UPISketch: The UPIC idea and its current applications for initiating new audiences to music

Abstract

With the invention of UPIC by Iannis Xenakis in 1977, for the first time one could achieve the sonic realisation of drawn musical ideas by a computer. Since then, no one seems to have proposed an equivalent tool, providing usability for both beginners and professionals. We will discuss how lively the UPIC idea can still be today, and why we should pay attention to this approach. Indeed, there has been a relative quietness in the domain of computer music specifically regarding how we arrange graphical curves to describe the evolution of sound parameters and create a musical form. This ascertainment led to the birth of our project UPISketch, which aims at the same goal, using today’s technology. We hope that this first version can reintroduce the concept of a ‘computer-assisted tool for sound composition, assisted by drawing’ to a global audience. The program being available since June 2018, we will evaluate the results of the first workshops with various publics and take a glimpse at the next developments.