Ge Wang: The DIY orchestra of the future

譯者: Fred Lee 審譯者: Qingqing Mao

I want to talk to you about one thing

我想和各位聊一個話題，

and just one thing only,

就一個話題，

and this has to do with when people ask me,

這涉及到人們常問我的一個問題：

what do you do?

你是從事哪個行業的？

To which I usually respond,

對此我總是這樣答覆，

I do computer music.

我搞電腦音樂這行。

Now, a number of people

很多人

just stop talking to me right then and there,

馬上就此打住，不再追問，

and the rest who are left usually have

餘下一些人呢，

this blank look in their eye,

則從眼神裡流露出迷茫，

as if to say, what does that mean?

好似在說，那是什麽概念？

And I feel like I'm actually depriving them

我也覺得那樣答覆

of information by telling them this,

給他們的訊息量太少。

at which point I usually panic

此時我常常感到心慌，

and spit out the first thing that comes to my mind,

腦海裡浮現的第一個念頭 隨即脫口而出：

which is, I have no idea what I'm doing.

我自己也不清楚那是什麽概念。

Which is true.

這是實話。

That's usually followed by a second thought,

隨後我腦海裡又浮出第二個念頭：

which is, whatever it is that I'm doing,

無論我從事的這行是什麼，

I love it.

我都充滿熱情。

And today, I want to, well,

今天，我想...

share with you something I love,

和各位分享我所熱愛的這個領域，

and also why.

介紹我愛這行的原因。

And I think we'll begin with just this question:

我想我們不妨先從一個問題開始：

What is computer music?

何謂電腦音樂？

And I'm going to try to do my best to provide a definition,

首先我想先講一個故事，

maybe by telling you a story

來給它下個定義吧，

that goes through some of the stuff

故事貫穿了我至今

I've been working on.

仍在持續研發的一些東西。

And the first thing, I think, in our story

我想，故事中先出場的角色

is going to be something called ChucK.

應該是這個叫做 ChucK 的工具。

Now, ChucK is a programming language for music,

ChucK 是一種音樂創作專用的程式語言，

and it's open-source, it's freely available,

它是一款開放軟體，免費下載使用，

and I like to think that it crashes equally well

我覺得它在所有現代作業系統上

on all modern operating systems.

都能很好地崩潰。

And instead of telling you more about it,

我覺得，與其用言語描述，

I'm just going to give you a demo.

還不如給各位演示一下。

By the way, I'm just going to nerd out

不好意思，我等一下會像電腦阿宅一樣。

for just a few minutes here,

so I would say, don't freak out.

大概幾分鐘時間，

我希望各位不要詫異。

In fact, I would invite all of you to join me

實際上，我想邀請各位

in just geeking out.

跟我一起宅一下。

If you've never written a line of code before in your life,

如果你之前從沒寫過代碼，

do not worry.

也不用擔心。

I'll bet you'll be able to come along on this.

我敢保證，你很快就能上手。

First thing I'm going to do is to make

首先我要編製

a sine wave oscillator,

一個正弦波振盪器，

and we're going to called the sine wave generator

暫時把這個正弦波發生器命名為

"Ge."

"Ge"。

And then we're going to connect "Ge" to the DAC.

我們再把 "Ge" 連接到 DAC。

Now this is kind of the abstraction

說白了

for the sound output on my computer. Okay?

就是我電腦上的音頻輸出。理解了吧？

So I've connected myself into the speaker.

這樣我就把電腦接到揚聲器了。

Next, I'm going to say my frequency

下一步，我要把頻率設為

is 440 hertz,

440 赫茲，

and I'm going to let time advance

我還要做個操作

by two seconds through this operation.

把時間提前兩秒。

All right, so if I were to play this --

好了，我們來試播一下...

(Tone) —

（音調）

you would hear a sine wave at 440 hertz for two seconds.

各位聽到的是一段 兩秒鐘的 440 赫茲正弦波。

Okay, great. Now I'm going to copy and paste this,

好，很棒。下面我來複製、貼上這段代碼，

and then just change some of these numbers,

然後簡單改一下數字，

220.5, 440 I shall leave it as that,

220.5，440 不用改，

and .5 and 880.

還有 .5 和 880。

By doubling the frequency,

頻率翻倍後，

we're actually going up in successive octaves,

我們實際上是連續八度音階上升，

and then we have this sequence --

然後我們聽到這種序列的...

(Tones) — of tones.

