This is a performance of improvised and experimental electronic dance music created using Troop; a collaborative live coding text editor that allows multiple performers to write code together over the internet. Troop has been developed over several years of research and aims to facilitate group creativity and interactional synchrony without the need for performers to be situated in the same location. Each member of the ensemble is allocated different coloured fonts that not only make clear to audiences ‘who has done what’ but also leaves traces of the ensemble interaction as these colours interweave over the course of a performance. The music for this performance will be written in the Python based language, FoxDot, and generated by the SuperCollider audio engine. FoxDot has been developed with ensemble performance in mind and enables performers to share musical information quickly and flexibly, creating dynamic performances that evolve from both co-performer support and disruption.
The Yorkshire Programming Ensemble (TYPE) is a collection of humans, Lucy Cheesman, Laurie Johnson, Ryan Kirkbride, and Innocent Granger, that meet IRL and URL and enjoy exploring rhythmic music in a collaborative virtual space and generally making a lot of noise.
They work collaboratively in a shared text buffer using software called Troop and each member of TYPE constructs portions of music-generating code before interacting with the work one another has left behind. By making and unmaking each other’s code TYPE works both together and against each other in the exploration of sound and rhythms.