Aliénor Golvet, a doctoral student at Sorbonne University in the Computer Science, Telecommunications and Electronics (EDITE) graduate school in Paris, carried out her research entitled ‘Distributed musical systems: design of web-based tools for research and artistic practice’ at the STMS laboratory (Ircam - Sorbonne University - CNRS - Ministry of Culture), as part of the Sound Music and Movement Interaction team, under the supervision of Frédéric Bevilacqua, team leader and Benjamin Matuszewski, co-supervisor.

The jury is composed of:

• Michel BUFFA, Université Côte d'Azur, Rapporteur
  
• Anna XAMBÓ, Queen Mary University of London, Rapporteur
  
• Alain BONARDI, Université Paris 8, Examiner
  
• Ariane STOLFI, Universidade Federal do Sul da Bahia, Examiner
  
• Frederic BEVILACQUA, IRCAM, STMS Lab, Thesis supervisor
  
• Benjamin MATUSZEWSKI, IRCAM, STMS Lab, Thesis co-supervisor
  

Abstract:

The main object of study of this thesis are Co-Located Distributed Music Systems which can be described as systems of heterogeneous devices interconnected via a network able to exchange data and information and to produce sound for a musical purpose. We specifically study co-located systems in which all interaction with such systems occurs in a shared physical space. As such, this thesis is placed in the direct legacy of a body of works that addressed the technical implementation and the artistic potential of computer networks for music creation. More especially, it builds on the conceptual and technical framework implemented in previous research projects on collective musical interaction mediated by web and mobile technologies.

First, on the technical side, we contributed to the integration of embedded devices into such distributed systems. Second, we considered the use of distributed systems by “expert users” such as researchers, music composers and performers. Our work employs an interdisciplinary and project-grounded design approach to investigate

1. the potentials and affordances provided by such distributed systems in the ecosystem of musical creation,
2. the material ecosystem of technologies that is needed to support it,
3. the methodologies usable for its design and
4. its appropriation by expert users and its integration into already existing musical practices with their established practices, including software and hardware.

These questions are explored through a variety of projects that employ different design methodologies and perspectives, and involve collaborations with researchers and artists at various points of the design process. These projects include A3PM, an application designed for supporting an experimental methodology in empirical musicology and used in various research projects; Koryphaios, a software for composing music for distributed ensembles of devices integrated in the Max/MSP environment that we conceived through a collaboration with composer Luciano L. Barbosa; Simone a distributed instrument for collective improvisation which we used in experimental workshops to study its appropriation by groups of users and the forms of networked interaction that emerged; Simone Solo an instrument that uses distributed sound sources and controlled by a single instrumentalist that we conceived through a long-term collaboration with artist Jean-Brice Godet; and the creation by the author of Quasimodots, a musical piece for 40 Raspberry Pi computers equipped with microphones. Through these projects we observed the emergence of novel work practices in research and artistic contexts, novel methods of composition or performance and novel types of collective interaction.