（音調）...音調。

Okay, great, now I can imagine creating

嗯，不錯，我想如果用這種方法來編

all kinds of really horrible

各種單個正弦波的樂曲，

single sine wave pieces of music with this,

那得多恐怖啊。

but I'm going to do something that computers are really good at,

不過我要發揮電腦的強項，

which is repetition.

也就是重複。

I'm going to put this all in a while loop,

我把這段代碼放入一個 while 循環，

and you actually don't need to indent,

實際操作時不需行首縮進，

but this is purely for aesthetic reasons.

我這樣做純粹是為了美觀。

It's good practice.

這是個好習慣。

And when we do this —

這步完成後，

(Tones) —

（音調）

that's going to go on for a while.

這樣要持續好一陣子。

In fact, it's probably not going to stop

事實上，它可能不會停下來，

until this computer disintegrates.

除非這臺電腦支離破碎了。

And I can't really empirically prove that to you,

當然我也沒經歷過， 不能向各位證實，

but I hope you'll believe me when I say that.

但是我希望各位相信我。

Next, I'm going to replace this 220

接下來，我要將這個 220

by math.random2f.

替換成 math.random2f。

I'm going to generate a random number

我會任意生成一個數字，

between 30 and 1,000 and send that

介於 30 至 1,000 之間，

再發送到我的頻率。

to the frequency of me.

And I'm going to do this every half a second.

我希望每半秒鐘執行一次。

(Tones)

（音調）

Let's do this every 200 milliseconds.

每 200 毫秒執行一次吧。

(Tones)

（音調）

One hundred.

一百。

(Tones)

（音調）

All right.

不錯。

At this point, we've reached something

現在我們終於小有收穫，

that I would like to think of as

我覺得這可稱為

the canonical computer music.

電腦音樂的範本。

This is, to me, the sound that mainframes

我覺得這是主機

are supposed to be making

發出的聲音，

when they're thinking really hard.

表示它們在很認真地思考。

It's this sound, it's like,

這種聲音有點像

the square root of five million.

五百萬的平方根。

So is this computer music?

各位覺得這是電腦音樂嗎？

Yeah, I guess by definition,

我想按定義來說是的，

it's kind of computer music.

它算是電腦音樂。

It's probably not the kind of music you would listen to

也許不是你在高速公路上

cruising down the highway,

中速行駛時聽的那種音樂，

but it's a foundation of computer-generated music,

但它的確給電腦生成的音樂打下基礎，

and using ChucK,

藉助 ChucK，

we've actually been building instruments

我們一直在為史丹佛筆電交響樂團

in the Stanford Laptop Orchestra,

打造各種樂器，

based right here at Stanford Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics.

我們的基地就設在史丹佛 電腦音樂與聲學研究中心 (CCRMA)。

Now the Laptop Orchestra is an ensemble of laptops,

筆電交響樂團由

humans and special hemispherical speaker arrays.

筆電、表演者和特製的 半球形揚聲器陣列組成。

Now the reason we have these

之所以需要這些設備，

is so that for the instruments that we create

是因為我們藉助筆電

out of the laptop, we want the sound to come

所打造的樂器，我們希望它們的聲音

out of somewhere near the instrument

來自設備和表演者

and the performer,

附近某處，

kind of much like a traditional, acoustic instrument.

這有點像傳統的聲學儀器。

Like, if I were to play a violin here,

比方說，如果我在這兒演奏小提琴，

the sound would naturally not come out of

音樂自然不會

the P.A. system, but from the artifact itself.

從擴音裝置裡發出，而是從樂器本身發出。

So these speakers are meant to emulate that.

所以，這些揚聲器採用相似的原理。

In fact, I'm going to show you

接下來我給各位介紹一下

how we actually built them.

具體的製作過程。

The first step is to go to IKEA

首先是去宜家

and buy a salad bowl.

買一個沙拉專用木碗。

This is an 11-inch Blanda Matt.

這是 11 英寸的布朗達麥特。

That's the actual name,

這是它的原名，

and I actually use one of these

其實我就是用這個碗

to make salad at home as well, I kid you not.

在家裡做沙拉，真的，我沒騙各位。

And the first step is you turn it upside down,

第一步，倒過來放，

and then you drill holes in them,

然後在上面鑽孔，

six holes per hemi,

每個半球面上鑽六個孔，

and then make a base plate,

再做一塊底板，

put car speaker drivers in them

放入汽車揚聲器驅動系統，

along with amplifiers in the enclosure,

裡面再放進功放，

and you put that all together and you have

把這些零件組裝起來後，

these hemispherical speaker arrays.

就成了這些半球形揚聲器陣列。

Add people, add laptops,

加上演奏者和筆電，

you have a laptop orchestra.

