IN A CONCRETE SPACE.

RECONSTRUCTING THE SPATIALIZATION

OF IANNIS XENAKIS’ CONCRET PH ON A MULTICHANNEL SETUP

Kees Tazelaar
Andrea Valle Vincenzo Lombardo
Institute of Sonology - Royal Conservatory
CIRMA - Università di Torino CIRMA - Università di Torino
The Netherlands
andrea.valle@unito.it vincenzo@di.unito.it
info@keestazelaar.com

ABSTRACT

Even if lasting less than three minutes, Iannis Xenakis’

Concret PH is one of the most influential works in the
electroacoustic domain. It was originally created to be dif-
fused in the Philips Pavilion, designed by the same Xenakis
for the 1958 World Fair in Brussels. As the Pavilion was
dismantled in 1959, the original spatialization design de-
vised from the Pavilion has been lost. The paper presents
new findings about the spatialization of Concret PH. It dis-
cusses them in the light of Xenakis’ aesthetics, and con-
sequently proposes a plausible reconstruction of the spa-
tialization design. Finally, it proposes a real-time, inter-
active implementation of the reconstructed spatialization,
rendered on a 8-channel setup using a VBAP technique. Figure 1. The Philips Pavilion.

1. INTRODUCTION
light effects over the whole space, and electronic music to
In 1956 Iannis Xenakis was working in the studio of Le be delivered onto a multichannel system. While keeping
Corbusier, when Philips company commissioned the fa- for himself the creation of the visual part of the show, Le
mous architect a pavilion for the 1958 World Fair in Brus- Corbusier asked one of the most avantgardist composers
sels 1 . The fair, being the first after the II World War, was of XX-th Century to join the project, Edgar Varèse. In the
a crucial event for the company: in particular, Louis Kalff, occasion, Varèse created, as a musical counterpart for the
artistic director of Philips, considered it an occasion not visual component, his Poème électronique: originally a 3-
to be renounced in order to show the world the technolog- track tape music, Varèse’s Poème is one of the undisputed
ical advancements of the Dutch company. Le Corbusier masterpiece of electronic music. At that time, Iannis Xe-
accepted the commission and replied by promising to real- nakis was an associate at Le Corbusier’s studio, where he
ize not an exhibit structure but a revolutionary “electronic had already developed some of his well-known architec-
poem”. Le Corbusier’s conception strictly adhered to the tural exploits (e.g. the monastery of La Tourette). Xenakis
modernistic assumption that sees in technology the way in was responsible for the design of the space. Xenakis turned
which art can fulfill a palingenesis of humanity: the archi- Le Corbusier’s original idea of a shell-like structure, based
tect proposed Philips a Wagnerian total artwork of sound on a stomach-shaped plant, into a self-carrying, concrete
and lights, taking place in a space explicitly designed as shell, higher than 20 meters. More, the Pavilion’s shape
a container for the show. As a consequence, the project was generated by Xenakis as rule-based surfaces, namely
for the Philips Pavilion resulted in a complex work of art, hyperbolic paraboloids: the resulting shape was a tridi-
the Poème électronique: an 8-minute multimedia work in mensional architectural object made of continuous curved
which architecture, image and sound were deeply inter- lines. By explicit admission of Xenakis, the ruled surfaces
mingled. The show included a black and white film, made of the Pavilion (see Figure 1) bear a structural relation to
of two filmed sequences created from still images, various the striking opus 1 of the composer/architect, Metastaseis
1 This
(1953/54) [2]. In this work, Xenakis started from a theo-
work extends the EU-funded VEP Project
(http://edu.vrmmp.it/vep/), that has reconstructed the Philips retical problem, that of defining a continuous transition be-
Pavilion and the Poème électronique using virtual reality techniques. For tween two discrete states (Xenakis, cited in [3], also [4], p.
a presentation of the project, including previous works, see [1].
32). The solution was based on devising a system of string
glissandos with different speeds and ranges (“sonic spaces
Copyright: c 2010 Andrea Valle et al. This is an open-access article distributed of continuous evolution”, [5], p. 10). While designing the
