Photo © 2010, Stephanie Hough.
Back, behind-the-scenes, I still have some articles in draft form that both detail the nuts’n’bolts decision-making processes in the construction of a machine improviser, and self-reflective critique such constructions, detailing the trade-offs and shortcomings of such an entity, and its design and implementation. I would like to get back to work on these at some point as they may provide as both cautionary tales and critical guides in future constructions of ‘creative’ automata and machine performances, and to anyone engaged in the critical (reverse-)engineering of such entities and their constructions. (There are so many stories, (self-)reflective and (self-)critical, of shortcoming and failures that get lost in our need to tell tales of technocultural heroics.)
Meanwhile, in this post I’d like to provide a selective index of documentation of io 0.0.1 beta++, its construction and performance, both of material published on this site and elsewhere.
Overview
\ constructor: Han-earl Park \ copyright 2008 buster & friends' C-ALTO Labs \ \ www.busterandfriends.com/io \ \ (Edinburgh, November 1996 - \ (London, August 1997 - \ (Den Haag, October 1997 - \ (Valencia, March 1999 - \ (Southampton, May 2000 - \ (Cork, April 2006 - \ \ (Cork, October 2008 - \ \ REV: 0.0.1 alpha (Southampton, October 2000) \ REV: 0.0.1 beta (Southampton, November 2000) \ REV: 0.0.1 alpha++ (Southampton, July 2004) \ REV: 0.0.1 beta++ (Cork, May 2010)
io 0.0.1 beta++ is an interactive, semiautonomous technological artifact that, in partnership with its human associates, performs a deliberately amplified staging of a socio-technical network—a network in which the primary protocol is improvisation. Together the cyborg ensemble explores the performance of identities, hybrids and relationships, and highlights the social agency of artifacts, and the social dimension of improvisation. Engineered by Han-earl Park, io 0.0.1 beta++ is a descendant, and significant re-construction, of his previous machine musicians, and it builds upon the work done with, and address some of the musical and practical problems of, these previous artifacts.
Standing as tall as a person, io 0.0.1 beta++ whimsically evokes a 1950s B-movie robot, constructed from ad-hoc components including plumbing, kitchenware and missile switches. It celebrates the material and corporeal; embracing the localized and embodied aspects of sociality, performance and improvisation.
Chronology
- 1996–1999: Coding of early experiments, tests, and software components:
- Edinburgh, 1996–1997
- London, 1997
- The Hague, 1997–1999
- March 1999: Construction of io begins in earnest, Valencia, California.
- April 2000: Debut performance of working prototype of io at the Roy O. Disney Concert Hall, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia.
- October 2000: REV: 0.0.1 alpha, Southampton, England.
- November 2000: REV: 0.0.1 beta, Southampton.
- December 2000: Recording of io 0.0.1 beta at De Illusie, The Hague, The Netherlands.
- July 2004: REV: 0.0.1 alpha++, Southampton.
- January 2008: With funding from the Arts Council of Ireland, major update and revision of io begins, Cork, Ireland.
- May 2010: REV: 0.0.1 beta++, Cork, Ireland.
- Recording session at Ó Riada Hall, UCC Department of Music.
- Debut performance at Blackrock Castle Observatory, Cork with funding from Music Network and support from UCC Department of Music.
- August 2011: ‘io 0.0.1 beta++’ (SLAMCD 531) released by SLAM Productions.
Documentation
Audio recordings
We watch and listen carefully because we know we’re seeing a kind of manifesto in action. What is an automaton? A sketch, a material characterization of the ideas the inventor and the inventor’s culture have about some aspect of life, and how it could be. io and its kind are alternate beings born of ideas, decisions and choices. It is because io stands alone, an automaton, that the performance recorded on this CD not only is music, but is about music.
Sara Roberts (from the liner notes)
‘io 0.0.1 beta++’ (SLAMCD 531). [Details…]
personnel: io 0.0.1 beta++ (itself), Han-earl Park (guitar), Bruce Coates (alto and sopranino saxophones) and Franziska Schroeder (soprano saxophone).
track listing: Pioneer: Variance (11:52); Pioneer: Dance (13:13); Ground-Based Telemetry (1:42); Discovery: Intermodulation (9:08); Discovery: Decay (5:08); 4G (0:59); Laplace: Perturbation (10:21); Laplace: Instability (3:08); Return Trajectory (8:24). Total duration: 63:57.
© 2011 Han-earl Park.
℗ 2011 SLAM Productions.
