About This Issue

The program co-chairs of the Sixth Sound and Music Computing Conference (SMC 2009), which was held in Porto, Portugal, in July 2009, serve as the guest editors for the articles in this special issue of Computer Music Journal. The three guest editors are Fabien Gouyon (of the Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores do Porto [INESC Porto] and the engineering faculty of the University of Porto), Álvaro Barbosa (of the Centro de Investigação em Cîencias e Tecnologia das Artes [CITAR, or Research Center for Science and Technology of the Arts], Universidade Católica Portuguesa, in Porto), and Xavier Serra (of the Music Technology Group [MTG] of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, in Barcelona). In consultation with Computer Music Journal, the guest editors selected five highly rated technical papers from SMC 2009 and invited their authors to submit extended and updated versions for publication in this issue. In addition, the guest editors invited a new article from SMC 2009’s music program co-chairs, Carlos Guedes and Pedro Rebelo. That article discusses considerations in programming music for conferences like SMC, such as the merits of curators and juries, with supporting quotes from organizers of similar events. As usual, all articles were peer-reviewed for Computer Music Journal. In this issue’s Editors’ Notes, the guest editors give further information about SMC 2009 and the contents of the five research articles.

James Harley edited the Reviews section of this issue, as usual. Joyce Shintani and Metin Kara revisit the Sónar music and multimedia festival in Barcelona, whose 2005 manifestation Ms. Shintani had reviewed in CMJ 30:1. Two books are reviewed in this issue: a broad survey of algorithmic composition and a volume devoted to a single composer (Thomas DeLio). Two recordings are

Topping off the issue is Margaret Cahill’s Products of Interest section, which includes not only an extensive set of detailed announcements of new software and hardware (with a focus this time on digital audio recorders), but also a listing of recent publications, recordings, and multimedia.

Front cover. Image projected during a live performance of Salvage (Guiyu Blues) for seven performers reanimating dead circuitry, by Nicolas Collins, presented at SMC 2009 on 22 July 2009, at Casa da Mÿsica, Porto, Portugal. Photo © Revista Produção Áudio, Ivo Godinho.

Back cover. An illustration from the article by Werner Goebl, Sebastian Flossmann, and Gerhard Widmer depicting asynchronies between a concert pianist’s left and right hands during part of a performance of a Chopin nocturne. also reviewed: one, a retrospective collection of music by a former Editor of this journal; and the other, a CD of technically demanding music for clarinet and electronics, all written for the performer Esther Lamneck by various composers (Robert Rowe, Lawrence Fritts, Cort Lippe, Dinu Ghezzo, Orlando Legname, Lawrence Moss, and Zack Browning). The Reviews section concludes with Elizabeth Hinkle-Turner’s examination of three multimedia DVDs by the American electroacoustic duo Barton and Priscilla McLean.