under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0 Unported, which pavilion, his “inspiration was pin-pointed by the experi-
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided ment with Metastaseis”, so that there is a “causal chain
the original author and source are credited. of ideas” connecting the two works. Thus, in the Philips
Pavilion, “music and architecture found an intimate con- the instructions Le Corbusier gave to Xenakis for the in-
nection” ([5], p. 10). The internal surfaces of the Pavilion, termission music on 27 November 1957, one indeed gets
covered with asbestos, were then literally encrusted with the impression that he had little knowledge of the impor-
loudspeakers (for a total of 350). Loudspeakers were or- tance of Xenakis as a composer: “I have thought very seri-
ganized into “sound routes” (allowing sound to travel the ously about your two minutes of music. What is it about?
space) and “clusters” (groups of contiguous loudspeakers [. . . ] it is a sort of carnival hawking, in which it is possi-
playing together). Their presence converted the Pavilion ble to pack a lot of wit and content that can touch a crowd
into a “sounding room” ([6], 210), where, after more than that by definition is inattentive.” ([6], p. 205). The let-
30 years, Varèse was able to finally listen to his music “lit- ter ended with a very firm refusal to Xenakis’ request to
erally projected into space” (Varèse, cited in [7]). Apart leave the office for three weeks to work on his piece in
from the link with Metastaseis, the Philips Pavilion in- Eindhoven, using the same advanced equipment as Varèse
cludes a second relevant element in relation to Xenakis’ was using for the Poème. Two days later, Le Corbusier
music. As a composer, Xenakis was allowed by Le Cor- sent a diagram of the intermission to Kalff which gave a
busier to create a short piece that should act as an inter- description of Xenakis’ music, very close to the music as
lude between two performances of the show: the 8 min- we know it now: “Clouds of intermittent sounds, varying
utes of the Poème électronique were embedded in a cyclic in density and intensity, and moving within the space of
program of 10 minutes, which was supposed to run con- the pavilion.”([6], p. 206). On 2 December 1957, Xenakis
tinuously. The two additional minutes were reserved for wrote to Kalff, describing the character of the intermission
an intermission, which would enable one audience to leave music as “sober, surprising and of an artistic quality, and
the pavilion while the next to enter, the “Interlude sonore”. at least as good as the rest of the spectacle”. As in the
The Interlude would have then entered Xenakis’ catalogue case of Poème électronique, Concret PH was to be deliv-
with the name of ‘Concret PH”. Because of its quite singu- ered inside the Pavilion, where loudspeakers were arranged
lar sonic structure (see later), the piece has gained a con- into sound routes and cluster. Figure 2 shows a diagram of
sistent fame, far beyond the specialists of contemporary loudspeaker organization, from an original sketch by Xe-
and electronic music, and has been hailed as a precursor nakis. Sound routes are indicated in the text, clusters are
of “electronica” ([8], see also [9]). While discussing the marked with letters A, B, C, D, E, U and J. In order to spa-
piece, Harley observes that “the mobile sound trajectories tialize sounds, a complex, totally automatic, routing sys-
throughout the Philips Pavilion would have no doubt been tem was devised, based on selectors as used in automatic
astonishing” ([10], p. 19). Still its original relation with the telephone exchanges, switching on and off the loudspeak-
space of the Pavilion remains unclear. In the next sections, ers [14] [1]. In the case of Poème électronique, a spatial-
we first take into account newly available information on ization score was written. It includes instructions about
the Interlude/Concret PH from unpublished sources; then when to drive a certain track into a certain loudspeaker
we discuss issues related to its spatialization in the Philips group. If the group is a cluster, all the composing loud-
Pavilion and propose a novel reconstruction from unpub- speakers are activated/disactivated at the same time. If it