我們就組建了一支筆電交響樂團。

And what might a laptop orchestra sound like?

筆電交響樂團聽起來效果如何？

Well, let me give you a demonstration

現在，我給各位演示一下

of about 200 instruments we've created so far

迄今為止我們給筆電交響樂團

for the Laptop Orchestra.

打造的 200 多種樂器。

And what I'm going to do is actually come over to this thing.

接下來我要走到這個東西旁邊。

This thing I have in front of me

我前面這件東西

actually used to be a commodity gaming controller

原本是一個遊戲控制器產品，

called a Gametrak.

名字叫 Gametrak。

This thing actually has a glove you can put on your hands.

控制器自帶手套一隻，

It's tethered to the base,

它與底板相連，

and this will track the position of your hands

能追蹤雙手的運動軌跡，

in real time.

即時跟蹤。

It was originally designed as a golfing controller

這個設計起初是用作高爾夫球控制器，

to detect the motion of your swing.

監測揮杆的運動軌跡。

That turned out to be a rather large

結果這個產品的銷售業績

commercial non-success,

差得一塌糊塗，

at which point they slashed prices to 10 dollars,

最後這家公司把價格降到 10 美元，

at which point computer music researchers

最後電腦音樂的研究人員

said, "This is awesome!

表示：「這太棒了！

We can prototype instruments out of this."

我們可以用這東西打造樂器原型。」

So let me show you one instrument we've created,

我給各位展示我們製作的一種樂器，

one of many, and this instrument

這個樂器只是其中一種，

is called "Twilight,"

名字叫做「暮光」，

and it's meant to go with this metaphor

寓意是

地平線上升起的音樂。

of pulling a sound out of the ground.

So let me see if this will work.

我來試試效果怎麼樣。

(Music)

（音樂）

And put it back.

再放回去。

And then if you go to the left,

然後往左，

right,

往右，

it sounds like an elephant in pain.

聽起來像大象在呻吟。

This is a slightly metallic sound.

現在有點像金屬的聲音。

Turn it just a bit.

稍微轉一下。

(Music)

（音樂）

It's like a hovering car.

這時又像在空中盤旋的汽車。

Okay.

好了。

This third one is a ratchet-like interaction, so

第三種聲音像棘輪在轉動，所以

let me turn it up.

我把聲音調高點。

(Music)

（音樂）

So it's a slightly different interaction.

聽起來效果略有不同。

The fourth one is a drone.

第四種聲音像雄蜂。

(Music)

（音樂）

And finally, let's see,

最後，我們聽一下，

this is a totally different interaction,

這個效果截然不同，

and I think you have to imagine that there's

我想各位不妨設想一下，

this giant invisible drum sitting right here on stage,

臺上放著一面隱形的大鼓，

and I'm going to bang it.

我來敲一下。

(Drum)

（鼓聲）

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

So there we go, so that's one of many instruments

演示完畢，這就是筆電交響樂團

in the Laptop Orchestra.

樂器組合中的一種。

(Applause)

（掌聲）

Thank you.

謝謝各位。

And when you put that together,

當我們把這些組合起來後，

you get something that sounds like this.

就會產生這樣的聲音。

(Music)

（音樂）

Okay, and so, I think from the experience

嗯，所以我覺得根據

of building a lot of instruments for the Laptop Orchestra,

給筆電交響樂團製造各種樂器的經驗，

and I think from the curiosity of wondering,

同時懷著一份對新鮮事物的好奇心，

what if we took these

我想能否把這些

hopefully expressive instruments

有望一鳴驚人的樂器

and we brought it to a lot of people,

帶給大眾，

plus then a healthy bout of insanity —

加上一股有益身心的癡狂，

put those three things together —

能否把這些想法結合起來，

led to me actually co-founding a startup company

於是在 2008 年我與人 聯合創辦了一家企業

in 2008 called Smule.

名字叫做 Smule。

Now Smule's mission is to create

Smule 的使命是創造

expressive, mobile music things,

令人驚嘆叫絕的移動樂器，

and one of the first musical instruments

首批樂器當中，

we created is called Ocarina.

有一種叫做 Ocarina。

And I'm going to just demo this for you real quick.

下面我給各位快速演示一下。

So Ocarina —

實際上，Ocarina...

(Music) —

（音樂）

is based on this ancient flute-like instrument

是仿照古代一種笛子，

called the ocarina,

陶笛製作而成，

and this one is the four-hole English pendant configuration,

這個樂器採用英式 4 孔懸墜型結構，

and you're literally blowing into the microphone

我們是通過吹麥克風

to make the sound.

