Ken Fields: Professor, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Xiang Xiao, Yuan Zhang, Ph.D.; Yunpeng Li: Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing

Tuesday, June 10, 10:00am – 12:00pm
215 Shillman, Northeastern University

This Workshop/Demonstration presents a network music experiment to coordinate the disjointed time-spaces of multiple networked musicians for a polychronic loop-a-thon. Witness the first larger scale rollout of the Netronome, a network latency tuner. Attendees will be able to download the software and observe 10 participants looping together from around the world in real-time.

Network time delays are an inherent part of the practice of network music. The Netronome is a network music latency tuner, that symmetrically balances audio delay to and from a Jacktrip server. It enforces a specific beat value on the round trip audio signal path given a certain BPM. When an ensemble of networked musicians coordinate and temporally align their latencies in this way, network music suddenly comes alive. Using our M4L plugin version of the Netronome, we will demonstrate the process for tuning multiple network node latencies to a common note value in order to facilitate a networked live loop performance. Ten (or more) remote players will connect to the ICMC workshop venue on June 10th after honing their remote loop syncing technique in 3-4 tutorials prior to this ICMC session.

The Netronome was developed by Ken Fields, Professor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; musician Ethan Cayko, and Canadian software developer Paul Paroczai as part of the E.U. commissioned DigiScore Grant, 2021-2026.

Individuals must sign-up via CCOM Workshops A & B Google Form

Kenneth Fields, Professor of Media Arts

School of Science for Human Habitat

University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences 

ken.fields@gmail.com

Ken Fields taught at the Central Conservatory of Music (CCOM) in Beijing for two decades, prior to his current position at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. His main area of research focuses on the practice of live network music performance (NMP) or real-time, collaborative music making over high-speed networks. He is the creator of Artsmesh software, a comprehensive management platform for NMP. Other current projects are Co-PI for The Digital Score EU Research Council Grant 2001-2026 and development of the Netronome (networked audio latency tuner). He is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Organised Sound, Cambridge University Press, and the Electroacoustic Music Studies Asian Network (EMSAN)

Yuming Sun, Xinran Zhang: Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing
Hui Weng: New England Conservatory, Berklee College of Music

Tuesday, June 10, 12:00pm – 12:30pm
215 Shillman, Northeastern University

In this workshop, we invite participants to use “Zen” — a virtual Zheng software (named after the traditional Chinese instrument Zheng) designed and developed by Dr. Xinran Zhang for live performance. It has been featured in many concerts by CCOM. During this workshop, Dr. Yuming Sun will introduce his recent music composition that combines the virtual Zen with a real Zheng; and Dr. Zhang Xinran will explain the detailed technology behind the software. Virtuoso guzheng soloist, Ms. Hui Weng will perform the music on-site. Participants are required to bring a laptop with the Chrome browser and a functional Ethernet connection to use the software, and they will join the live performance with the musicians. 

The online version of Zen is available at https://zhangxr-wspn.github.io/GuZen/GuZen.html

Individuals must sign-up via this CCOM Workshops A & B Google Form.

Yuming Sun

Central Conservatory of Music

Yuming Sun, Ph.D., is a composer, music producer, and lecturer of electronic music composition at the Central Conservatory of Music. He studied under Professor Li Xiaobing, Director of the Department of AI Music and Music Information Technology and Ph.D. advisor at the Central Conservatory of Music. Sun was admitted to the conservatory in 2008, where he was recommended for a master’s program and later pursued a Ph.D. in 2020, graduating in 2023 and staying on as a faculty member.

Sun has received numerous honors, including the National Graduate Scholarship , the China Telecom Scholarship, the Soong Ching Ling Foundation-Gucci Music Fund, and recognition as an Outstanding Student in Beijing and an Outstanding Graduate in Beijing. He was also named an Advanced Individual of Beijing for the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. His compositions have won first prizes in the 7th and 11th MUSICACOUSTIC-BEIJING Composition Competitions and the Oskar Kolberg Electronic Music Composition Special Competition.

Sun has contributed to the music production of numerous large-scale programs and has served as the music director for various CCTV shows, including “Charity Night,” the “Shining Names” award ceremonies, the special program “Safe Travels” for National Traffic Safety Day, and “Landmarks of Chinese Civilization.” His works are widely performed across major media platforms, and his piece “The Ship” was featured on the popular show “I Am a Singer” in 2019.

Xinran Zhang

Central Conservatory of Music

Xinran Zhang is a faculty member in the Department of AI Music and Music Information Technology at the Central Conservatory of Music. He holds doctoral degrees in both engineering and the arts. He completed his undergraduate and first doctoral studies at the School of Information and Communication Engineering at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. He later achieved the top admission score to join the inaugural cohort of the Music AI Ph.D. program at the Central Conservatory of Music, where he studied under Professor Yu Feng (President of the Central Conservatory of Music and renowned conductor) and Professor Sun Maosong (Executive Vice Dean of the School of Artificial Intelligence at Tsinghua University and Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences). Upon graduation, he joined the faculty as one of the first specialists in music AI at the Central Conservatory of Music. His research focuses on areas such as music signal processing and language models. He has published over 20 papers in prestigious venues, including ACL, IEEE Wireless Communications, and GlobeCom. He also serves as a guest editor for special issues of the IEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems (SCI Q1, IF 5.0). In 2023, he was the global champion of Track A in the Sound Demixing Challenge. He holds nine authorized national invention patents, leads three research projects, and participates in multiple national-level research initiatives. He edited the proceedings for the 2023 Summit on Music Intelligence (SOMI2023).

