E-SCAPE: An Extendable Sonic Composition and Performance Environment

This thesis focuses on the use of computer-based systems which facilitate the creation of music which is designed for performance using synthesised and sampled sounds, and examines the problems of composing music and controlling sound using such systems. A survey and critique of the structure and problems of using existing systems is presented. Two problems focused on are: (i) coping with the complexity and density of the control task for the complex synthesis algorithms which are needed in order to generate sounds that are of adequate musical interest. (ii) creating and controlling synthesis algorithms which are distributed amongst different devices of different types, and use different protocols. This leads to a solution with three aspects: proposals for the organisation and functionality of such systems, the design of standards for communication between their components, and the design o~ the 'E-Scape' composition software system which attempts to solve the perceived problems. These chiefly consist in the presentation of complex instruments for use by composers, and the flexible control of sound generating structures on a variety of synthesis devices. The solutions proposed will result in a composer being able to use the synthesis or compositional control aspects of existing systems as interchangeable components within a larger-scale, loosely-coupled system. Such a system can then be constructed and customised by composers to suit the kinds of activities they want to engage in, their experience of compositional methods and languages, and their synthesis requirements for performance. The 'E-Scape' software has three functions within the thesis: • to illustrate the difficulties involved in attempting to create such a loosely-coupled scenario using current synthesis systems. • to illustrate the kind of functionality needed by any composition system to enable it to integrate into the proposed system organisation. • to exemplify the features determined as desirable for electroacoustic composition which are absent from existing systems.