New Pulsar Generator (nupg): compositional practice, digital sound synthesis model and their temporalities

Abstract

The thesis examines compositional methods emerging from within design and creative engagement with the New Pulsar Generator (nuPG) program. Following a hybrid methodology joining sound composition and media archaeology, it provides a systematic look into the creative practice with historically inherited computational and artistic materials. To do so, it charts a trajectory of the compositional process, sound theoretical model, programming paradigm, and associated formalisms in the computer program’s operative realm. The thesis has three broad goals: to outline an integrative approach to compositional practice which incorporates engagement with digital materials, their design, genealogy, and creative application; to examine and contextualise a portfolio of new compositions; and to introduce a new computer program for sound synthesis, the New Pulsar Generator (nuPG). The project thus combines and interweaves a compositional practice, media archaeology and computer program design. The relations and overlaps across these areas are emphasised throughout the thesis text, and connections among them are foregrounded. The project’s overarching aim is to mobilise such exchanges and to establish them as an operative concern of contemporary computer music practice.