The Immersive Computer-controlled Audio Sound Theater: Experiments in multi-mode sound diffusion systems for electroacoustic music performance

Multi-channel sound diffusion has been an essential part of the electroacoustic music process from the very beginning of the genre. We see early experimentation in sound spatialization in Varèse’s use of loudspeaker “paths” in Poéme Èlectronique, Stockhausen’s experiments in quad and cubebased speaker arrangements (Chadabe 1997), and Chowning’s computational approach to sound diffusion in works like Turenas (Roads and Strawn 1985). Experimentation in deployment and usage of audio loudspeakers is seen in the loudspeaker orchestras at Bourges (Clozier 2001), GRM and Birmingham (Harrison 1999), Richard Moore’s notion of loudspeakers as “windows” to the virtual world beyond (Moore 1989), and the development of standard configurations for multichannel audio in digital video (5.1, 6.1, 7.1, 10.2) (Stampfl and Dobler 2004). And the recent interest in Ambisonic recording technologies (Malham and Myatt 1995) has furthered the aesthetic goal of an immersive audio environments that place the listener in an alternative sonic world – a “virtual world” created by composers and sound artists. The Immersive Computer-controlled Audio Sound Theater (ICAST, pronounced “eye-cast”) is a project that addresses the various needs of multiple performance modes through a computer-controlled loudspeaker environment that is malleable, adaptable and intuitive. The system also explores new and novel metaphors for sound control using both conventional and unconventional interfaces. ICAST is a hardware and software solution, based on a client-server computer control system, commodity audio interface hardware, and high-quality audio amplifiers and loudspeakers. What we have learned from this research has applications that go well beyond concert hall performances, and include virtual reality environments, cinema, and video games.