來發聲。

And there's actually a little ChucK script

裡面實際上有一段 ChucK 程式，

running in here that's detecting

能檢測出

the strength of your blowing

我們吹奏的力度

and also synthesizing the sound.

並合成聲音。

(Music)

（音樂）

And vibrato is mapped to the accelerometer,

用加速計來使顫音形象化，

so you can get —

我們將聽到...

(Music)

（音樂）

All right. So let me play a little ditty for you,

好的。接下來我給各位演奏一支小曲，

a little Bach.

巴赫的作品。

And here, you'll hear a little accompaniment with the melody.

我們將聽到音樂的伴奏。

The accompaniment actually follows the melody,

伴奏會追隨樂曲的節奏，

not the other way around.

而不是相反的情況。

(Music)

（音樂）

And this was designed

這支曲子可以

to let you take your time

讓我們停下來，

and figure out where your expressive space is,

忘卻言語，用心感悟，身處何處，

and you can just hang out here

讓時間停止片刻，

for a while, for a really dramatic effect, if you want,

感受非凡一刻，如果你想的話，

and whenever you're ready —

當你做好準備時...

(Music)

（音樂）

And on these longer notes,

對於這些長音符，

I'm going to use more vibrato

我想在音符的尾聲部份

towards the end of the notes

增加一些顫音，

to give it a little bit more of an expressive quality.

豐富音符的表現力。

(Music)

（音樂）

Huh, that's a nice chord to end this excerpt on.

哈，這段和弦為這節樂曲 畫上完美的句號了。

(Applause)

（掌聲）

Thank you.

謝謝各位。

So I think a good question to ask about Ocarina is,

現在，關於 Ocarina，我覺得各位可能會問，

is this a toy or it an instrument? Maybe it's both,

它究竟是玩具還是樂器？也許兼而有之。

but for me, I think the more important question is,

但對我而言，我更關注的問題是，

is it expressive?

它的表現力如何？

And at the same time, I think

與此同時，我也在想，

creating these types of instruments

製作出這些樂器後，

asks a question about the role of technology,

我們不禁會思考技術的作用，

and its place for how we make music.

以及技術對音樂創作的影響。

Apparently, for example,

舉個明顯的例子，

not that long ago, like only a hundred years ago —

不久之前，大概一百年前，

that's not that long in the course of human history —

說不久，是因為這段時間 在人類歷史長河裡不算太長，

families back then

那時家家戶戶

used to make music together

常常全家總動員，一起創作音樂，

as a common form of entertainment.

自娛自樂。

I don't think that's really happening

不過，我覺得這種情況

that much anymore.

現在很少見了。

You know, this is before radio, before recording.

當然，那時還沒有收音機、錄音機。

In the last hundred years, with all this technology,

過去一百年間，憑藉技術的力量，

we now have more access to music

我們可以更方便地

as listeners and consumers,

欣賞和享受音樂了。

but somehow, I think we're making less music

然而，我認為當今我們 所創作的音樂作品數量

than ever before.

堪稱史上最少。

I'm not sure why that would be.

我不清楚這其中的原因。

Maybe it's because it's too easy just to hit play.

也許是因為點擊播放簡直輕而易舉。

And while listening to music is wonderful,

儘管欣賞音樂令人心曠神怡，

there's a special joy to making music

創作整首樂曲

that's all its own.

更是別有一番樂趣。

And I think that's one part

我想這正是我現在

of the goal of why I do what I do

的工作目標之一，

is kind of to take us back to the past a little bit. Right?

就是讓我們重返過去。對不對？

Now, if that's one goal, the other goal

除了這個目標，另外一個目標

is to look to the future and think about

是展望未來，思考

what kind of new musical things can we make

我們能夠創作哪些新型樂曲。

that we don't perhaps yet have names for

這些樂曲甚至連名字都還未知。

that's enabled by technology, but ultimately

樂曲創作藉助技術完成，但最終

might change the way that humans make music.

卻可能改變人類創作音樂的方式。

And I'll just give you one example here,

在此我舉一個例子，

and this is Ocarina's other feature.

就是 Ocarina 的第二個特徵。

This is a globe,

這是地球，

and here you're actually listening

我們可以聽到

to other users of Ocarina

其他 Ocarina 用戶

blow into their iPhones to play something.

對著 iPhone 吹奏某種音樂。

This is "G.I.R." from Texas,

這是來自美國德州的 "G.I.R."。

"R.I.K." I don't know why it's these three-letter names today, Los Angeles.