lished sources; finally, we describe a simulation of the spa- is a sound route, then a stepping rate is indicated (i.e., the
tialization implemented on a 8-channel setup, presented rate at which the sound travels along a route), in stepping
publicly on January, 15th, 2010 at the EMF Foundation impulses per second. In the sound routes, a sound “moves”
in New York, in the occasion of the the exhibition “Iannis as it is progressively routed from a speaker to the following
Xenakis. Composer, Architect, Visionary” at The Drawing one. The score was then translated into signals for control-
Center [11]. ling the dialers. Signals were recorded on a control tape to
be played during the performance, driving the audio sys-
2. BEFORE CONCRET PH: THE INTERLUDE tem. In a letter to Kalff from 11 March 1958, Xenakis
gave a clear description of the material of the Interlude
In this section we reconstruct the history of the Interlude Sonore and the way it was supposed to be spatialized in
merging information from already published sources with the pavilion was given: “We recorded the sound of char-
new data coming from unpublished letters by Louis Kalff coal, and it is very beautiful. Please answer the following
(now at the Philips Archive and in the private collection of questions as soon as possible: a) will I be able to utilise
Peter Wever, co-author of a historical study of the Brus- three independent (but synchronised) tracks? b) will I be
sels Expo [12]). The Interlude music was composed by able to determine simultaneously the speed of movement
Iannis Xenakis, and resembled his later published work along the horizontal belt?”. Xenakis then explicitly indi-
Concret PH, but was not identical to it. The title “Con- cates that each tracks was characterized in his intentions
cret PH” did not appear once in the correspondence relat- by a specific “sound” and a specific “speed” [15]. He also
ing to the design of the pavilion or in the official credits. included a drawing (Figure 3), where sounds were indi-
On the plate near the entrance of the pavilion it was called cated with Roman letters a, b, c and speeds with Greek let-
“Interlude Sonore”, which was also the title under which ters α, β, γ. Kalff answered two days later: “We can [. . . ]
it was mentioned in the book Poème électronique released use only one track to reproduce your composition. The
by Le Corbusier’s collaborator Jean Petit [13]. An origi- sound of the tape will be spread along the horizontal circle
nal version of the Interlude Sonore was found back in the of loudspeakers surrounding the pavilion at a height of 3 to
archive of the Institute of Sonology in The Netherlands. It 4 metres. Along this circle, which will have approximately
consists of three tracks and has a duration of 1’52”. From
 minutes of the Interlude, and my answer to the nice letter
of Tak, who together with you, authorises me to use the
third dimension.” (April 3rd, 1958) [15]. Four days later,
in another letter to Kalff, Xenakis continued: “I think that
in the meantime you should have well received the three
tapes of the music for the Interlude. I hereby include the
stereophonic [sic] score and a letter to Tak. [. . . ] The three
tapes will give you an impression of the sounds and their
composition (articulation). New effects will be created in
three dimensions. Despite their identity, the uniformity of
the used sounds will not disturb the timbral richness em-
ployed by Varèse. I thus stayed in my very secondary role.
I have only used the third dimension according to your in-
structions. If that would be too disturbing, we could re-
turn to the horizontal zone. I have added another 30 sec-
onds, because I don’t think two minutes will be enough
Figure 2. Diagram of clusters and routes of loudspeakers,
to empty and fill the building, even if we would use tear
adapted from Xenakis’ original sketch (from [1]).
gas (and by the way, why not?)” [15]. Kalff replied to
Xenakis on 9 April 1958: “We have received your tapes
100 loudspeakers 2 , the sound could move and stop at the in good order. We have given them to Tak, together with
points of your choice. [. . . ] The two other synchronised the score. He is working day and night to complete the
