Ixi software
|
ixi software | |
| Developer(s) | ixi software |
|---|---|
| Operating system | Linux, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows |
| Type | experimental music, software |
| Website | www.ixi-software.net |
Experimental Music Software.
ixi is a small international collective of musicians that work mainly with improvisation and live music. The aim with ixi software is to explore abstract screen based interfaces as controllers for synth engines written in open source programming languages such as Pure Data or SuperCollider.
ixi software is an open source experimental project concerned with building musical instruments where the interface is at the same time a meta-composition. The instrument becomes a pattern generator suitable for the performance of generative music. ixi runs a label as well where music is released under the Creative Commons license.
One of the aims of ixi software is to resist the constraints of commercial music software. From the ixi website: "We are interested in free and open music software in all senses. Free as in "free beer", free as in "free speech" and free as in "free jazz". The last "freedom" being the most important one. We acknowledge the constraints that software puts on the musician, the limits that the tool sets for the creative process and we therefore promote and try to disseminate technologies which open up the limits of the software (or defines new boundaries). Our belief is that it should be the artist that defines the scope of his or her instrument (and therefore music), not a commercial software company."
A popular release is the ixiQuarks software suite which is built on top of SuperCollider, allowing for much of the expressive computational power of that environment. The user is faced with the simplicity of ixi software with seamless access to SuperCollider both within the ixiQuarks and at the side.
More recent releases are the ixi lang system for live coding, and the Threnoscope. Both of these software packages are used for teaching computer music (particularly live coding) in higher education in diverse international institutions.
The software can be found and downloaded for free on the ixi website.
References
Thor Magnusson (2014) Improvising with the Threnoscope: Integrating Code, Hardware, GUI, Network, and Graphic Scores in the Proceedings of NIME 2014, London, UK.
Thor Magnusson (2011) ixi lang: A SuperCollider Parasite for Live Coding in the Proceedings of ICMC 2011, Huddersfield, UK.
Thor Magnusson (2008). ixiQuarks: Merging GUI and Code into One Creative Space in Proceedings of ICMC 2007, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Thor Magnusson (2005). ixi Software: Open Controllers for Open Source Audio Software in the Proceedings of ICMC 2005, Barcelona, Spain.
Thor Magnusson (2005). ixi software: The Interface as Instrument in the Proceedings of NIME 2005, Vancouver, Canada.
External links
Video documentation of the Threnoscope