It was a joy to work on this project as an engineer alongside Lloyd May.
This paper presents the design, aesthetic considerations, and technical details of the Bishop BoomBox, an innovative physically accessible drum machine and sequencer inspired by classic drum machines, golden-era Hip-Hop culture, and chess. The BBB features an 8-step, 4-track sequencer, with steps triggered through physical touch or the placement of custom high-capacitance “chess” pieces, which trigger capacitive sensors monitored by a Bela microcontroller. It provides volume, swing, tempo, and recording controls housed in a movable module.
WebChucK is ChucK, a strongly-timed computer music programming language, running on the web. Recent advancements in browser technology (including WebAssembly and the Web Audio API’s AudioWorklet interface) have enabled languages written in C/C++ (like ChucK) to run in web browsers with nearly native-code performance. Early adopters have explored the many practical and creative possibilities that WebChucK enables, ranging from a WebChucK integrated development environment to interactive browser-based audiovisual experiences. WebChucK has also been adopted as the programming platform in an introductory computer music course at Stanford University. Importantly, by running in any browser, WebChucK broadens and simplifies access to computer music programming, opening the door for new users and creative workflows. In this paper, we discuss WebChucK and its applications to date, explain how the tool was designed and implemented, and evaluate the unique affordances of combining computer music programming with a web development workflow.
WebChucK website: https://chuck.stanford.edu/webchuck/
WebChucK IDE is a web-based integrated development environment for writing and running ChucK code. WebChucK IDE provides tools and workflows for developing and running ChucK on-the-fly and in any web browser, on desktop and mobile devices. This environment integrates ChucK development with visualization and code-based generative web UI elements to offer an accessible and playful way to program computer music. In this paper, we detail the design and implementation of WebChucK IDE and discuss its various affordances and limitations as a sandbox for learning, experimentation, and art making.
Try WebChucK IDE: https://chuck.stanford.edu/ide/
We present an affordable, lightweight, and highly portable multichannel audio solution for surround sound applications and installations. The system was developed for the “Sound in Space” course, taught by on of the authors at CCRMA in the winter quarter of 2021, when education was fully remote. Students in the course were able to listen to and create surround sound compositions from their homes or dorm rooms. Beyond the course, artists have demonstrated the versatility and creative affordances of this cheap, lightweight, and highly portable setup in sound installations and other custom speaker arrays. Such an affordable and versatile system has the potential to provide more students and artists access to spatialized sound production and multichannel audio in their work, enabling deeper technical education and creative applications ranging from Ambisonics to sound installations. Importantly, the transportability and ease of assembling this system enables multichannel audio work to be developed outside of the physical confines of academic institutions, including in spaces like apartments, garages, the outdoors, and more. This paper steps through the process of creating such a system, detailing the challenges faced and reflecting on the affordances in educational and creative usage.
I had the privilege to work with Dan Trueman on the design of bitKlavier, a bespoke digital musical instrument that extends the piano and leverages traditional keyboard technique to vividly expand the sonic palette of the beloved instrument. A ton of unique and interesting interface and software design questions emerged during this project.
bitKlavier can be used and misused freely on Mac and Windows, can be built for Linux, and can be purchased for a small fee to run on iPhones/iPads.
A major part of bitKlavier was it's varied and dynamic tuning features, including a really unique "spring tuning" which treats intervals as springs between notes, which themselves are connected via springs to scale degrees. By changing the weight (tension) of each spring, you can dynamically shift tunings with certain intervals (like a just major third) prioritized over others.
I had the privilege to work with Jeff Snyder on the design of an audio library in C tailored for embedded audio applications using bare-bone microcontrollers. This project later became LEAF (the Lightweight Embedded Audio Framework) and has been maintained by Jeff Snyder, Matt Wang, and contributed to by many others in the academic community.
We presented this work as a long paper at NIME 2017, hosted by the University of Aalborg, Copenhagen.
Alongside Jeff Snyder and Aatish Bhatia, I was involved in the development of a novel audio synthesis algorithm modeled after the chemical and electrical environment that transpires during the firing of a squid neuron.
This was presented as a paper at NIME 2018, hosted by Virginia Tech, Blacksburg.
Alongside Jeff Snyder and Rajeev Erramilli, I was involved in the firmware development of the Feedback Trombone, a novel augmented trombone instrument that induces periodicity in the trombones via controlled feedback, slide length sensing, and much more.
This work was presented as a demo at NIME 2018, hosted by Virginia Tech, Blacksburg.
In this thesis, I explored the relationships and mappings between image, electronic sound, and acoustic composition. I detail a unique compositional process that involved this particular trajectory through media (image, electronic sound, composition for live ensemble) and present three works that were composed (and later performed) as part of the research project.
Thank you to Dan Trueman and Jeff Snyder for advising in its creation and always being there for me in general.
Enjoy some footage of my thesis performance below.