ITP Thesis Archive 2025

Project Description

“Constellation No. 4 (for mobile device and headphones)” explores non-linear, immersive, and interactive music by utilizing the listener’s movement in space to change and manipulate the music they hear. Listeners can log in to the web app using their mobile device and headphones to navigate through the music, evolving the piece with their movements and becoming part of the composition.

The experience is LIVE at - https://constellation.andthenight.com/

The extended web application, “vennWave,” allows musicians to upload their audio files and create their own sound maps, enabling users to walk through the music and share it with the world. This project responds to the emerging community of musicians interested in interactive, immersive, and non-linear music.

For more details visit - https://vennwave.com/

The core value of this project lies in the liberation and democratization of art and knowledge. To paraphrase Roland Barthes, it represents the “Death of the Composer”—the listener is no longer bound by the composer’s intention and instead becomes an agent, creating a unique experience. The composition tells a story, but the listener decides which aspect of the story they wish to explore at any given moment.

Technical Details

The core of this piece is a series of non-linear music compositions consisting of a few separated channels placed in space so they would overlap each creating different sound zones
that listeners can walk through and hear the different combinations of channels.

The core of this piece consists of a series of audio channels placed in a virtual space like a Venn diagram, overlapping to create different sound zones that listeners can walk through, hearing various combinations of channels and variations of the music.

Unlike other sound walks, this project does not use GPS positioning; instead, it relies on the mobile device's orientation and acceleration data. This means the experience isn’t site-specific and can be enjoyed anywhere without the need for the listener to cover great distances. Using this data, the application approximates the listener’s position in the virtual Venn diagram and manipulates the music accordingly. The application uses JavaScript along with the P5.js and Tone.js libraries, making it accessible on the web without requiring an app download.

The listener's placement and orientation in the virtual space determine the volume of each channel, ranging from -∞ (no sound) to 0 (full volume), as well as the panning from 1 (hard right) to -1 (hard left). This creates an immersive experience in which every movement can entirely alter the composition.

Although primarily designed for mobile, this app also has a desktop version that allows the listener to navigate the virtual space by dragging the listener icon or setting it to “autopilot,” enabling it to wander randomly.

The “vennWave” editor utilizes the same technology but communicates with a database. The app employs Google Firebase to manage users (via Google login), allowing them to upload their music to storage and save their composition data. Once saved, the editor provides a shareable link that enables the audience to experience the composition on both mobile and desktop.

Research/Context

My inspiration for this project stems from various resources, including music, video games, philosophy, and literature. Here are a few important resources:

Proteus (video game): In this game, musician David Kanaga designed the soundtrack to reflect player actions. It not only inspires musically but also encapsulates concepts of interactive music.

Death of the Author (essay by Roland Barthes): Barthes urges readers to free themselves from the “tyranny” of the author, interpreting texts and other art forms subversively. My project aims to eliminate my role as the composer, allowing the audience to roam freely through sound areas and dissect the piece into its components.

Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (book by Frederick Jameson): Jameson argues that the state of Western culture is characterized by a “crisis of historicity,” where mass production overshadows traditional classifications of past and present, high-brow and low-brow cultures. I see my work embracing this state by deliberately combining orchestral and electronic music, juxtaposing them in a way that could be labeled “pastiche”, and elevating the listener to a position of control over the composition.

Echoes (application): This app enables users to create site-specific “sound walks” using GPS technology. It serves as a significant inspiration for my own application, which achieves a similar goal through different technology.

John Cage (composer): Cage's conceptual exploration of music has greatly inspired me. Just as Cage sought to liberate music using contemporary technology (like radios), I aim to explore new ideas about music using the technology of my time.

The Game Audio Strategy Guide (book by Gina Zdanowicz and Spencer Bambrick) - this book deals with approaches and techniques to composing music for video games, which are probably the most well known example of non-linear music. This book has taught me a lot about creating music that is capable of being combined in different ways regardless of the composer’s intention, as well as valuable techniques such as looping, randomizing etc.

Club Music (genre) - electronic dance music has always been my main inspiration in my compositions and this project is no different. I’m inspired by the ideas, concepts and techniques of House, Techno, Trance, Hip-Hop, Trap, Drum and Bass etc. as well as by the experience of
dance clubs and clubbing.