BRANCH
DANIEL MANESH, Vi ginia Tech, USA
DOUGLAS BOWMAN JR., Vi ginia Tech, USA
SANG WON LEE, Vi ginia Tech, USA
Addi ional Key Wo ds and Ph ases: li e coding, Tidal, p og amming suppo ools, e sioning
ACM Re e ence Fo ma :
1 PROGRAM NOTES
B anch is a li e coding é ude cen e ed a ound speech and o m. The piece uses he TidalCycles language alongside a
ool we de eloped called SHARP, which p o ides an in e ac i e, ee-like s uc u e embedded in he ex edi o o ack
how blocks o code e ol e o e ime. SHARP opens up new musical a o dances cen e ed a ound quickly swi ching
be ween p e ious p og am s a es. In addi ion, SHARP’s e sion ees ac as a kind o pos -hoc sco e, lea ing a isual
ace o he piece’s s uc u e as i un olds. Wi h B anch, we a emp o go beyond a simple demons a ion o SHARP as a
ool and ins ead c ea e a piece which highligh s he in e play be ween musical o m, i s isual ep esen a ion in SHARP,
and he sonic ma e ial i sel . To ha end, B anch makes use o machine-gene a ed speech based mos ly on snippe s
om he ex o Robe F os ’s poem “The Road No Taken”. The ex is la gely decon ex ualized, and i s ea men is
somewha ongue-in-cheek: while he poem’s p emise cen e s a ound no being able o ake bo h pa hs, we can easily
explo e as many code pa hs as we wish. In addi ion o speech, B anch uses audio samples om F eesound, including
he sounds o wigs snapping, knocking on wood, and a pe son s epping on lea es.
2 PROJECT DESCRIPTION
B anch is a li e coding piece composed using TidalCycles and an IDE ex ension called SHARP which helps wi h
isualizing and na iga ing he p og am s a e. We se ou o c ea e a piece o music using SHARP wi h he idea ha
SHARP should be an in eg al pa o he piece, and no jus a ool o make hings easie . Because SHARP lea es a isual
ace o how a piece un olds, we decided he piece would ocus on musical o m. We decided o use speech samples as
he main sonic ma e ial, as his allowed a dynamic in e play be ween he seman ic con en o he speech and how he
music was ac ually un olding o e ime. The machine-gene a ed speech samples a e (mos ly) selec ed om he ex o
Robe F os ’s poem “The Road No Taken”, because he ex was pa icula ly help ul owa ds ha end. As jus one
example, he wo ds “as a as I could” ma k he end o one explo a o y b anch be o e ha line o hough is abandoned
and we e u n o an ea lie p og am s a e.
B anch as a li e coding é ude in he sense ha i is a s udy o speech and o m. The speech samples a e in eg a ed
bo h seman ically and sonically. Wi h ega ds o seman ics, he meaning o he wo ds in e plays wi h he piece’s o m,
Licensed unde a C ea i e Commons A ibu ion 4.0 In e na ional License (CC BY 4.0). Copy igh emains wi h he au ho (s).
Daniel Manesh, Douglas Bowman J ., and Sang Won Lee. 2023. BRANCH. 1, 1 (May 2023), 2 pages.
Music P oceedings o he In e na ional Con e ence on New In e aces o Musical Exp ession
NIME’23, May 31-June 2, 2023, Mexico Ci y, Mexico
2 Daniel Manesh e al
Fig. 1. A sc eensho o he ex edi o du ing a pe o mance o B anch. The e sion ees ac as a pos -hoc sco e, allowing bo h he
audience and he pe o me o see how he piece has e ol ed o e ime. In addi ion, he in e ace o e s he pe o me a way o
quickly hop o di e en e sions o code.
as p e iously men ioned. Wi h ega ds o he ac ual sounds, he speech is chopped up, al e ed, and played wi h, and he
esul makes up he dominan a ia ion in he o e all soundscape.
3 PERFORMANCE NOTES
A pe o mance o B anch las s abou 11 minu es and equi es a ypical se up o a li e coding piece: speake s ha can
connec o a lap op, and a way o p ojec he lap op sc een. Al hough i is p esen ed he e wi hou addi ional isual
e ec s, addi ional isualiza ions could be added, so long as he code and e sion ees a e s ill isible o he audience.
4 MEDIA LINKS
•
Video (Google D i e): h ps://d i e.google.com/ ile/d/1XGLF -3Yu aQZiMxqK4uqjy2UAG7d cZ/ iew?usp=sha e_
link
•Video (YouTube): h ps://www.you ube.com/wa ch? =Y3Bhh0HP4xU
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like o hank he Tidal communi y, who ha e de eloped and main ained excellen li e coding ools.