tapes could then only be used to reproduce other simulta- composition of Varèse with the three-dimensional effects”
neous sounds from other directions” [15]. It also becomes [15]. When Xenakis was able to hear his piece inside of
clear from the technical description of the whole system in the pavilion for the first time is not completely clear, but in
Philips Technical Review [14] that it would be impossible a letter on 18 April 1958 to Varèse, he showed his dissat-
to feed three different sound sources to one ’route du son, isfaction with the quality of the tapes [15]. According to
let alone having them travel at different speeds in differ- a report by Kalff, efforts to improve the playback quality
ent directions. More, a route could only stand or move in of the Interlude Sonore were undertaken between 24 April
one direction. In Varèse’s score for Poème électronique, and 2 May 1958: “Mr. Tak will go to Eindhoven to pro-
routes never stands, but always move: otherwise, indeed, cess the sound tapes of Xenakis for the intermission [. . . ]
they would simply act as clusters. Xenakis, obviously dis- He will be finished by the end of the week and will bring
appointed, wrote back on 17 March 1958: “With this let- them to Brussels either the 28th or the 29th” 3 . After hav-
ter I include a copy of the two minutes score. This score ing heard the complete program in the Pavilion for the first
was conceived for three tapes and for high speeds of move- time on 2 May 1958, Xenakis was still not happy because
ment. You now tell me that I have only one track at my the tapes had been remastered in Eindhoven at a level be-
disposal [for the movement]. I am sorry to hear that, but low his specifications and his likings. Kalff acknowledged
I will adapt myself. But then I would like to know if the the problem, and in a letter from 28 July 1958, Xenakis
conceived speeds in the score are possible, and on the other was invited to go to Eindhoven and work on the revisions
side if the technicians will have sufficient time to make all in August; the final versions, however, would have been
the necessary connections. May I ask you for your opinion completed only in early August [6]. Indeed, the letters
on the copy I send you? This would be the best way for me show a sort of continuous reworking process of the piece,
to find out about the technical limitations. Please send me both concerning sound material and spazialization.
this as soon as possible” (17 March 1958) [15]. But then
in the end, Tak, the technical supervisor for sound-related 3. SPATIALIZATION RECONSTRUCTION
aspects in the Pavilion, seemed to have come up with a
In order to reconstruct the spatialization of the Interlude,
solution: “We believe that it would be more fascinating if
possible clues can be found in the sonic structure of the
your sounds would be reproduced with all available means.
piece, in Xenakis’ spatialization strategies after the Pavil-
This is why we asked our technicians to develop the equip-
ion, and in Xenakis’ aesthetics at the time.
ment in such a way that the machines with three tracks and
As we are still investigating about the 3-track tape (the final
the machines for the automation can be used during the
version mentioned by Xenakis was 2’30”, while the 3-track
intermission as well. I have the pleasure to tell you that
tape we found is less than 2 minutes), in the following we
they managed to do that and that you have three individual
take into account (and use for reconstruction) the currently
tracks at your disposal. What you demand in the excerpt
available version by EMF 4 , lasting 2’40”, mixed down to
of your composition will be possible to realise.” (24 March
mono. In his well-known book Formalized music [5], Xe-
1958) [15]. Xenakis then sent the three tapes and showed
nakis describes Concret PH as an example of “Markovian
his gratitude for being allowed to use the spatial possibil-
Stochastic Music” [5]. For the composer, the piece demon-
ities of the sound system in the pavilion: “By the end of
strates that “stochastics is valuable not only in instrumen-
this week I will send the tapes and the score of the two
3 Letter from the private collection of Peter Wever.
2 The number of loudspeaker for the route is estimated in 52 by [1]. 4 Iannis Xenakis, Electronic Music, EMF, CD EM102.
 43
8000
7000
6000

