SpaceMaps, Manifolds and a New Interface Paradigm for Spatial Music Performance

One of the greatest challenges facing any composer of spatial electroacoustic music is how to adapt their work to different loudspeaker systems, their associated software interfaces, and their implied performance practice. Various multi-channel tools exist which can be adapted for different types of symmetrical arrays, however, these are generally entirely incompatible with the diverse orchestras of loudspeakers associated with the practice of live diffusion. In addition, while there have been numerous attempts to extend or augment the one-fader-to-one-loudspeaker approach to diffusion, developing a system that can flexibly handle the complex routing of many signals in an intuitive and transferrable manner remains a significant challenge. Manifold-Interface Amplitude Panning or MIAP (pronounced “meeap”) is one example of a new design paradigm in which the graphical interface can be arranged without necessarily mirroring the physical layout of the array. MIAP is an expanded implementation of Meyer Sound’s SpaceMap spatialization tool for large-scale spatial sound design, developed for the Max MSP environment by Zachary Seldess [1]. While standard panner interfaces can be created using MIAP, so can entirely abstract arrangements, and these can be mapped to arbitrary numbers and configurations of loudspeakers or effects. In addition, the SpaceMap can also be used as a flexible, transferrable configuration and performance tool for live diffusion, in which faders (or other control surfaces) can be mapped to arbitrary arrangements of loudspeakers, much like the concept of the multi-point cross fader previously developed by James Mooney and David Moore for the M2 diffusion system [2]. The SpaceMap could therefore represent a new interface paradigm for the composition and performance of spatial electroacoustic music which is equally applicable to both multichannel and stereo diffusion work, and which could greatly simplify the process of transferring works between different loudspeaker configurations. This paper introduces the MIAP objects for Max MSP through the demonstration of some example diffusion strategies, the multi-point fader, and the transfer of pre-programmed trajectories between different loudspeaker configurations.