Manifold (2023) #

Luc Döbereiner

For six voices and live electronics Premiered by Ensemble AuditivVokal, Dresden

The piece deals with the ways in which sounds can influence each other, how they meet, transform, mask, and expand. Both the human performers and the algorithmic components listen to each other and act depending on what they perceive, the constraints given by the musical form, and their vocal and technical possibilities. This creates a network of mutual dependencies. With the help of machine listening and a neural network, a model was constructed to “translate” the sounds of the singers into synthetic sounds. However, the synthesis component is not a model of a human voice, but a simple digital chaotic system. This translation process creates new sonic connections between the abstract synthesis process and the human voice. Beyond simulation, technological alienation, control, or extension, humans and technology meet in mutual sonic sensitivity. The title refers to the multidimensional topological space, a manifold, which is described by the neural network and navigated by the human performers through their voices.