Frequency (Hz)
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
Figure 3. Drawing by Xenakis (unpublished letter 0
25 55
to Kalff), explaining the spatialisation of the Interlude Time (s)

Sonore. 125
1.6·104
1.4·104
1.2·104

Frequency (Hz)
tal music, but also in electromagnetic music” ([5], p. 43). 104
8000
The same chapter introduces the first theoretical proposal 6000
for what would then be called “granular synthesis”: Con- 4000

cret PH could be considered as its first example [9]. Xe- 2000

0
nakis, as most scholars, individuates the crucial aspect of 115
Time (s)
135

the piece in sound material, not in spatialization: that is,

in the use of micro, particulated, undifferentiated sound
matter to achieving a sense of continuous transformation. Figure 4. Sonograms of two excerpts from Concret PH.
Concret PH is a textural composition, with no specific tem- Entering of textures 1 (top) and 2 (bottom) (note the differ-
poral macroform, a “cloud filled with splinters of sound” ent frequency ranges).
([9], p. 203), resulting in “dry, but sparkling study” ([16],
p. 18). The granular sound matter reveals a specific tactile
ion, the composer made a large use of loudspeakers in
quality [17], that can remind the concrete surfaces of the
many other works. The Poème électronique was a model
Pavilion [18]. While there are many references in litera-
for Xenakis’ experimentation with sound and light sys-
ture to Concret PH, still the only detailed analysis is the
tems, the Polytopes 7 [20] and the electroacoustic work
one proposed by Di Scipio [19]. According to Di Scipio
Bohor (1968) was for 8 channels. But even if the com-
the piece is based on a systemic approach to composition,
poser himself has described in depth many of his compo-
also evident in Analogique A et B [9]. The most relevant
sition techniques, no detailed info on spatialization strate-
aspect of the piece is sound behavior at the micro level,
gies in multichannel setup is available, to our knowledge.
that results from a process of densification, based on the
Still, we know that Xenakis applied to the control of lights
layering of two textures. The “rather simple macroscopic
and sounds in space the same aesthetic principles and for-
shape” then depends from a single transition from the first
mal procedures he used in his musical composition: as an
to second texture. While Di Scipio’s general remarks are
example, concerning the Polytope de Montréal (1967), he
very insightful, his analysis is phenomenologically not so
stated that his “total experience with musical composition
convincing 5 . In fact, it is possible to retrieve at least 3
was used to serve light composition” (Xenakis, cit, in [20],
textures (to these, maybe a variation of the second can be
57). As evident in [2], the composer has always strived to a
added). Figure 4 shows two excerpts from a sonographic
unified form of thought. Hence the need, in order to define
representation of Concret PH 6 . The piece starts with tex-
a formal model for the control of the sound speed, to take
ture 1, in crescendo: here (Figure 4, top left), the spectrum
into account some aspects of Xenakis’ aesthetics.
presents energy spread almost exclusively over 4000 Hz.
Concerning the position of Interlude/Concret PH in the
Even if at 30’ some lower impulses can be heard, the sec-
Xenakisian corpus, it must be noted that, apart from his
ond, lower texture enters definitively at 43”: new grains
seminal work Metastaseis (1953-54) (directly inspiring the
are distinctively lower than previous ones, and they appear
Pavilion), Pithoprakta (1955-56)’s inspiring model came
on the spectrum as black spots in the range between 2500
from theory of gas molecules, governing the stochastic dis-
and 3500 Herz (Figure 4, top, dotdashed box). The dou-
tribution of sound events [19], [21]. Analogously, Achor-
ble layering of the textures 1 and 2 is kept stable until 84”.
ripsis (1957-58) can be considered a sonification of prob-
Then, gliding grains, still from texture 2, appear, with an
ability distributions, following the model of gas diffusion
increasing density and relevance. After 2’05”, a third, dis-
[22] [23]. The same principles are at work in his electro-
tinct layer is superimposed: it shows a larger spectrum,
acoustic music. In Diamorphoses (1957) he applied stochas-
both in the low and high frequencies, and it is character-
tic principles, while Analogiques A et B introduced Marko-
ized by a sort of sweeping motion (Figure 4, bottom). The
vian Stochastic Music [5] [19], and the notions of Gabor
piece ends with texture 3 fading out (2’40”), leaving the
quanta. Speaking about Pithoprakta in 1956, Xenakis un-
texture 1 alone.
derlines the role of the “Gas Parable”, one of the “para-
Concerning Xenakis’ spatializations after the Philips Pavil-
bles” he used to conceptualize the organization of sound
5 It must be noted that the Di Scipio’s analysis was based on a the events [2]. In the Gas model, the two main parameters
version of Concret PH from the Nonesuch LP, and made use of scarcely to be considered are pressure and temperature: pressure
readable sonograms produced in 1984.
6 As the piece is structurally made of large-band impulses, the spec-
trum is very dense and sonograms are not particularly helpful. Here they 7 More, the shape of the Diatope (1979) bears a striking resemblance
are used only to show large discontinuities among textures. with the Philips Pavilion.
