Peter Mcilwain
Lecturer in Composition
phone
03 9905 1330
email Peter.Mcilwain@arts.monash.edu.au
Peter is a composer specialising in computer and electro acoustic music but has a wide range of musical and artistic interests. These include writing works for traditional ensembles, film and music theatre as well as computer music and installation art. Recent projects have included the development of software which generates and distributes music in multi-speaker sound systems using a connectionist nodal network approach as well as the development of a flocking algorithm which generates melodies in response to movements by a performer using an ultrasonic sensor. He is Lecturer in Composition and Music Technology in the School of Music - Conservatorium at Monash University where he heads up the Sonic Art Group.
compositions
instrument landscape
#2
In 2002, Peter completed work with
clarinetist Peter Handsworth on an electro-acoustic piece for clarinet.
The electro-acoustic parts of the piece are being created from samples
of clarinet recordings made by the 2 Peters in the Monash recording
studio. The samples are cut up and recombined in a software program
written by Peter Mc. Here is an example of one of the clarinet recordings
after it has been processed by the software. Peter H. has recently
performed the piece in conferences and on tour in Bulgaria.
tubetexture [mp3 format]
instrument landscape
#3
This work was created in conjuction
with Andrew Ross who assisted with oboe improvisations that where
recorded and used as soucre material. The software that was used
in Instrument Landscape #2 was refined and developed further in this
piece. The textures that the software generates are now more mobile
and variable. In addition a number of FFT based processes where used
to create drone notes that are pitched to match the original source
material. Unlike the previous pieces in the Instrument Landscape
series this work does not include a live solo part.
software
Nodal
Resources relating the Nodal project can be found here.
Matrixsynth V2 - A monophonic synthesiser based on the EMS VCS3
This software synthesiser is designed for the purposes of training
students in basic analogue style synthesis techniques. The highly
flexible nature of the matrix that was employed in the original VCS3s
is used here to assist in visualising the signal pathways that are
used in sound synthesis.
System Requirements: Mac OS10.2
Download Matrixsynth, Maxruntime & Documentation: Matrixsynth_v2.zip
Last updated: 01/06/05
pollock
This image is from a 2 dimensional mobile generated by a software program created by Peter called Pollock (after the painter Jackson Pollock). This program was exhibited as part of the First Iteration Conference in Melbourne in 2000. The images look at first like still pictures but after watching for a while, it can be seen that they are constantly changing.
papers
Spatio-temporal
Patterning in Computer Generated Music: A Nodal Network Approach
.
This paper describes Peter's work in neural net
programming
Spatialised
Sound: the Listener's Perspective
A paper
about the virtual sound spaces created by loudspeakers.
A
Survey of Software Designs from the Sonic Art Group
This paper describes a number of software programs written by Peter
which have been developed and tested in the Sonic Art Group.