Uploaded August 2019 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

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CeReNeM post-graduate candidate James Bradbury discusses the development of code to model micro and macro compositional decisions through the use of the annealing algorithm applied to a Fourses synthesiser

https://jamesbradbury.xyz/
electricspring.co.uk
research.hud.ac.uk/institutes-centres/cerenem/projects/creativecodinglab

Presented as part of the Electric Spring, Creative Coding Lab Symposium 2019

Recorded and edited by Sam Gillies


// Abstract

In this talk I will discuss an approach to composing in which code models micro- and macroscopic compositional decisions. The tension between these temporal scales and to what extent they ‘talk’ to each other in the creative process has been an increasing concern for my practice, especially as computers have become integrated as decision makers and compositional aids. To discuss these themes, I will give some insight into a piece ‘Annealing Strategies’ composed in mid-2018.


// Bio

I am an Australian composer who is originally from Perth, WA. I enjoy creating musical systems that vivify the behaviours of computers and machines, at times involving other musicians in this process. A primary interest of mine is to embrace the complexity and non-human nature of modern computing as an integral feature of my work’s aesthetic. These creations often assume a role that is more than just that of a facilitator, tending toward a type of composer in and of itself. This intersection of the system and my own intentions is a rich territory of exploration in which new ideas are discovered, proliferated and developed in novel ways. As of 2017, I am a PhD student under the supervision of Alex Harker and Steven Jan at the University of Huddersfield.