LCEA Alumni are graduates of the Lansdown Centre for Electronic Arts,
a post graduate research centre at Middlesex University in the UK.
Many alumni have set up their own new media businesses and consultancies.
Other alumni careers include graphic design, interactive media design,
new media research, game design, web site development and design,
animation, teaching, film making, audio design, journalism and various management
roles.
LCEA alumni have a good record for winning new media awards, including
BAFTAs, Milia, BIMA and others.
ixi has released version 1.0 of the audio improvisation software 'ixiQuarks'. The software is a set of audio tools for generating music and coded using an Open Source system called SuperCollider. ixi was started by Enrike Hurtado Mendieta and Thor Magnusson in 2000, both are graduates of the LCEA. They are musicians and have been producing various software audio tools for some time now, ixiQuarks being their latest release.
So what does ixiQuarks consist of? There are various 'modules' that can be opened. Probably the most interesting for those that want to get started are the instruments. Having played with a few of these i think my favourites are Predators, Gridder and ScaleSynth. With Predators you create a selection of organisms on screen, either predators or prey. When the prey are attacked by a predator a sound is generated. You can change the production of sounds by altering the position of the prey. ScaleSynth was also fun to use but is apparently an older instrument, i managed to generate a lot of 'prog' rock sounds using it although i suspect someone more skilled could produce better results.
Is this all ixi do? Well no, ixi have been doing workshops at various universities and arts institutions, in these events ixi cover issues including interactive music, generative music, algorithmic art and installations. They can use different software in their workshops such as Pure Data, Supercollider, OSC, visual programming platforms Python, Processing/Java, Director and Flash to achieve this.
If you would like to try these tools out then why not visit the ixi web site. The Quarks software is available for the Mac platform and is Open Source. Linux and Windows versions will hopefully be available soon. Thor has written a paper for the University of Sussex about ixiQuarks. You will need Adobe Acrobat or Mac Preview to view the document.
Other ixi audio software is available from the ixi web site for Mac and Windows. Thor is currently teaching and studying for a PhD at the University of Sussex, whilst Enrike is a member of a research group of the Digital Research Unit, Huddersfield University.
