Øyvind BRANDTSEGG

Norwegian University of Technology and Science, Norway

Abstract - "21 years of live performance and installations with Csound" - How Csound has always been there for me

I started using Csound in the late 1990's, when it was just getting possible to use it in realtime. I had some musical desires that prompted me to look into it, even if the learning curve was pretty steep at the time. In the beginning I would combine Csound with hardware synthesizers and samplers, and also used Max to interface with external sensors and overall control. Over the years, as the available processing power increased and Csound developed, it was possible to build a live setup based exclusively on Csound. With the advent of the Csound API it was easier to interface to other languages and technologies. This opened possibilities for writing a realtime algorithmic composition system for use in live performance and sound art installations. Building an audio system for installations running several years required some extra attention to issues of stability and maintenance. As these systems became more complex, the need for modularization grew stronger. Some of the tasks involved could also be identified as being of a more general nature, allowing integration with off-the-shelf tools. This again enhancing Csound's strong points as a development tool for customized audio processing. Isolating the components that actually need to be new, implementing them as opcodes or instruments. The talk will be illustrated with projects done in Csound over the last 21 years, including recent efforts into crossadaptive processing and live convolution.

Richard BOULANGER

Professor of Electronic Production and Design Berklee College of Music Boston Massachusetts, USA

Abstract - Dedicating My Musical Life to the Mastery of a Virtual Instrument – Csound

In memory of a brilliant, passionate, and truly gifted young csounder – Shengzheng Zhang (a.k.a. John Towse)

I am truly honored to have been invited to present one of the keynote addresses at The 5th International Csound Conference - ICSC 2019 in Cagli (Pesaro-Urbino) Italy. Thank you so very much for this wonderful invitation to share some of my more recent thoughts, to perform some of my newest music, and most importantly, to publicly express my gratitude to so many, here at this conference, and in the international Csound community, whose instruments, code, research, and music have been constant sources of inspiration. And it is just these many “sources of inspiration” that are brought to mind in today’s keynote, especially the beautiful instruments and music of my student Shengzheng Zhang (a.k.a. John Towse), in whose memory this keynote is humbly dedicated.

Leonardo GABRIELLI

Università Politecnica delle Marche, Italy

Abstract - From Le Marche to MARS: a journey through accordions, synthesizers and computer music

The region where ICSC 2019 takes place, Le Marche, is known worldwide for its long tradition of musical instruments manufacturing, which dates back to 1863, when - according to the tradition - Paolo Soprani built his first accordion. Since then, however, electronic pioneers and DSP developers have joined traditional accordion craftsmen to cyclically renew the industry, in the effort to keep up with global standards. In 1988, the Bontempi-Farfisa group founded the IRIS lab, led by Giuseppe di Giugno and run by several outstanding developers and computer music researchers. The MARS workstation was one of its most prominent outcomes, and it was employed for several computer music works of the 1900s. It was programmed using ARES, a rich computer music platform based on graphical patching. All this material and history is now coming back to light after the accidental discovery of machines and documents long forgotten in an abandoned factory. After reactivating and restoring computers and their software, thanks to the effort of the Acusmatiq-MATME association, we are now able to run ARES and its patches. This software will be described and linked to other existing computer music languages, including CSound and Max. The talk includes footages and documents produced by the Acusmatiq-MATME association.

Joachim HEINTZ

HMTM Hannover, Germany Head of Electronic Studio FMSBW

Abstract - Learning Csound, Learning Music

Victor LAZZARINI

Professor of Music, Maynooth University, Ireland

Abstract - Csound - Notes on an Ecosystem

This talk discusses Csound as a sound and music computing system at the centre of an ecosystem of applications. For about fifteen years now, the software has developed a formidable array of connections to other programs, at various levels of user interaction, from high to low. Since its first release, Csound has provided an ideal studio platform for research and production, providing means for extensions and connections to other systems. In time, this ecosystem was widened as part of a calculated development strategy that placed Csound at the centre of a variety of applications. In this talk, we will explore the Csound ecosystem, with some illustrated examples. As part of this, we will also evaluate critically these developments, proposing some thoughts for the road ahead towards Csound 7.

Steven YI

Assistant Professor, Interactive Games and Media Ronchester Institute of Technology, USA

Abstract - Tomorrow's Csound

What might Csound look like in the future and how do we get there? In this talk, I will assess the state of Csound today, both the good and the bad, and propose a roadmap to guide us through the next generations of Csound.