Hui Weng

New England Conservatory, Berklee College of Music

Hui Weng, a virtuosic performer steeped in age ­old Chinese traditions, is crossing musical boundaries that few others have dared to cross, receiving international acclaim for her performances of traditional, contemporary, and improvised music on her Guzheng. Ms. Weng enjoys a multifaceted musical career as Guzheng performer, lecture, and music director.

As an active soloist, Ms.Weng works with such prominent orchestra as Youth Chinese orchestra, Boston Pops, ect. Her performance broadcast on WGBH national radio and CCTV music channel. In January 2011, she successfully presented a solo concert in Beijing and released her first album “Men of Letters”. She participated in many premiers of works by a new generation of composers, including Tan Dun, Yi Chen, Xiaogang Ye, Anthony Paul De Ritis, and many others. After her arrival in the US, she made her American debut, “Twin Flowers,” in Pickman Concert Hall and “The Rumble of spring” benefit concert in Jordan Hall.

As a lecturer and performer, Ms. Weng was invited to take part in the Educational Residency Program at Brandeis University, which brings artists of high accomplishment from around the world to teach and perform. She has performed, lectured, and given masterclasses at various music conferences, including the Beijing International Contemporary Music Festival, “The Third Stream” US-China Music Exchange Workshop, and the Globe musician Workshop.

By performing in a multicultural and academic environment at NEC, Ms. Weng has been exploring new musical innovations on the Guzheng, and is developing her modern style of Guzheng performance by seeking the perfect combination of traditional Chinese music, Western classical music, World Music, and contemporary improvisation. She has re­composed and performed many original cross-cultural pieces in concert, for which she has received critical acclaim.

Mr.Weng’s principal teachers and mentors include Yo Yo Ma, Dr. Hankus Netsky, Dr. Peter Row, Professor Wang Zhou.

In 2015, She has held a teaching post in the Preparatory and Adult Education Division at NEC. Ms. Weng is the instructor of the Chinese music ensemble at NEC Prep, while maintaining a private Guzheng (Chinese music) studio in NEC college. She has served as academic director of US-China Music Festival and Workshop summer program at NEC since 2015.

Gérard Assayag, Marco Fiorini, Mikhail Malt: IRCAM

Wednesday, June 11, 9:00am – 1:00pm
The Loft, Berklee College of Music
921 Boylston Street, 3rd Floor

This workshop is for those individuals interested in learning about Somax2, with the intention of performing an improvisation at the evening Club Concert at Kings on Wednesday, June 11, 10:00pm. Please note that preparation and set-up for that Club Concert will occur as early as 7:00pm that evening, details to be confirmed.

The Workshop can support a maximum of ten (10) active participants, first come, first served. Additional participants may sign-up as observers.

Authors with individual Somax2 works scheduled for the Club Concert at KINGS on Wednesday, June 11th may join the workshop. However, please be advised that your technical set-up will be completely autonomous, in terms of setup, tech, and performance for the concert.

Somax2 is an application for musical improvisation and composition using AI with machine listening, cognitive memory activation model, multi-agent architecture, full application interface to agent patching and control, and full Max library API. Somax2 is implemented in Max and Python and is based on a generative AI model to provide real-time machine improvisations coherent both with the internal selected corpus styles and with the unfolding external musical context. Somax2 handles both MIDI and audio input, corpus memory, and output. The model can be used with little configuration to let its agents autonomously interact with musicians (and one with another), but it also allows a variety of manual controls of its generative process and interaction strategies, effectively letting one use it as a fully flexible smart instrument.

All active participants are required to bring some audio materials (aiff or wav, not mp3) to use to build your corpus for Somax2. Ideally, these should consist of files each lasting 5 to 10 minutes and containing a sense of improvisation or composition (please don’t bring files containing only isolated audio samples).

All active participants are required to bring your instrument to the workshop. If you play an electric/electronic instrument, please bring with you the necessary equipment to perform with (cables, pedals, etc.). If you play an acoustic instrument and have a preferred microphone (like DPA, piezos, clips, etc.), you are welcome to bring it with you.

All active participants will be performing in the Somax2 performance at the Wednesday, June 11 Club Concert at Kings.

Individuals must sign-up via this Google form: Somax 2 Workshop Google Form.

