Making live music in a high-tech way provides new opportunities for creativity, but comes with a range of challenges. In this talk, we will open a window into just how many ‘hats’ a digital artist needs to wear, and discuss the technical hurdles they face. We’ll showcase the tools used to create custom control surfaces, how to overcome latency and stability issues, and explore the vast creative possibilities.
You’ll get a practical look at extending existing music tools with Python to build your own custom live performance framework. Through live demonstrations, you’ll see these ideas in action. This kind of live system is almost a new type of complex instrument. It involves recording audio and data from multiple pieces of hardware, and allows for real-time improvised looping, resampling, effects chains, and unique sound synthesis. Custom control surfaces can allow for real-time manipulation of any aspect of the audio at any time, giving the user complete control of the soundscape and where it goes next.
Beyond the tech, we’ll touch on the philosophy of cross-discipline practice and how blending skills from music, programming, and design can unlock entirely new creative directions. Whether you’re a software engineer, creative coder, or systems tinkerer, this session will expand how you think about building real-time systems.
Jesse is a musician turned engineer, now getting the best of both worlds. After performing with orchestras, working recording artist gigs, and learning technical music production, Jesse studied computer science and began to work as a programmer. Nowadays, he uses engineering fundamentals to assist his art.
