Supporting Creative Practice in Wireless Distributed Sound Installations Given Technical Constraints

Bown O, Ferguson S, Dos Santos ADP, Mikolajczyk K. Supporting Creative Practice in Wireless Distributed Sound Installations Given Technical Constraints. J Audio Eng Soc. 2021;69(10):757-767. doi:10.17743/jaes.2021.0039

@article{Bown2021_21470,
  author = {Bown, Oliver and Ferguson, Sam and Dos Santos, Augusto Dias Pereira and Mikolajczyk, Kurt},
  title = {{Supporting Creative Practice in Wireless Distributed Sound Installations Given Technical Constraints}},
  journal = {Journal of the Audio Engineering Society},
  volume = {69},
  number = {10},
  pages = {757--767},
  year = {2021},
  month = oct,
  publisher = {Audio Engineering Society},
  doi = {10.17743/jaes.2021.0039},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.17743/jaes.2021.0039}
}

TY  - JOUR
TI  - Supporting Creative Practice in Wireless Distributed Sound Installations Given Technical Constraints
AU  - Bown, Oliver
AU  - Ferguson, Sam
AU  - Dos Santos, Augusto Dias Pereira
AU  - Mikolajczyk, Kurt
T2  - Journal of the Audio Engineering Society
J2  - J. Audio Eng. Soc.
VL  - 69
IS  - 10
SP  - 757
EP  - 767
PY  - 2021
DA  - 2021/10/06
DO  - 10.17743/jaes.2021.0039
UR  - https://doi.org/10.17743/jaes.2021.0039
PB  - Audio Engineering Society
LA  - en
AB  - In this paper we present creative practice-led research into building large, scalable “multiplicitous media” artworks in which many networked devices control lights and speakers and are coordinated over Wi-Fi to create holistic artistic and environmental experiences. We discuss competing constraints, in particular the creative constraints associated with the challenge of coding complex multi-device behaviors, maximizing creative freedom and simplifying complex engineering and design decisions. Based on recent experience building multi-device digital installation works, we propose an approach, the “broadcast-first recipe,” that aims to simplify the space of creative possibilities, with a trade-off between expressive power and creative efficiency that we argue is worth adopting. We examine this approach in light of hard technical constraints such as central processing unit (CPU)and Wi-Fi bandwidth budgets, which we discuss in a concrete example. We consider how the effectiveness of the proposed approach could be further leveraged in the provision of support tools.
ER  -