Thesis submission ID 837 | created | last updated

Robin Renwick, SourceNode: A Software Application for Network Music Performance
MSc, Cork Institute of Technology, School of Music, 2011


Volumes, pp.: 1 (72 pp.)  
Supervisor(s): Hugh McCarthy
Repository (hard copy): Cork School of Music Library

General specialism: Music Technology
Key terms, concepts: Network Music, Network Art
Key terms, persons: Aodghan, CoherX
Key terms, genres, instruments: Electronic Music, Emperimental Music, Network Music

Abstract:
This thesis will seek to outline the software application SourceNode as a working example of a Network Music Performance (NMP) enabler. It will also attempt to forge, based on existing literature, a working definition for NMP, offer the reader a better understanding of the concepts involved in NMP and also briefly delineate its history. The essay will trace the roots of NMP, through Network Theory and outline how the ideas and concepts contained within Network Theory are central to any formal understanding of NMP. The paper will sketch some of the issues and problems that are inherent within Network Music Performance and thus attempt to delineate how they may be resolved, even if that means structuring them into and within the NMP itself. There will be an outline of a specific type of NMP: a nodal-based structural performance, assembled in a ‘star’ formation. This thesis will also include a standalone software application that may be implemented for such a nodal-based performance. The application will allow the reader to implement a nodal-sourced approach to NMP, where computer based sequencers will be both structurally and tempo synced. The study will attempt to outline the advantages, implications and issues faced when implementing such a nodal-based framework, and also offer a formal example of this NMP structure in practice, through the SourceNode project. The thesis will highlight the difficulties that were faced, how they were overcome, and what conclusions and outcomes were reached from the performance. The paper will allow the reader, if they wish, to implement this specific NMP architecture for themselves, by utilising the included software application: SourceNode.
Thesis submission ID 837