Modular Synth Live on WFS
April 1st 2019
Wave Field Synthesis Studio - Technische Universität Berlin [TU]
Einsteinufer 17, 10587 Berlin
Wave Field Synthesis Studio of the Technische Universität Berlin [TU] holds a 128 speakers array
Wave Field Synthesis (WFS) is a sound reproduction technique using loudspeaker arrays that postpones the limits set by conventional techniques. It aims at reproducing the true physical attributes of a given sound field over an extended area of the listening room. It is based on Huyghens’ principle (1678) which states that the propagation of a wave through a medium can be formulated by adding the contributions of all of the secondary sources positioned along a wave front.
WFS relies on an object-based description of a sound scene and allows for a very simple formulation of the reproduction of omni-directional virtual sources using a linear loudspeaker array. The driving signals for the loudspeakers composing the array appear as delayed and attenuated versions of a unique filtered signal. This allows for optimal localization over the entire span of the listening area.
Conventional techniques such as stereo or 5.1, etc. rely on stereophonic principles allowing the creation of an acoustical illusion over a very small area in the center of the loudspeaker setup, generally referred to as “sweet spot” whereas WFS provides stable localization over a large listening area and thus no more sweet spot: it creates holographic sound reproduction using virtual point sources and invariant spatial dispositions of virtual sources over the entire listening area using plane waves.
Source : IRCAM - Institut de recherche et coordination acoustique/musique
full pdf here
Centre Pompidou Paris, France
The idea behind this project was to make sound move within the space according to its own physical shape
“When we put back our being into our will, and our will itself into the impulsion it prolongs, we understand, we feel, that reality is a perpetual growth, a creation pursued without end. Our will already performs this miracle. Every human work in which there is invention, every voluntary act in which there is freedom, every movement of an organism that manifests spontaneity, brings something new into the world.”
“In a word, wether it be a void of matter or a void of consciousness, the representation of the void is always a representation which is full and which resolves itself on analysis into two positive elements: the idea, distinct or confused, of a substitution, and the feeling, experienced or imagined, of a desire or a regret”
— Henri Bregson, Creative Evolution, 1907
Eurorack. Computer. Mountain MNTN. Ableton Live.
“every music has its own space [...] and then the auditor will create a fourth space, that of his or her own representation of the musical phenomenon. The space of music resonates with the space of the auditor, suggests, proposes, and prompts a listening in which the spatial imaginary plays a major role in musical reception and even musical pleasure. Music acts so as to activate the auditor’s perception, to simulate and enrich it: music teaches us to listen out for our own imaginary spaces.”
— Daniel Teruggi, Spaces of Mind, 2019
