Interactive audiovisual objects

and neutral”. One of the users who enjoyed equally both mentioned that while AVOL offers more harmony due to its pre-selected set, AV Clash offers more variety. An additional respondent who also manifested equal preference mentioned that AVOL was better for rhythm due to loop synchronization, while for other type of sounds AV Clash was preferable, because of its larger amount of content. One user preferred AVOL due to the larger number of control possibilities, which reveals there were aspects of AV Clash that remained undiscovered (since it is the latter that offers more control functionalities). The evaluation reveals that although more users prefer a larger quantity and diversity of audio content (as in AV Clash), a significant amount of users would rather deal with a smaller and more curated selection (as in AVOL). One of the main aims of AV Clash was to increase substantially the number of sounds and visuals that could be accessed, compared to AVOL. One of the sections of the questionnaire concentrated on this aspect. 15 respondents consider that the possibility of accessing a larger amount of content in AV Clash than AVOL is appealing, against six who do not (one user is indifferent). 12 respondents answered that both visuals and sound in AV Clash are sufficiently diverse to maintain interest for a satisfactory amount of time. Although more respondents (12) prefer the abstract visual style of AV Clash compared to the figurative visuals of Master and Margarita, a still significant number (eight) showed preference in the latter. The results of the questionnaire reveal that users seem to be interested not only in purely abstract visuals but also in figurative animation in audiovisual projects. This contradicts the views of some visual music authors, such as Oskar Fischinger, for whom purely abstract animation is a preferred form of sound visualization. These results reaffirm that there is a space in new media art for figuration, echoing Manovich’s observations regarding the potential for representational media using software art, instead of what he considers to be a prevalent abstract “soft modernism” approach (Manovich 2002a, pp.13–16). Figure 26. Iterations of Video Jack projects Functionalities and content + Master and Margarita (2009) AV Clash (2010)