Articles and publications
My article, ‘In Conversation with an Automaton: Identities and Agency in a Heterogeneous Social and Musical Network’ [local copy…], published in the Leonardo Electronic Almanac: ‘My Favorite Things: The Joy of the Gizmo’ (Volume 15, No. 11-12, November–December 2007) is still probably the best description of the motivations and choices behind the io enterprise.
Abstract
io 0.0.1 beta is an interactive, semi-autonomous technological artifact that, in partnership with its human associates, performs a deliberately amplified staging of a socio-technical network—a network in which primary protocol is improvisation. In this paper, I explore the performance of identities, hybrids and relationships, illustrating the space between myself (human partner and constructor) and io through imaginary conversations between us. Considering that io highlights, in particular, the social agency of artifacts, I find it fitting that my own notions about the nature of improvisation, the technical and the social have changed through my interactions with io.
In addition, this site has the following short pieces about the construction of io 0.0.1 beta++:
Han-earl Park, ‘frankenmusic(s),’ November 25, 2008:
Fifteen days ago, during the break between beta test sessions, Franziska Schroeder asked a pithy question that cut to the core of this enterprise: what do I hope to achieve? My answer surprised me even as it reminded me of Sara’s observation: my goal with io (and io++) is to encapsulate my take on improvisation—its mechanisms, its sociality, its significance. [Read the rest…]
Franziska Schroeder, ‘io + I met,’ November 24, 2008:
Who is io? What does she sound like? How would she react to me? Would she respond? Would she challenge me (musically, that is). In other words, would she adopt sensitively to changes, make creative contributions and develop musical ideas suggested by me? [Read the rest…]
Images
images © 2010 Stephanie Hough, and © 2010–2011 Han-earl Park [additional images (google gallery)…]
Source code
Download all source files (requires HMSL to run):
View individual source files linked below:
\ additional midi stuff include? task-midi_plus myt:midi_plus \ device classes include? task-device myt:device include? task-midi_device myt:midi_device include? task-interpreter myt:interpreter include? task-ctrl_interpreter myt:ctrl_interpreter include? task-fan_out myt:fan_out \ input components include? task-parser myt:parser include? task-mono_parser myt:mono_parser include? task-mono_parser+ myt:mono_parser+ include? task-poly_parser myt:poly_parser include? task-guitar_parser myt:guitar_parser include? task-parser_list myt:parser_list include? task-pulse_tracker myt:pulse_tracker include? task-pulse_tracker+ myt:pulse_tracker+ include? task-banalyzer myt:banalyzer include? task-banalyzer+ myt:banalyzer+ \ output components include? task-gm_instrument myt:gm_instrument include? task-gm_drumkit myt:gm_drumkit include? task-gm_patch myt:gm_patch include? task-vl_sysex myt:vl_sysex include? task-vl_instrument myt:vl_instrument include? task-vl_patch myt:vl_patch \ "henri poincare" include? task-floatingpoint hsys:floatingpoint include? task-hp_util myt:hp_util include? task-hp_fputil myt:hp_fputil include? task-hp_particle myt:hp_particle include? task-hp_force myt:hp_force include? task-hp_space myt:hp_space include? task-hp_gravity myt:hp_gravity include? task-hp_fpgravity myt:hp_fpgravity include? task-hp_particle_player myt:hp_particle_player \ graphics include? task-graph_plus myt:graph_plus include? task-gr_view myt:gr_view include? task-screen+ myt:screen+ include? task-ctrl_numeric+ myt:ctrl_numeric+ \ io -- globals and configuration include? task-io_config io:io_config include? task-io_glob io:io_glob \ io -- modules include? task-io_interp_table io:modules:io_interp_table include? task-io_interp io:modules:io_interp include? task-io_player io:modules:io_player include? task-io_particle io:modules:io_particle include? task-io_space io:modules:io_space include? task-io_patches io:modules:io_patches include? task-io_pdur_dlog io:modules:io_pdur_dlog \ io -- main components io_test? .IF include? task-hp_screen myt:hp_screen include? task-hp_screen+ myt:hp_screen+ .THEN include? task-io_hp io:io_hp include? task-io_matrix io:io_matrix include? task-io_input io:io_input include? task-io_output io:io_output \ io - user interface include? task-io_ui io:io_ui include? task-io_screen io:io_screen io_file? .IF include? task-file_elmnts myt:file_elmnts include? task-file_elmnts_mac myt:file_elmnts_mac include? task-io_file_scene io:modules:io_file_scene include? task-io_file_glue io:modules:io_file_glue include? task-io_file io:modules:io_file .THEN io_turnkey? .IF include? task-dialog myt:dialog include? task-midi_menu myt:midi_menu include? task-io_menus io:modules:io_menus .THEN \ io - top level include? task-io_top io:io_top
