Muhammad Hafiz Wan Rosli: Cryptonoise

The Box

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As physical objects are composed of building blocks called atoms, sound objects can be constructed using sonic grains. Granular Synthesis produces sound by combining elementary grains, such as from a wavetable oscillator. The frequency spectrum of these grains are determined by it's window function and the contents of the wavetable. In the case of a pure sinusoid, the spectrum could be represented as a single line at its frequency. The buffer may instead contain a period of any arbitrary signal and as the contents of the wavetable change, so does the spectra. This implementation encodes a unique wavetable within each barcode symbol, giving each grain its own identity. As the wavetable is read, its initial waveform morphs into a more complex function. Each evolution of a grain triggers an event that excites the system as a whole, creating a huge mass of sonic explosion. A performer interacts with the system by extracting the encoded data from a symbol, which then triggers the grain, resulting in a spectral evolution. The whole grid of barcodes transform as each individual barcode is excited, creating a dynamically morphing systemic palette of sound objects.

As a phonometrician and experimental acoustician, Muhammad Hafiz is extremely curious in every aspect of sound, from the acoustics to the psychoacoustics. His explorations encompass a wide spectrum of research areas, ranging from microsound, musique concrete, indeterminacy and algorithmic structures in electronic music composition, to audio signal processing, sound analysis, and spatialization. He is formally trained as a visual artist, and holds a BFA in New Media from Universiti Sains Malaysia, and an MFA in Computer Art from the School of Visual Arts. He is currently a PhD candidate at the Media Arts and Technology graduate program (UC Santa Barbara).