Desktop Electronic Music

Description

Electronic music was originally the exclusive activity of those who could gain access to elite computer systems. Now it’s an egalitarian process, a collaboration between boutique hardware firms, cottage industries, and musicians of all stripes. In this series of articles, I conduct a structural analysis of electronic music, identifying four historical paradigms.

Desktop Electronic Music is the most recent of these. DEM has the characteristics of multiplicity, interoperability, portability, and egalitarian access. Multiplicity because of the enormous variety of sound-making and sound-mangling tools available. Interoperability because every device speaks to every other, using combinations of MIDI, control voltage, and so on.

This series of 12 articles covers various topics: interface design, proposals for mixer architectures, MIDI wiring diagrams, improvisation, and the music of Mika Vainio (Panasonic).

This research was in part funded by an Arts Council bursary.