還有 "R.I.K."，來自洛杉磯， 不知道今天怎麼那麼巧都三個字母。

They're all playing pretty,

他們的演奏非常漂亮，

somewhat minimal music here.

讓我們聽一下精華部分。

(Music)

（音樂）

And the idea with this is that, well,

這裡有一個概念，那就是

technology should not be foregrounded here,

我們不要過分強調科技，

and — (Laughter) —

同時...（笑聲）

we've actually opened this up.

我們已經實現突破。

The first thought is that, hey, you know

第一個想法，嘿，你知道

there's somebody somewhere out there

某個地方有個人

playing some music,

正在演奏某種音樂，

and this is a small but I think important

這種人際交流雖然只是一個細節，

human connection to make

但我覺得很重要，

that perhaps the technology affords.

因為這是技術所能實現的結果。

As a final example,

最後再舉個例子，

and perhaps my favorite example,

這也許是我最喜歡的例子，

is that in the wake of the 2011 earthquake

2011 年日本發生地震

and tsunami disaster in Japan,

和海嘯災難後，

a woman reached out in one of our singing apps

一位女士用我們的一款歌唱應用軟體

to try to get people to join in to sing with her

邀請其他人和她一起唱

on a version of "Lean on Me."

「靠在我肩」這首歌。

Now, in these apps, there's this thing that allows

有了這種應用軟體，

any user to add their voice

任何用戶都可以把自己的聲音

to an existing performance by any other user

加到其他用戶或用戶群組

or group of users,

已創作的樂曲當中，

so in some sense, she's created this kind of

因此，在某種意義上，她創作了

global ad hoc corral of strangers,

一首全球陌生人即興大合唱，

and within weeks, thousands of people

數週內，成千上萬的用戶

joined in on this,

加入這項活動，

and you can kind of see people coming from all around the world

你能看到幾乎來自全球各地的用戶，

and all these lines converging on the origin

所有的聲音都匯聚到「起點」，

where the first rendition of the song was sung,

這首歌第一版誕生的地方，

and that's in Tokyo.

也就是東京。

And this is what it sounds like when there's 1,000 people.

我們來聽聽千人同時歌唱的效果

This is 1,000 voices.

這裡有一千種聲音。

(Recording) ♪ Sometimes in our lives ♪

（錄音）♪ 每個人的一生中 ♪

♪ We all have pain, we all have sorrow ♪

♪ 難免會有傷痛，難免會有悲苦 ♪

♪ But if we are wise ♪

♪ 但若理智思考 ♪

♪ We know that there's always tomorrow ♪

♪ 我們會發現明天會更好 ♪

♪ Lean on me ♪

♪ 靠在我肩 ♪

♪ When you're not strong ♪

♪ 當你脆弱疲勞 ♪

♪ And I'll be your friend ♪

♪ 我永遠是你的朋友 ♪

♪ I'll help you carry on ♪

♪ 我會助你繼續奔跑 ♪

♪ For it won't be long ♪

♪ 因為不久之後 ♪

♪ Till I'm gonna need ♪

♪ 我也將要一個肩膀 ♪

♪ Somebody to lean on ♪

♪ 來讓我依靠 ♪

♪ Just lean on — ♪

♪ 讓我依靠 — ♪

Is this computer music?

這是電腦音樂嗎？

(Applause)

（掌聲）

Was that computer music?

那是電腦音樂嗎？

Yeah, I guess so; it's something that you really

嗯，我想是的。這種音樂沒有電腦，

couldn't have done without computers.

我們是無法創作出來的。

But at the same time, it's also just human,

同時，這也是由人演唱的，

and I think what I've essentially answered so far

我想，我也許基本上回答了這個問題，

is maybe why I do the stuff that I do,

就是我為何從事手頭的工作？

and let's just finally return to the first question:

最後讓我回到最初的問題：

What is computer music?

電腦音樂是什麽東西？

And I think that the catch here is that,

我想，這個問題的玄機，

at least to me, computer music

至少在我看來，就是電腦音樂

isn't really about computers.

其實並非關乎電腦。

It is about people.

它關乎人，

It's about how we can use technology

關乎我們如何利用技術

to change the way we think

改變我們思考、

and do and make music,

創作和製造音樂的方式，

and maybe even add to how we can

也許還能豐富我們

connect with each other through music.

透過音樂進行交流的方式。

And with that, I want to say,

總而言之，我覺得，

this is computer music, and thank you for listening.

這就是電腦音樂，感謝各位聆聽。

(Applause)

（掌聲）