notes

At some point we realised we had engineered a hybrid software. This project began by developing the idea of a browser that explores and navigates through the audio content of web sites. We then became interested in the idea of live improvisation with digital audio. So <earshot> reflects this interconnected research; it is a toy and a tool, and even, we propose, a musical instrument.

Playing with <earshot> is playing with sound. On the left side of the <earshot> screen (and there is only one screen or window in this application) is the Audio Spike where sound files are loaded. From here they can be dropped into the Audio Field which comprises the rest of the screen. Each sound file in the Audio Field is represented as an Audio Stick. The Audio Field is a flat space in which sounds are made louder or softer or pitched up or down according to their position on the screen. So Audio Sticks can be dragged around the screen creating various acoustic spaces according to their relationship to each other.

In this Audio Field a player creates these acoustic spaces by exploring superimposition and simultaneity, that is, sounds playing over and together with each other, disappearing and re-appearing in a mix (this idea is developed by Erik Davis in 'Acoustic Cyberspace"). Unlike conventional music sequencing software there are no tempo and time signature settings in <earshot>, and no linear grid within which to place sounds. We refer to <earshot> as a non-linear composition tool.

Audio Sticks in the Audio Field can be controlled, including their looping, muting, pausing, reversing, rewinding and changing the position of the stick in the field in various ways. These controls are keyboard based, like the controls for a computer game, rather than using multiple windows and pull-down menus. So the more someone uses the programme and becomes familiar with these controls, the more skilled they may become at playing <earshot>.

<earshot> can play sound files that exist on the user's machine and sound files that <earshot> is able to locate and download from the web. So <earshot> is also a tool that transforms the web into the world's largest sound library. To explore the web for sound files the user types in a URL or keywords into the Noizeprobe window at the top of the screen. If a full URL is given Noizeprobe will scan that URL for audio files, follow any links on that site (randomly) until they have been checked, and then move onto external links to other sites. Following external links can lead anywhere and is unlikely to ever finish. If a keyword is typed in then Noizeprobe will select two search engines from a pre-defined list (that can be altered by the user), and will use the results from these engines to go to a URL (when called like this the Noizeprobe will not scan for offsite links).

So with <earshot> a user can plug into the vast amount of sound that exists on the web - samples for download, embedded sounds, roll-over noises and audio streams. <earshot> trawls through web sites, searching for audio which can then be downloaded, played and manipulated. <earshot> does not differentiate between the sound sources and can play nearly all of the sound file formats that can be found on the web.

<earshot> generates opportunities for randomness and chance. For example, hitting the 'S' key spawns the Audio Field Generator (AFG), which will create its own <earshot> compositions with the sounds in the Audio Spike. Sounds are dropped into the field and moved, deleted, reversed etc. without a user having to touch the computer. This composition is determined by a set of pre-defined instructions. The AFG can also be configured so a user/player can define their own compositions. By using a normal text editor to create an AFG file, simple commands will control the bahaviour of the Audio Sticks in the Audio Field. These commands include the adding, removal, and movement of sounds, their random muting, reversal and rewinding, as well as giving instructions for loading new sets of sounds or even for going to a list of URLs.

We suggest that <earshot> now emerges as a musical instrument which can be worked with in a complex manner. At a certain point in this project we asked ourselves this question: to what extent are compositional possibilities determined by the software itself? Our response to this has been the development of <earshot>'s interface concepts and the Audio Field Generator, which, alongside <earshot>'s function as a tool for live improvisation with digital audio, enables possibilities for composing with sound that are unique to this software.

So one final remark. Our motivation behind <earshot> has been simple; to get it out in order to see what happens. Please let us know what you can do with it.