AudioMulch
Update
AudioMulch version 2.0 was released on 6 June 2009. An updated profile for AudioMulch 2.0 will be appearing on the clatterbox site soon. In the meantime visit the AudioMulch website.
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Ross Bencina’s AudioMulch Interactive Music Studio is a real-time sound synthesis and signal-processing environment for Pentium-class computers running Windows. It allows users to interactively route live and synthesised audio signals through a variety of sound-processing modules using a patcher interface. Bencina has continually developed AudioMulch since its inception in the late 1990s, and it is now used extensively by musicians and composers around the world.
Background
Bencina attributes his interest in instrument building to a variety of historical and contemporary musical practices. The traditions of acousmatic music and computer music, both dating back to the 1950s, as well as performances of contemporary experimental and dance-oriented live electronics continue to inspire Bencina’s own practice, in particular his work in computer-based digital sound processing.
Bencina cites the work of computer music pioneer Max Matthews as being particularly influential on his work, especially Matthews’ Music-N programs, which informed the structure and design of AudioMulch. At a conceptual level, key ideas including Pierre Schaeffer’s ‘typomorphology’ of sonic objects, and Denis Smalley’s ’spectromorphology’, have affected the way Bencina relates to sonic materials, influencing, for example, his thoughts about time-varying modulation of sonic processes. The work of local artists has also inspired Bencina, in particular Steve Adam’s work with video-based performance controllers, and Victor Cvirn’s minimalist approach to analogue electronic performance.
Bencina also includes David Hirst’s performances employing real-time signal processing, and the sound-processing technology built by Jim Sosnin, as being particularly influential; he was exposed to these influences while at La Trobe University. Introduction to the C programming environment, and other software also while at La Trobe, has informed Bencina’s work on AudioMulch. Specific software and programming environments, including Pro Tools, Macromedia Director, GRM Tools, SYTER, CSound and MAX/FTS, have affected the design and development of the program. AudioMulch was developed for Microsoft Windows in the C++ programming language, using the Borland C++ Builder development environment.
Development of AudioMulch
In 1995 Apple released computers fast enough to implement musically useful real-time signal processing, this was an essential technological advancement that enabled Bencina to start developing the music software that preceded AudioMulch. It was during his participation at the International Computer Music Conference in Banff in 1995 that Bencina was introduced to the idea that the user interface of a piece of software could be considered a musical instrument, and not merely a tool for designing or controlling sounds. This concept has proved to be a key influence in the creation of AudioMulch.
Devoting three years of part-time, and two years full-time work to the program, Bencina has been continually developing AudioMulch since its initial release in March 1998. There have been twenty-seven releases of the software to date, and development is ongoing. Suggestions from users of the program play an important role in helping Bencina shape the direction of the software’s evolution and the addition of new features. AudioMulch users also take an active role in reporting bugs in the software, which complements Bencina’s own extensive testing. Bencina states that ‘the current version of AudioMulch is more capable than ever before in its ability to support a number of features, including a wide range of plug-ins, low latency audio, and the playback of multiple sound files simultaneously.’ Possible future directions for the program may include incorporating network-mediated performance as a feature of AudioMulch, which could lead to new performance experiences for AudioMulch users.
AudioMulch in Performance
Bencina has employed AudioMulch live in several collaborative projects including two performances of his composition Oasis Rose at the 1998 Next Wave Festival in Melbourne, for oboe/cor Anglais, viola and marimba/percussion, with live AudioMulch signal processing. A reduced version of this work, titled Rosetta Fragment, for cor Anglais and marimba, was performed at the 1998 Australasian Computer Music Conference in Canberra. Bencina collaborated with Terry McDermott to create software for the ex-static project, a fusion of DJ-style playback of electroacoustic music and real-time multi-speaker spacialisation, also as part of the Next Wave festival in 1998. A more recent collaboration between Bencina and vocalist Helen Thomson took place in 2002-2003. Custom extensions to AudioMulch for performance-oriented audio looping were developed through this partnership.
Specialist performers of AudioMulch include: Warren Burt, Ross Healy, Donna Hewitt, Thomas Jirku, Kieran Hebden (Four Tet), Erdem Helvacioglu (3rd place winner 2003 Luigi Russolo Competition), and of course, Ross Bencina. AudioMulch is also used regularly in performances around the globe, often several times a week, as indicated by announcements on the AudioMulch email list.
Acknowledgements
Several people have been instrumental in assisting AudioMulch’s development, and Bencina extends his thanks to the following people: Steve Adam and Michael Hewes for their suggestions and encouragement during the initial phases of development; Dean Walliss for discussions concerning the software’s design and for writing the original Help file; Andrew Bencina for authoring the current Help file; Neil Davies at Deep Technical for assisting with web design and hosting; Gordon Monroe for deriving the constant grain density algorithm used in the BubbleBlower; Josep Comajuncosas for the filter implementation in SouthPole; Esa Kotala for the amorphous crystalline artwork used in the splash screen and about box; Simon Kidd for graphic identity design.
Bencina also extends his heartfelt thanks to the multitude of AudioMulch users who have contributed bug reports, suggestions, encouragement and shareware fees.
AudioMulch is a self-funded project, partially supported through shareware registrations.
