Looking Outwards 07

A particular work that I find very interesting is ‘FORMS – String Quartet’ by Playmodes. It is a “live multimedia performance for a string quartet, electronic music and panoramic visuals, in the field of visual sonification”(Visnjic 2021). They are able to create performances that are visually appealing that are controlled by the sound they were creating. In a sense, it was such a great experience watching them because it was so cool how the lights and images were adding to the meaning of the song. It is done by a generative system that creates endless, unrepeatable graphic scores that are immediately transformed into sound. The software that’s used is “coded in processing where the image sonification was done in Max/MSP. Hardware in this performance is comprised of a 3840*1080 pixels LED screen, aMacbook Pro with RME Fireface UCX soundcard, stereo sound system + subwoofers, a series of DPA 4099 microphones and two violins, one viola and a cello”(Visnjic 2021).Overall, I really enjoyed their performances.

Website: https://www.creativeapplications.net/maxmsp/forms-string-quartet/