Uploaded August 2019 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Jeff Snyder talks about his work creating physical electronic instruments as Snyderphonics, and introduces the LEAF (Lightweight Embedded Audio Framework) audio library that he has been developing in his lab along with Mike Mulshine, and his hardware DSP board platform, the Genera

snyderphonics.com
electricspring.co.uk
research.hud.ac.uk/institutes-centres/cerenem/projects/creativecodinglab

Presented at the Creative Coding Symposium at Electric Spring 2019

Recorded and edited by Sam Gillies


// Abstract

Jeff Snyder talks about his work creating physical electronic instruments as Snyderphonics, and introduce the LEAF (Lightweight Embedded Audio Framework) audio library, that he has been developing in his lab along with Mike Mulshine, and his hardware DSP board platform, the Genera. He will discuss the development of some of his recent designs, such as the MantaMate eurorack module, and do a demonstration of how some of his newest instruments are created using the LEAF library running on the Genera.


// Bio

Jeff Snyder (b.1978) is a composer, improviser and instrument-designer living in Princeton, New Jersey, and active in the New York City area. He is the Director of Electronic Music at Princeton University, and the Director of PLOrk, the Princeton Laptop Orchestra.

As founder and lead designer of Snyderphonics, Jeff designs and builds unusual electronic musical instruments. His creations include the Manta, a touch keyboard played by over 150 musicians around the world; and the MantaMate, a versatile digital module for the Eurorack modular synthesizer format. He has also created several custom instruments, including the JD-1 Keyboard/Sequencer, the Birl electronic wind instrument, the Feedback Trombone, the Contravielle, the Electrobass, and the DrumBox.

Jeff is a member of experimental electronic duo exclusiveOr, avant jazz groups The Federico Ughi Quartet and the Listening Group, improvisatory noise trio The Mizries, and laptop ensemble Sideband. He fronts the band Owen Lake and the Tragic Loves as his electro-country alter-ego, Owen Lake. In 2009, Jeff co-founded an experimental music record label, Carrier Records, which continues to release strange and exciting experimental music. In 2011, he received a doctorate with distinction in Music Composition from Columbia University.