is the density of events, while temperature is the speed of
molecules (that is, it represents kinetic energy). Indeed,
Xenakis loves to speak about music in terms of its “tem-
perature”. This allows to introduce another typical element
of Xenakis’ geometric imagery: line. Metastaseis and the
Pavilion are examples of the composer’s fascination with
ruled surfaces, and glissandos are Xenakis’ preferite exam-
ples of lines in music. Not by chance, they are put in rela-
tion to temperature of molecules [5]. As the sound material
of the Concret PH is indeed made of sound molecules, the
sound spatialization should make them travel around the
Pavilion. As in a cloud of particles, masses can travel at
different speeds.
In our reconstruction, we embrace a conservative approach,
assuming as a plausible hypothesis that Xenakis consid-
ered initially three tracks, each one with a different texture:
tracks, made of molecular sounds, were not only character-
ized by specific densities and temperatures of sound molecules
(one can think in particular of the gliding grains), but, co-
herently, also by a specific speed of diffusion in the space.
As he was not permitted to use three tracks in the space,
these were mixed down onto a single track tape, to be de-
livered in the route I. As we discussed, it seems that, at the
end, the access to the “3D dimension” was possible too, but
in some sense Xenakis considered it optional, and available Figure 5. From top to bottom, speeds of layers 1, 2 and 3,
sources are not clear about what was effectively imple- overall speed, and sampled overall speed.
mented in the Pavilion. The use of the 3rd dimension can
be obtained by delivering the other tracks on other sound loudspeakers can be activated/disactivated [14]. Each tex-
routes, going up and down in the pavilion, or by diffusing ture’s speed is defined in a certain interval and actually
them from fixed positions, most probably from the large randomly selected by using a Gaussian distribution (Gaus-
clusters above the entrance and exit (hence the reference sian distributions were extensively used by Xenakis at that
to “stereophonic” placement by Xenakis). This second hy- time [5]). As the average speed is proportional to textural
pothesis is consistent with [1]. Following the conservative density, textures 1 and 2 are opposed to 3, much thicker.
hypothesis, in our reconstruction the spatialization of the The first and the second textures have speeds included in
Interlude uses a mono track, as it is limited to the horizon- the range [2, 4]. Texture 3’s speed is in a higher, smaller
tal route, in the form of a continuous variation of speed (ac- range, [3, 4]. Each texture is given a duration range. Dur-
celeration/deceleration), with no clusters involved (clusters ing the generation process, a duration is selected in the
could be easily added to our design). Also, we assume that range, again following a Gaussian distribution. For the
the design of the spatialization for other routes could fol- duration, speed increases/decreases continuously, as it is
low the same principle that we are going to discuss. Thus, calculated by linearly interpolating the starting speed and
the final spatialization score would have been made of acti- the next one. In each texture, average duration is propor-
vation events for route I occurring at variable time intervals tional to textural density. The duration range in seconds
(i.e. created by a variable stepping rate). for texture 1 is [1, 3], and [2, 5] for texture 2, as the latter
Taking into account Xenakis’ original idea of having three shows a slower pace and the emergence of quasi-pitched
autonomous tracks, from the analysis of Concret PH, we grains. Texture 3 is associated the smaller duration range,
assume three different textural layers, where each texture [0.3, 2], meaning that speed values are selected at the high-
is characterized by a specific speed. In the spatialization est rate. This methodology, based on linear interpolation,
design, each texture is given a certain speed, that can be is based on the relevance of the visual geometric model
thought as the rotation speed of the layer over the looping of the line in Xenakis’ work: Xenakis always draws lines
horizontal route. Hence, the total rotation speed (the actual on paper while composing, and the ruled surfaces of the
parameter to be reconstructed) is the sum of the three dif- Philips Pavilion bear a strict relation to the sketches for
ferent speeds (Figure 5). In order to calculate the speed the score of Metastaseis. Speeds for each texture are rep-
of each layer, a direct relation between the average du- resented in Figure 5, with speed expressed in activation
ration of the impulsive events and the average rate is as- impulses per second. In order to define loudspeaker acti-
sumed: the shorter the event, the lower the average rate. vation/disactivation and to create the final score, we have
The available speed range, expressed in activation rate for to remember that speakers are discrete, so it is necessary
loudspeaker is [0, 10], where 0 represents no motion and 10 to define activation/disactivation events by sampling the
loudspeaker/second was the technical limitation for Philips speed curve. The process works as follow:
Pavilion hardware, i.e. the maximum rate at which the
1. at t0 select speed s and activate loudspeaker l0
 virtual
source chan n

