The PLOrk Biography

Musical instruments have long been on the cutting edge of technology, often spurring new research and development. At Princeton, we have been exploring ways in which the computer can be integrated into conventional music-making contexts (chamber ensembles, jam sessions, etc…) while also radically transforming those contexts. This has involved developing new speaker systems that have a more instrument-like presence, human-computer interfacing designs that involve performers physically the way musical instruments do, and software [1|2|3] to link the performer’s bodies to sound. In the past, we have explored these ideas with small groups of people (2-3), and in the Fall of 2005 we initiated the Princeton Laptop Orchestra to extend these ideas to larger groups (15), using the orchestra (in a very general sense) as a model.

This is definitely an innovative way of thinking of music. In case you want to see video footage, check out this youtube clip!

The Princeton Laptop Orchestra (PLOrk) is a newly established ensemble of computer-based musical meta-instruments. Each instrument consists of a laptop, a multi-channel hemispherical speaker, and a variety of control devices (keyboards, graphics tablets, sensors, etc…). The students who make up the ensemble act as performers, researchers, composers, and software developers. The challenges are many: what kinds of sounds can we create? how can we physically control these sounds? how do we compose with these sounds? There are also social questions with musical and technical ramifications: how do we organize a dozen players in this context? with a conductor? via a wireless network?

The following image is a view of the orchestra set up before their debut concert: