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Keynote 2: Electronic Music Filtered Through Science and Technology Studies
No full text“Musical instrument design is one of the most sophisticated and specialized technologies that we humans have developed.” – Robert Moog.
If music is about technologies then how should we think about technologies? In this talk I will approach the history of electronic music as conceived by another academic discipline: Science and Technology Studies (S&TS). I will briefly outline the main ideas and approaches in S&TS and the sorts of methods developed. The mutual shaping of technology and culture offers clues to thinking about the development of the technology used in electronic music and how it shapes and is shaped by culture. The S&TS approach draws attention to “opening the black box” , which means understanding the design and working of musical technologies and thinking about how they could be otherwise and paths not taken. It is sensitivity to these alternative developments and questioning the very notion of what it means for a music technology to “succeed” which gives clues as to what an alternative history of electronic music might look and sound like. If we think about musical technologies rather than musical instruments we end up in new sorts of spaces – such as the studio at the BBC Radiophonic workshop where the music for Dr Who was created or a bath in London from which Peter Zinovieff dreamt up designs for new instruments . The S&TS approach leads scholars to focus upon particular actors such as users, tinkerers, and intermediaries and particular contexts and spaces where instruments are developed, tested, demonstrated, and used. I will argue that following salesmen is as important as following composers. My main examples will come from the development of the Moog and Buchla electronic music synthesizers developed in the period 1964-75 but I will also reflect a little on the nascent British synthesizer industry from that period - particularly EMS
Color is the Keyboard
No full textIn this talk, I will present a series of diverse case studies covering the spectrum of techniques and used to transcode visual data into auditory signals. Some of these algorithms are simple analog electro-mechanical devices, while others are complex programs that perform calculations, process data and make logical (or even illogical!) decisions. At its most basic definition, and algorithm is a set of instructions, some of these heuristic techniques are included for the historical context of translating image to sound. Talking about transcoding necessitates the use of analogous language; the writer, historian and philosopher François-Marie Arouet, more famously known by his nom de plume Voltaire, fully accepted the similarity between tones and colours, writing “this secret analogy between light and sound leads one to suspect that all things in nature have their hidden rapports, which perhaps some day will be discovered.” While preparing his book on the Newtonian world view, Élémens de la philosophie de Neuton, Voltaire corresponded with the inventor of the Ocular Organ, Louis Bertrand Castel. Although it was never built, the ocular organ can be seen as a prototypical synesthetic algorithmic instrument, meant to generate simultaneous visual and sonic material by changing the mechanism of a harpsichord so that "the pressing of the keys would bring out the colours with their combinations and their chords; in one word, with all their harmony, which would correspond exactly to that of any kind of music.”
Transcoding is a sort of extreme analogy, where we establish complete correspondence based on transformations between entities.” Often authors speak of “mapping” features from one domain to another. In these case studies, when possible, I will indicate how features in the visual arena control aspects of the resultant sound. Unfortunately for some of the more complex systems or older machines, there is not enough data to fully describe the algorithmic process of transcoding from the visual to the sonic. While synesthesia is an extreme form of stimuli becoming interconnected, human thought is quite generally founded on the concept of connectivity and comparison. Language overflows with metaphors and analogies precisely because humans learn best by comparing new concepts with established ones; integrating new thoughts as reformulations of older ones. Algorithmic transcoding is thus a potent method for illuminating both inputs and outputs. As Nietzsche describes it: “Everything which distinguishes man from the animals depends upon this ability to volatilize perceptual metaphors in a schema, and thus to dissolve an image into a concept.” The musicians, artists and inventors in these case studies conceived of metaphors of expression, created algorithms to transcode data and thus dissolved images into sound.
This talk will cover 1) Light Bulbs, Then and Now: The Rhythmicon and Thermal Image; 2) Sound-on-Film: Fischinger, McLaren, Whitney Brothers, Spinello, and Sholpo; 3) Drawing Sound: Oramics, UPIC, and Metasynth, 4) Glitch: Similacra, and Pixel Player; 5) Slit Scanning: Phonopaper, ANS; 6) Image as Control: Graphic Converter, Augur and Light Pattern; and 6) Live Video and Design: Hearing Red, Ocusonics, and Giant Theremin
Benthic pulse-chase isotope tracer experiments in Loch Etive and the Ythan estuary
No full textDigital data underpinning the findings in Woulds et al. (2016):
Woulds, C., Bouillon, S., Cowie, G. L., Drake, E., Middelburg, J. J., and Witte, U.: Patterns of carbon processing at the seafloor: the role of faunal and microbial communities in moderating carbon flows, Biogeosciences, 13, 4343-4357, doi:10.5194/bg-13-4343-2016, 2016.
http://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-4343-2016
The data are derived from sediment cores and extracted from two places in Scotland: Loch Etive (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Etive) and Ythan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ythan).
The physical samples were processed in a number of ways for specific purposes as outlined in Woulds et al. (2016). Some of the analyses are destructive, and the remaining physical samples have not been preserved
Data associated with 'Sintering of calcium phosphates with a femtosecond pulsed laser for hard tissue engineering'
No full textDirect laser sintering on hard tissues is likely to open new pathways for personalised medicine. To minimise irradiation damage of the surrounding soft tissues, lasers operating at wavelengths that are ‘safe’ for the tissues and biomaterials with improved optical properties are required. In this work laser sintering is demonstrated with the use of an ultrafast, femtosecond (100 fs) pulsed laser operating at a wavelength of 1045 nm and the optical properties of two existing calcium phosphate minerals (brushite and hydroxyapatite) have been improved after doping with iron (10% mole). Femtosecond laser irradiation caused transformation of the Fe3+-doped brushite and Fe3+-doped HAp samples into β-calcium pyrophosphate and calcium-iron-phosphate, respectively, with simultaneous evidence for microstructural sintering and densification. After estimating the temperature profile at the surface of the samples we suggest that soft tissues over 500 μm from the irradiated zone would be safe from thermal damage. This novel laser processing provides a means to control the phase constitution and the morphology of the finished surfaces. The porous structure of β-pyrophosphate might be suitable for applications in bone regeneration by supporting osteogenic cell activity while, the densified Fe3+-rich calcium-iron-phosphate may be promising for applications like dental enamel restoration
Mapping the field of children’s literature translation in Saudi Arabia: Translation flow in accordance with Socio-Cultural norms. Bibliographical Data List - Part of Doctoral Thesis
Get PDFThe aim is to investigate the translation flow of foreign children’s books in Saudi Arabia by creating a bibliographical list of these books and situate any statistics extracted from this list within the wider sociocultural context. This will help provide a view of the general trends in translation flows and also help to facilitate future research in the field. The collected bibliographical data includes, as far as is possible, source and translated books titles, translators’ names, authors’ names, source language, source and translations publishers’ names and the year of publication of the translation
Nano- and micro-patterning biotemplated magnetic CoPt arrays.
Get PDFPatterned thin-films of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) can be used to make high‑density data storage devices. High coercivity MNPs (e.g. L10 CoPt) are nano-patterned to create this bit-patterned media (BPM). This increases storage capacity by reducing bit size, which is highly desirable in developing smaller recording media for consumer devices . Conventional manufacture of BPM is not environmentally friendly as it uses high temperatures (500˚C) and high vacuum, which requires specialised equipment. To tackle these issues, we have taken inspiration from nature to create patterns of CoPt using a biotemplating peptide under mild conditions. Nano-patterning via interference lithography (IL) and micro-patterning using micro-contact printing (μCP) were used to create a peptide resistant mask onto a gold surface under ambient conditions. We redesigned a biotemplating peptide to self-assemble onto gold surfaces (cgsgktheihspllhk), and mineralised the patterns at 18˚C in water. Ferromagnetic CoPt is biotemplated by the immobilised peptides, and the patterned MNPs maintain stable magnetic domains. This bioinspired study offers an ecological route towards developing biotemplated
M12L8 metallo-supramolecular cube with cyclotriguaiacylene-type ligand: spontaneous resolution of cube and its constituent host ligand.
Get PDFData to support study of Ag12L8 metallo-cube and clathrate complexes of tris-(4-methylthiazolyl)cyclotriguaiacylene, where both Ag12L8 cube and clathrate complexes show spontaneous chiral resolution on crystallisation
Supporting data for “Temperature-programmed reduction of nickel steam reforming catalyst with glucose”.
No full textData used for tables 2 to 14 in Applied Catalysis A: General paper DOI 10.1016/j.apcata.2016.08.013, titled “Temperature-programmed reduction of nickel steam reforming catalyst with glucose” by Feng Cheng, Valerie Dupont, Martyn V. Twigg, accepted on 12th August 2016
Dataset relating to "Free-space terahertz radiation from a LT-GaAs-on-quartz large-area photoconductive emitter".
No full textWe report on large-area photoconductive terahertz (THz) emitters with a low-temperature-grown GaAs (LT-GaAs) active layer fabricated on quartz substrates using a lift-o ff transfer process. These devices are compared to the same LT-GaAs emitters when fabricated on the growth substrate. We find that the transferred devices show higher optical-to-THz conversion efficiencies and significantly larger breakdown fields, which we attribute to reduced parasitic current in the substrate. Through these improvements, we demonstrate a factor of 8 increase in emitted THz field strength at the maximum operating voltage. In addition we find improved performance when these devices are used for photoconductive detection, which we explain through a combination of reduced parasitic substrate currents and reduced space-charge build-up in the device
Time series and images for 'A Portable Diagnostic Device for Cardiac Magnetic Field Mapping'.
No full textWe present the design of the induction coil sensor array and signal processing routine along with data demonstrating performance in a hospital environment