Thirteen Ways of Listening to a Loudspeaker (2009)
for feedback-driven live computer processing

performance materials are available on request

also needed:
computer with stereo audio interface
stereo playback system

Full recording


Thirteen Ways –Matt Malsky

Program Notes
Thirteen Ways of Listening to a Loudspeaker was created through an electroacoustic feedback loop — I performed the piece by moving a small handheld loudspeaker, which acted as a crude microphone, within the field of another larger loudspeaker. Situated between the two speakers was a digital signal network, which sent its output to the larger speaker, which in turn stimulated the small handheld speaker. And so on. The piece took on the shape of a loop which allowed the resulting sound to be sculpted and guided toward certain qualities and gestures, but did not allow the exact results to be dictated.  The resonant responses of the room, taps and hum combine to create an almost tactile sense of the physicality and performance.

But rather than simply producing Larsen tones (the familiar squeal of an open microphone before a speaker), the recursively–activated Max/MSP patch revealed rhythms, timbres and textures that illuminate the character of digital processes themselves — thirteen modules that operate algorithmically, both responding to the input, but also operating according to its own internal logic. From small stimuli, the voice of the computer emerged, and the stimulus---the human element---receded.

Performance History:

March 27, 2010
New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival
ISSUE Project Room, Brooklyn, NY

Feb 20, 2009
Spark Festival of Electronic Music & Art
Minneapolis, MN USA
Matt Malsky, performer