Virtual space z
chan m a

distance rho loudspeaker

b
y
displacement
angle theta x

Virtual Physical space

Listener

Figure 7. 2D Localization and 3D distance rendering.

Figure 6. Relations between the virtual space and the final file where each line specifies an event. The Control En-
8-channel setup. gine parses the score in order to retrieve events. At the
same time, it also monitors user interaction (i.e. changes
of his/her position). For each event, be it a score- or a
2. calculate the duration d of the event, i.e. the time user one, it sends the opportune commands to the Video
interval to the activation of loudspeaker. As s rep- and Audio Engines, via OSC messages. Here we do not
resents the rate of activation of loudspeaker, if, e.g., discuss in details the architecture (see[1]), and we focus
s = 2, then the next loudspeaker will be activated instead on the Audio Engine 8 . It uses Vector-Based Am-
after d = 1s = 0.5 seconds plitude Panning (VBAP) [24], a triangle based general-
ization of equal-power panning that has been extensively
3. write an event e in the score, with loudspeaker index
tested with VR applications [25]: it allows to render an
0 and duration d
arbitrary source in a virtual space on a ring or half dome
4. wait for d seconds of loudspeakers (in both cases, the loudspeakers have all
the same distances from the ideal listener). The ring/dome
At time t0 +d, a new speed is selected, and so on, until total can include an arbitrary number of loudspeakers, placed
duration has passed. As the horizontal route wraps around, on arbitrary points of the circumference/sphere. In short,
the process keeps going on until the total time of the piece by passing the position data related to a virtual source to
has passed. The algorithm can be thought as a Sample and a VBAP algorithm, the latter can render the virtual posi-
Hold applied to the total speed curve (with variable rate tion through a physical multichannel setup. In the virtual
depending on sampled speed). Also, if s > 10, then speed Philips Pavilion, the sound sources are the 350 loudspeak-
is clipped to s = 10. The sampled and clipped speed is ers, each with a fixed position on the Pavilion’s walls. Our
shown in Figure 5, bottom. final setup made use of an 8-loudspeaker ring, with the au-
dience standing around the ideal listener position, in the
4. IMPLEMENTATION centre of the ring (Figure 6). In order to pass from a 3D
space (in the Pavilion) to a 2D space (the ring), we dis-
The proposed Concret PH’s spatialization has been imple- carded the height of the loudspeakers (that is, we projected
mented in a virtual reality application, that simulates the the loudspeaker positions on the horizontal plane). This
whole Poème électronique inside the Philips Pavilion. By means that, with respect to Figure 7, loudspeaker a and b
using VR techniques, the resulting installation let the user will have the same position. In relation to space simula-
experience again the original show, placing her/him into a tion, we used VBAP algorithms to recreate sound local-
virtual space created by computer graphics and spatialized ization [26]. In order to render distance cues (intensity,
audio. The application extends the VEP project [1]. Dif- direct/reverberat ratio, spectrum) [27], we used the inverse
ferent versions of the VEP application have been imple- square law to scale amplitude in relation to distance of the
mented by the VEP project: a single-user, immersive setup loudspeakers from the listener. We avoided to add rever-
with headphones and stereoscopic head-mounted display, a beration (reverberation data for the Pavilion are available
“shared” multi-user version with binaural audio (as in the from the VEP Project), as it would then be superimposed
first version) but using screen projection, a non-interactive to the one of the physical space (that cannot be controlled a
six-channel version on a DVD-video. Here we present a priori), and we considered spectral filtering not so relevant
new version where the audio component is driven by a VR in the closed space of the Pavilion. While for localization
engine, capable of delivering interactive, real-time audio we discard third dimension of original sources, 3D coordi-
through a multichannel generic setup (Figure 6). Concerning nates are still used to calculate distance. As an example,
the Philips Pavilion and the Poème électronique, it relies in Figure 7, source b will indeed sound from a position,
on the data provided by the VEP project, and integrates but at least from b distance. Differently from [1], in this
the new findings about Interlude/Concret PH discussed be- version the virtual listener can move freely in the Pavil-
fore. The general architecture of the real-time versions of ion, and her/his position has to be merged with the source
the VEP applications features three components: a Com- position in order to determine the actual orientation to be
puter Graphic Engine, a Control Engine, and an Audio
Engine. All the events of the show (concerning the con- 8 In must also be noted that Concret PH was to be played during the
interlude. As a consequence, no visual elements were present while Xe-
trol of audio/video elements of the Poème électronique) nakis’ music was played in the dark Pavilion, thus creating a purely acous-
are recorded sequentially in a score. The score is a text matic context for the piece.
 8 internal busses to 8 outs
Track 1
6
2
Track 2 VBAP out

3 PLAYERS 4
Track 3
3 internal busses DSP
Player 1 (filter, Volume
CONTROL reverb,
etc)
ENGINE Player 2

Player 3

OSC 1
track
msg
RUNNER 1
Mix
[theta, to .1 out
2
rho, dist] all sources SubVol
3 writes to the DSP 7
same 8 busses
•••
350

