
this threshold reduces drastically to the order of tens of milliseconds.
Schuett, N. 2002
Chafe C., Gurevich M, 2004
Lago, N and Kon, F. 2004
Barbosa, A., Carôt, A. 2005
Chew, E., Sawchuk, A., Tanoue, C., and Zimmermann, R. 2005
Bartlette, C., Headlam, D., Bocko, M., Velikic, G. 2006
Renaud, A. Carôt, A. and Rebelo, P. 2007
Farner, S., Solvang, A., Sæbo, A., Svensson, U. P. 2009
Chafe, C., Cáceres, J-P., Gurevich, M., 2010
Barbosa, A., Cordeiro, J., 2012
9. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
Latency and Networked Music
For the Human ear to perceive the order of two simultaneous sounds,
they should not be displaced in time over 20ms (Hirsh, 1959)
A difficulty in discerning the order of sounds events
ê
hard to maintain a synchronous musical interaction.
10. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
• Jitter and delay asymmetry
introduce further disruption in
Network Communication.
• Furthermore, Latency is not a
technological condition that can
be overcome in the near future.
Consider mobile or satellite
technology or a communication
setup that spans worldwide.
Moscow – Santiago (fiber-optic link):
Bidirectional Latency= 94,3 ms
Unidirectional Latency= 47,15 ms
11. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
Tackle this problem with Composition
Telemann:
Canonic
Sonata
No.
1*
by
Composer
Nathan
Brook
(2012)
12. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
2012
–
Japan
to
San
Diego
13. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
….or structured Improvisation
Synchronizing Berlin and Hong Kong (1/April/2011 – 8.753 Km)
Hong Kong New Music Ensemble & Ensemble Adapter
http://hknme.org/hongkongartsblog/?p=1525
14. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
Performing Music at a Distance
15. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
… or with a Graphic Score
Netgraph
is
a
real-‐>me
graphic
score
for
improvisors
designed
for
network
performance
by
Pedro
Rebelo
Performance
in
2010
at
Sonori1es
Fes1val
of
Contemporary
Music
16. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
Multiple Location – Same Performance
ARTECH 2008: Rambouillet (FR) / Casa da Música (PT) / SARC (IR)
http://artes.ucp.pt/artech2008/
17. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
Multiple Location – 5 Venues
Penta Locus Telematic Concert (UC San Diego 2012)
Montreal, NYC, S. Diego, Belfast, & Hamburg
18. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
Multiple Location – 5 Venues
University of California – San Diego 2012
19. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
Experiment with 3 Locations
Pedro Rebelo (2007)
20. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
Latency and Networked Music
The ability to perform music synchronously is strongly dependent on:
• The music expressive qualities (Dynamics and Articulation)
• The music style (rhythm, melody, harmony)
• The music perceptual qualities (pitch, texture, timbre)
• The music structure/form
• The musician’s experience and practicing strategies
• Complementary feed-back modalities (visual, tactile)
• The listening conditions
• Interaction VS Location Modalities
21. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
Over
the
Network
Visual
Feedback
comes
aCer
Acous1c
Feed-‐back
…
No
Visual
Cues
for
Improvisa2on
22. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
Barbosa,
A.
2003.
“Displaced
Soundscapes:
A
Survey
of
Network
Systems
for
Music
and
Sonic
Art
CreaYon”
Leonardo
Music
Journal
13,
pp.
53-‐59
-‐
MIT
Press,
Cambridge;
doi:10.1162/096112104322750791).
PostDoc
PhD
23. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
Latency and Networked Music
Basic Principles for Shared Sonic Environments
(1) Digital Control Interface (software or tangible)
(2) Local Synthesis & Transmission of Control Data
(3) Peer-To-Peer Communication
(4) Behavior Driven Interaction (Loose Coupling)
(5) Latency Adaptive Dynamics
24. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
Latency and Networked Music
Examples Shared Sonic Environments
THE
HORGIE:
COLLABORATIVE
ONLINE
SYNTHESIZER
by
Jorge
Herrera
PUBLIC
SOUND
OBJECTS
by
Álvaro
Barbosa
25. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
Latency and Networked Music
Basic Principles for Remote Performance
(1) Ensemble Performance Threshold (EPT)
(2) Echo Feed-Back (Self Delay)
(3) Inverse Proportion to Tempo
(4) Reverb and Complementary Modalities
(5) Slow Attack Times
26. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
(1) Ensemble Performance Threshold (EPT)
(CCRMA 2004, USC 2005)
DELAY (ms) 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 75 100 150
Difficult to
Compensate
Comfort Zone for
Untrained Users
EPT Interval for
Untrained Users
Comfort Zone for Expert Musicians EPT Interval for Expert Musicians
Extremely
Difficult to
Compensate
Almost
Impossible to
Compensate
Unnaturally
Low Latency
27. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
(2) Echo Feed-Back (USC 2005)
Chew,
E.,
Sawchuk,
A.,
Tanoue,
C.,
and
Zimmermann,
R.
