earshot - Live improvisation with digital audio

June 27, 2003 12:34 PM

< earshot >
Live improvisation with digital audio. Play, loop and compose with multiple sound file formats, including: wav, aif, aiff, aifc, mov, au, mid, mp3, swa, mpg, mpeg, snd... Found while Googlifying for links to the currently tanked Johnny Spencer's 'vanity site' directed towards fans of Black popular music c1940's to 1970's. I have not a clue as to the what or why of it but thought the teeming geeky horde might. Provided for your consumer testing.
posted by y2karl (6 comments total)

I have not a clue as to the what or why of it

Unless the site comes back up, I don't think the rest of us will either. The Google Cache isn't much help, unless you have a browser that ignores images (I could bring it up in lynx...).

From the sound of it, it's an audio/algorithmic composition tool somewhere between M and MAX.

(Wow, didn't know Cycling74 had saved MAX from sinking into the earth with Opcode....)

While were mentioning the like, SuperCollider deserves some mention.
posted by weston at 2:43 PM on June 27, 2003 [1 favorite]

Well, I think you are close--by the way, the links page was interesting--they had Plunderphonics, among other things. Linkwise, my post to crash cycle is getting shorter, it seems.
posted by y2karl at 4:22 PM on June 27, 2003 [1 favorite]

IT"S BACK as in on line again
posted by y2karl at 9:17 PM on June 27, 2003

Please make a note of it.
posted by y2karl at 9:18 PM on June 27, 2003

But here's the table of contents, should it depart again

elements

• Live improvisation with digital audio. Play, loop and compose with multiple sound file formats, including:
wav, aif, aiff, aifc, mov, au, mid, mp3, swa, mpg, mpeg, snd

• Unique AUDIO FIELD interface for non-linear composition. Place sounds in the audio field and drag them around to control their volume and pitch. A selected sound file, represented as an AUDIO STICK, can be controlled in the composition with a variety of keyboard based commands.

• NOIZEPROBE function for locating and downloading sound files from the web. These can be added into the composition together with sound files on the user's machine.

• Create AUDIO FIELD GENERATOR (AFG) files using a text editor and simple AFG code for controlling the movement and behaviour of sticks in the audio field. This AFG file will then 'play' .
posted by y2karl at 9:20 PM on June 27, 2003

Hey y2k, kindof cozy in this thread, eh?

I tried to download and run it, but it isn't playing well under OS X... my machine tried to launch it under Classic (despite the fact that it's a Java application, apparently). I checked the docs for help, and they added insult (er injury) to injury by pointing out it wouldn't work with Quicktime 6. Which is what I have, of course, at least on my OS X boot.

I'll have to try it when I next boot into 9.
posted by weston at 11:53 PM on June 27, 2003