For any additional questions, please reach out to: 

Marco Fiorini
RepMus REACH Team
IRCAM – STMS Lab, Paris
marco.fiorini@ircam.fr

Dr. Richard Boulanger, ICMC Boston 2025 Keynote Speaker

Thursday, June 12, 9:00am to 1:00pm
The Loft, Berklee College of Music
939 Boylston Street, 3rd floor, Boston, MA 02115

This workshop is for ICMC Boston 2025 registrants interested in participating in Richard Boulanger’s XR performance system workshop, Csound in the Metaverse. Dr. Boulanger will present overviews, instructions, and run 4-5 person jam sessions. Dr. Boulanger requests that attendees bring along their own Quest VR headsets (Quest 2, 3, 3s, or Pro), If possible. Several volunteers will be available to assist, and several expert players will lead the jam sessions.

Dr.B, his collaborator and core developer, Strong Bear, and his students, will work with together with you to explore virtual worlds and populate them with a huge collection of Csound ‘classics’, live effects, and a diverse new library of malleable, pliable, and customizable csound instruments. Immerse yourself in beautiful, magical, and awesome sound worlds. Then, join them in the ‘ICMCsoundMetaJam’ at Kings later that night!

Several individuals who participate in the CsoundMeta workshop will be invited to perform at the ICMC Club Concert at 10pm that evening – the ICMCsoundMetaJam – which will take place at Northeastern University’s Raytheon Amphitheatre. Dr.B and his student assistants will share their Quest3 XR Headsets with ICMC members in the audience so that they too can immerse themselves in the ICMCsoundMetaJam!

Individuals must sign-up via this Csound in the MetaVerse Google form.

There will be a cut-off at 20 participants for the CsoundMeta workshop; first come, first served.

Workshop Tutors & Assistants include: Hung Vo (Strong Bear), remote from Lakewood, Ohio; Xiaomeng (Susan) Zhong, Miles Clark, Shao Wen Chew, Bethanie Liu, Emory Smith, Evelyne Li, and Zeo Yin.

ICMCsoundMetaJam assistants include: Hung Vo (Strong Bear), remote from Lakewood, Ohio; Bethanie Liu, Emory Smith, Evelyne Li, Zeo Yin, Shao Wen Chew, Xiaomeng (Susan) Zhong, Miles Clark, Mateo Larea.

If you have additional questions — please do not hesitate to reach out to Dr. Richard Boulanger at: rboulanger@berklee.edu

Simon Linke, ligeti center, Hamburg, Germany

Friday, June 13, 9:00am to 12:00pm
215 Shillman Hall, Northeastern University

This hands-on workshop introduces the Impulse Pattern Formulation (IPF) – a powerful, nonlinear modeling technique for dynamic sound synthesis and beyond [https://impulsepatternformulation.org/] Originally inspired by the behavior of musical instruments, IPF enables both the emulation of physical instruments and the creation of entirely new, complex sounds through a recursive feedback system of damped impulses.

Participants will explore the creative and mathematical core of the IPF: from its use in sound synthesis and real-time performance to modeling self-organizing systems like tempo synchronization between musicians. Whether you’re a sound artist, coder, or experimental composer, this workshop offers exciting tools for transforming abstract mathematical models into expressive sonic results.

What to Expect:

• Learn how IPF models mimic physical systems and nonlinear behavior
• Explore IPF’s potential in sound design, composition, live performance, and more.
• Program your own IPF-based instruments or sonic structures using your preferred language
• Extend IPF to rhythm, ensemble behavior,  spatial audio, or algorithmic music-making

Activities include:

• Short theoretical introduction to the math and physics behind the IPF
• Hands-on implementation and sound design in languages such as Pure Data, Max/MSP, Python, etc.
• Open experimentation: bring your own ideas or physical models to explore
• Group discussion and live demos

Who should join?
This workshop is ideal for musicians, composers, sound designers, researchers, and anyone with basic programming skills and curiosity for physical modeling, nonlinear systems, and innovative sound and music.

Requirements & What to Bring:

• Basic knowledge of sound synthesis and signal processing
• Familiarity with one music-related programming language (e.g., Pure Data, Max/MSP, Python, SuperCollider, MATLAB, etc.)
• A laptop with your chosen language installed and ideally headphones
• Download demo scripts in advance from the GitHub repository or ensure internet access during the session
  GitHub repository
• Optional: Download further, more applied code examples:
  https://github.com/Simon-Linke/IPF-Sonification-PD
  https://github.com/moiseshorta/At-The-Edge-Of-Chaos

Simon Linke is educated in musicology, physics, and musical performance. In his Ph.D. thesis, he successfully investigated the Impulse Pattern Formulation (IPF) as a modeling tool for musical instruments and made the first attempts to transfer it to systems other than musical instruments. Currently, he works as a musicologist at the ligeti center in Hamburg, Germany, where he mainly explores new approaches to sound synthesis and new ways to describe the interaction between musicians. In addition to other methods, IPF plays a crucial role in his research. In addition, he also utilizes IPF for musical performances and supports other artists at ligeti center who want to use IPF in their own artistic work. 

Please note that this workshop will be limited to 20 participants, first-come, first-served.

Individuals interested in participating in this workshop must sign-up via this Impulse Pattern Formulation Google Form.

For any additional questions, please reach out to: Simon.Linke@haw-hamburg.de