The Walkable Instrument: Modular Patches as Entangled Environments in OpenSoundLab
Ludwig Zeller; Anselm Bauer
- Format: Remote Performance
- Session: concert-5
- Paper PDF link
- Presence: Remote
- Duration: 12
Abstract:
What happens if a modular synthesizer patch is no longer constrained to a flat, rigid configuration, but can instead be copied infinitely (and at no expense) and arranged in midair all around the performer? The performance showcases two modular patch designs assembled in OpenSoundLab, a mixed-reality patching system for Meta Quest that was developed in previous research. This platform allows users to freely position basic sound modules (oscillators, samplers, sequencers, effects, etc.) throughout real-world environments.
A long-standing challenge in electronic-music performance—whether you’re working with hardware synths, modular rigs, software patches, or full DAW setups—is that the patch architecture and live tweaks remain opaque, even to expert listeners. The system is often too small, too cluttered by patch cables, or simply too complex and hidden in menus, sub-patches, or binary code to be grasped visually. When a musician plays a traditional keyboard or a self-built NIME-style instrument, the audience can readily perceive timing, effort, and skill. In classic synth-tweaking shows, however, such clear audiovisual cues are largely absent. OpenSoundLab resolves this by letting performers position a modular patch at any scale and in any arrangement within the stage space. Freed from rigging and gravity, a modular setup can expose its inner sonic architecture in three dimensions, with less-critical modulation oscillators tucked behind larger, more prominent elements. Multichannel components become visibly entangled around the performers, spreading out in front of—or even encircling—them to map the patch’s full sonic possibility space.
During the performance, Anselm Bauer will present two patches that illustrate this concept. Both pieces inhabit the realm of abstract glitch techno. The first features tightly defined sound structures laid out as a clearly readable tree of audio channels and modulations (see figure 2), while the second explores generative, self-modulating processes, resulting in an even more entangled, rhizomatic patch topology.