Plurality Spring



Turowski, PA ORCID: 0000-0002-9471-5183 and Hutchinson, Simon
(2017) Plurality Spring. [Composition]

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Abstract

Plurality Spring, for indeterminate instrumentation, is a standalone digital game and a framework for musical improvisation. Created in the popular game engine, Unity, it draws upon the interactive quality of video games to generate musical notation in real-time while providing a novel experience for performers and audience alike—i.e. controlling robotic avatars that are exploring an unknown orb in deep space. Plurality Spring investigates the application of new technologies in the musical realm by combining video game elements—goal-based behavior, interactive audiovisual interface—with traditional elements of composition/improvisation—concert setting, acoustic instruments, standard notation. It is grounded in prominent interface and game design theories (e.g. Norman’s notion of designed affordance, Bergun’s Hierarchy of Interactive Forms) to optimize learnability and playability for players of all skill levels. This collaborative effort involved working remotely using digital social creation tools like Slack and Git. While the efforts of planning, design and coding were distributed, The author’s unique contributions included the creation of dynamic libraries for Mac and Windows operating systems. This software allows for Pure Data (Pd) patches to be embedded in a Unity mixer as a plugin. This technique is significantly more efficient than preexisting methods and allowed for greater freedom in blending Unity-based and Pd-based sounds. The piece has been performed internationally with different combinations of instruments: • New York Electroacoustic Music Festival @ Abrons Art Center, New York City, 16-22 July 2018 • Animated Scores @ DeMontfort University, Leicester, 31 January 2018 • Kyma International Sound Symposium @ Levinsalen, Norges musikkhøgskole (Norwegian Academy of Music), 14 October 2017 • Audio Mostly 2017 @ Queen Mary University of London, 23 August 2017 • TENOR 2017 @ University of A Coruña, Spain, 25 May 2017

Item Type: Composition
Uncontrolled Keywords: Composition, Improvisation, Digital, Game, Score, Performance
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 10 Apr 2018 07:50
Last Modified: 19 Jan 2023 06:36
Open Access URL: https://youtu.be/M4DrvHaV6Tw
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3019900

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