2005
29. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
(3) Inverse Proportion to Tempo (UCP-Porto 2005)
30. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
(3) Inverse Proportion to Tempo (CCRMA/Banff 2006)
St. Lawrence
String Quartet
(over 50ms Delay)
31. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
(4) Reverb and Complementary Modalities
Studies on the effect of Reverberation
(Farner 2009)
The Influence of Delay and Various Acoustic Environments
Studies on the effect of Visual Feed-Back
Pilot experiments at CCRMA since 2006
Studies on the effect of Haptic Feedback ???
32. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
(5) Slow Attack Times
Bregman (1990)
Auditory Scene Analysis
This
experiment
clearly
reveals
that
it
is
harder
to
perceive
the
order
of
overlapping
sound
events
when
their
rise
>me
(amack)
is
slower.
In
other
words,
overlapping
sounds
with
slower
rise
>mes
are
bemer
perceived
as
synchronous
even
when
their
onsets
are
not
physically
simultaneous.
33. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
(5)
Slow
Aack
Times
Perceptual
Aack
Time
(PAT)
The
fact
that
two
sounds
are
physically
synchronous
does
not
necessarily
make
them
sound
perceptually
synchronous.
Perceptual
Amack
Time
(PAT)
is
a
subjec>ve
measure
of
the
>me
that
is
perceived
by
the
listener
as
the
moment
of
rhythmic
placement
for
a
musical
sound
event.
According
to
Ma
Wright
“for
highly
percussive
sounds,
the
PAT
might
be
the
same
as,
or
just
a
few
milliseconds
aCer,
the
onset
1me,
but
for
sounds
with
a
slow
aPack,
for
example,
bowed
violin,
the
PAT
might
be
dozens
of
milliseconds
aCer
the
onset”.
34. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
Pilot
Experiment
at
CCRMA:
Do
slow
aPack
1mes
lead
to
a
bePer
ability
to
perform
synchronous
musical
interac1on
?
Experimental
Setup
(5) Slow Attack Times
35. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
Rhythmic
Performance
80
BPM
(to
avoid
possible
overlaying
of
subsequent
notes)
Slow
Tempo
=>
Higher
EPT
Range
from
25
ms
to
110
ms
(with
steps
of
10
ms)
28
trials
for
Slow
and
Fast
amack
strokes
36. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
Results
How
each
musician
performs
in
rela1on
to
the
other?
analysis
was
performed
using
the
sorware
tool
MATCH:
Music
Alignment
Tool
Chest,
developed
by
Simon
Dixon
(this
sorware
analyses
the
alignment
of
audio
files
using
the
OLTW
algorithm)
37. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
Latency and Networked Music
Basic Principles for Remote Performance
(1) Ensemble Performance Threshold (EPT)
(2) Echo Feed-Back (Self Delay)
(3) Inverse Proportion to Tempo
(4) Reverb and Complementary Modalities
(5) Slow Attack Times
38. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
• (6)
ANTIPHONY
• Technique
of
alternate
or
responsive
singing
by
a
choir
in
two
separate
sec1ons.
Each
sec>on
sings
alternate
musical
phrases
• Or
POLYCHORAL
ANTIPHONY
(AKA
Vene>an
polychoral
style)
• When
two
or
more
groups
of
singers
sing
in
alterna>on.
• Origin
in
the
late
Renaissance
and
early
Baroque
• Can
this
Technique
improve
•
network
latency
tolerance?
39. Álvaro
Barbosa
Networked
Music
Performance
Slide
#
39
/
Author:
Álvaro
Barbosa
(www.abarbosa.org)
Thank
You!!!!
abarbosa@usj.edu.mo
www.abarbosa.org
University
of
Saint
Joseph|
Faculty
of
CreaYve
Industries
hmp://www.usj.edu.mo