Aurafx: A Simple And Flexible Approach To Interactive Audio Effect-Based Composition And Performance

An interactive sound processor is an important tool for just about any modern composer. Performers and composers use interactive computer systems to process sound from live instruments. In many cases, audio processing could be handled using off-the-shelf signal processors. However, most composers favor a system that is more open-ended and extensible. Programmable systems are open-ended, but they leave many details to the composer, including graphical control interfaces, mixing and cross-fade automation, saving and restoring parameter settings, and sequencing through configurations of effects. Our work attempts to establish an architecture that provides these facilities without programming. It factors the problem into a framework, providing common elements for all compositions, and custom modules, extending the framework with unique effects and signal processing capabilities. Although we believe the architecture could be supported by many audio programming systems, we have created a particular instantiation (AuraFX) of the architecture using the Aura system.