5 SOURCES

Figure 8. Overall architecture of the Audio Engine.

rendered. The audio application has been developed us- the virtual pavilion, the Runner calculates the theta/rho
ing the SuperCollider environment: it features a high-level, parameters (representing position in polar coordinates) by
object-oriented, interactive language together with a real- merging the position of the virtual source (passed with the
time, efficient audio server. With respect to other similar message) and the listener’s one (stored by the Audio En-
projects (Chuck[28], Impromptu [29]), the SuperCollider gine). More, dist parameter is calculated, representing
language combines features common to other general and the distance of the source from the listener in 3D. Then,
audio-specific programming languages (e.g. respectively the related source is activated, and the required track is
Smalltalk and Csound), and, at the same time, it allows to routed. The source is passed the spatial parameters (theta,
generate programmatically complex GUIs. It includes na- rho, dist), so that it can properly process the incoming sig-
tive support to OSC protocol, and VBAP algorithms are nal (from the routed track), and render audio. The Runner
available from the BEASTmulch library 9 . The architec- keeps track of active sources in the “active list”, and stores
ture of the audio application is shown in Figure 8. It re- the actual position of the listener. When a loudspeaker is
ceives OSC messages from the Control Engine. The ac- no more active, a stop audio message is sent by the Control
tual setup includes 8 loudspeakers fed by 8-channel audio, Engine: on receiving, the source is paused and removed
with an added subwoofer receiving a mix down of the 8 from the active list. Finally, user events occur when the
audio streams. Its main subcomponents are Runner (1), position of the listener in the virtual space changes, that
Players (3), Sources (5) and DSP (7). The Runner han- is when the actual user explores the virtual Pavilion e.g.
dles all the communications with the Control Engine. On by means of a joystick. In that case, the listener position
initialization, it loads the required audio tracks (2): for is updated, and theta, rho, dist parameters are re-
each track (3 in case of the Poème électronique, 1 for Con- calculated and passed to sources in the active list. In this
cret PH), it creates a playback unit (3) and routes it to in- way, the 8-channel panning and the scaling for each source
ternal busses (4). It creates sources (5) and controls all are recalculated.
the processes related to them. In turn, sources represent
sources in the pavilion (i.e. loudspeakers), and encapsu-
late audio DSP capabilities for both playing back audio 5. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORKS
and spatialization rendering. There are 350 sources, one
The reconstruction of the Poème électronique has shown
for each loudspeaker. Each source outputs 8-channel audio
how many and intermingled are the issues emerging from
via VBAP algorithm, written on 8 common internal busses
XX-th century artworks that massively involve short-living
(6). These busses are routed to the DSP subcomponent
and ad hoc technological solutions and devices [30]. These
(7), that allows for a global control on the audio streams,
issues, concerning philological, technological, aesthetic as-
so that they can be adjusted in relation to the physical lis-
pects, clearly emerge in the case of the Interlude Sonore.
tening space. After being scaled through global amplitude
Our conservative approach has allowed us to re-experience
scaling (“volume”), the 8 audio streams are mixed down to
a plausible diffusion of Xenakis’ work in a virtual space,
be sent to the LFE channel. The sub volume provides inde-
and, in the occasion, to develop an innovative technolog-
pendent scaling for the subwoofer signal. In real-time in-
ical solution for a multichannel rendering of the Philips
teraction, the Control Engine sends event-related messages
Pavilion. The spatialization proposed at the EMF event
to the Runner. There are three types of events: startup,
has received a very positive feedback from the audience
score, user. Startup events requires to start/stop the play-
and the specialized press:“the digital manipulation of the
back units, and are used for syncing the Audio Engine with
original sound material was admirable and effective” [31].
the Control Engine. Score events are the ones scripted in
In the future, we plan to analyze in depth, and eventually
the score (resulting from reconstructed spatialization), and
integrate, the three audio tracks of the Interlude we found.
occurs when a loudspeaker in the Pavilion start or stop re-
Also, we are still searching for the original spatialization
ceiving audio. In the case that a loudspeaker is started in
score by Xenakis. Finally, we plan to develop alternate
9 http://www.beast.bham.ac.uk/research/mulch.shtml versions of the spatialization including the third dimension
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