Option Escape for laptop ensemble uses the computer’s text-to-speech functions. In 2026, the speech read by a computer still sounds artificial and quirky. The ensemble of those artificial voices can become a musical entity. To perform Option Escape, each performer should prepare a text file consisting of sentences, words, numbers, and codes. The performer should also choose a favorite voice and ready the hotkey (option+esc in Mac OSX) to start and stop the speech.

Hardware Setup

• Minimum 5 computers with text-to-speech feature (Mac OSX preferred)
• A multichannel audio interface OR an interface and a mic
• Stereo PA system 
• Audio cables to connect the laptops’ built-in outputs to the interface
• Diagrams for two possible setups are shown below

Software Setup

• Performers, except for the Cue part, should change the computer settings to read the text with a computer-generated voice. In the current OSX, go to System Settings -> Accessibility. Enable Speak Selection. Change System Voice at will. See the above figure. 
• Download SuperCollider files and score
• The performer playing the Cue part runs optionesc.scd on SuperCollider.  

Score Interpretation

• Speak 1/2/3/4 selects and text-to-speech the text in the prepared file according to the score. If the selected text ends before the next cue, repeat text-to-speech. 
  • Paragraph: Use two or more paragraphs.
  • Sentence: Use one sentence. 
  • 3 Words: Use three words.
  • Word: Use a word.
  • Vowel/ Number/ Symbol: Use a vowel, a number, or a symbol (test the symbols beforehand) 
  • Code: Use a computer code or a web address.
• Speak 1/2/3/4 parts should prepare an original text file for a performance. Copy-paste the texts multiple times for a better performance. An example is included in the download (or click here).
• The notehead indicates the text-to-speech reading speed. If the measure does not have a notehead, retain the previous reading speed.
  • Natural (no sharps or flats): read at normal speed
  • Flat (b): read at a slow speed
  • Double flat (bb): read at the slower speed
  • Sharp (#): read at a fast speed
  • Double sharp (x): read at the faster speed
• In Cue 17, performers manually fade out the computer voice while speaking the paragraphs in their own voice. End at cue
• One performer should operate the SuperCollider file as a cue player.
  • Open OptionEsc.scd
  • Select Menu -> Evaluate File
  • When the GUI appears, press the button according to the score
  • Cue the performers for the next section, if preferred
• Performance Tips (for Mac OS 10.15 )
  • Place the left hand on the option and escape keys at all times. To quickly change the text, highlight the text, hold the Command key, and press the Escape key twice.
  • To read text faster or slower, double-click the rabbit or turtle quickly after the computer starts speaking.

Annecdote

The audio file below is a simulation I made while composing Option Escape. The listeners at the concert felt the low and high frequencies of the beats, but the mics in the concert hall could not capture the details of the SuperCollider part. If you are an ensemble director, please listen to the recording below for consideration of your next repertoire.

I create a composition by synthesizing existing external or internal ideas. External ideas are experiences and practices from sources other than the creator, while internal ideas are those from the creator’s previous work. When a person practices and repeats synthesizing external and internal ideas, a new idea, a new sound, and an artistic style are developed. This repetition of synthesis within and among the creative works is also a process of refinement – keep and improve the good ones, and shelve the bad ones.

In this blog, I will share my synthesis and refinement process by showing how six pieces from 2013 to 2024 are connected. A diagram is more effective than prose for this. Below is an interactive flowchart that connects my creative works and their external and internal ideas.  Click the link next to each box to listen to the corresponding piece. Zoom in and out using the mouse scroll.

To open the chart in a new tab, click HERE.

In the linked diagram, the blue boxes represent external ideas. They are music, technologies, and life events that inspired me to create.  I did an opening act for Toshimaru Nakamura in the early 2010s, and I was awestruck by Nakamura’s no-input mixing board performance. I wanted to know more about it, so I wrote Large Intestine (2013) for the no-input mixer and SuperCollider. Jeff Mills’ TR-909 performance in Exhibitionist is one of the best electronic music performances, so I wanted to make my version of a drum machine solo piece after it. The result was Cobalt Vase (2019).

Yellow boxes and red boxes represent two types of compositions. Improvisational pieces, the yellow boxes, are written for me to perform on stage. There are no written instructions, and every performance should sound similar but different. Repeated performances of an improvised work reveal forms and patterns that I can write and share with others. They become internal ideas for the notated compositions written for performers other than me.  

The notated works are labeled as red boxes in the chart. Cobalt Vase for drum machine solo is the foundation for Seven Bird Watchers (2019), a piece written for three or more drum machines. The performers still improvise in Seven Bird Watchers, but they do so within the limits and ranges instructed in the score. Another electronic ensemble composition in the chart is Four Hit Combo (2024). It was composed through a similar process as Seven Bird Watchers – many performances of Page Turner’s Agony (2019) revealed what is important in that piece, and I notated that for an electronic ensemble. 

The blocks representing Page Turner’s Agony have different shades of yellow. I used gradient color to distinguish the premiere version and the refined post-premiere version.  A new idea can result in a presentable work, but I prefer refining the premiered work a few times so that they are ready for repeat performance. In 2021, my son showed me a video about a sound effect in a game. I wanted to show my son that a cool dad like me can make the sound effect he was fascinated by. The result was a version 1 of Page Turner’s agony. The first version was good enough to be premiered and published. I had a few gigs to present the work, but I realized that the performing ergonomics was not good. My eyes and fingers had to be on the computer screen. With a few adjustments, I made a version 2  that I could perform with my eyes closed. 

All creative process uses experiences, training, and practices gained from the creator’s previous work. But it is important to be conscious of it. Creating a completely new work without connection to the past is difficult, if not impossible.  I liked the sounds I made in Cobalt Vase and Large Intestine, so I combined the two in Func Step Mode (2021). Func Step Mode is the featured piece that showcases my current performance style. I often use the piece as the finale of a 20-30 minute solo set. The build-up to the finale often incorporates a version of Cobalt Vase and Large Intestine. Since 2020, I have incorporated Page Turner’s Agony as an opening piece. In other words, my solo concert is going through the process of synthesis and refinement. 

The chart and the explanation show that my creative works are connected. It sounds obvious, but it is important to be conscious of it. I had to analyze my past work to find the evidence and convince myself. Going through the cycle of creation, evaluation, and refinement is all I do as a musician. I loop those three steps in composing, performing, and presenting.  

Extra: the box in the bottom, currently named Computer Music Practice, is a large-scale work in progress. Take a peek!

I took a top-down approach in composing Mirror Tempo. I had a musical idea I wanted to hear electronically and wrote codes to realize it. The idea was to create a mirror image of an accelerating ostinato. Since a reflection is an identical but reversed image, the mirrored sound could have a reversed melody and tempo. The perfect mirrored sound should start and finish at the same time as the original, even though one is getting faster while the other is getting slower. The resulting combination should be palindromic. It was difficult to imagine it. I had to write specific instructions to hear the idea.

The following paragraphs analyze the form, code, and musical aspirations in making Mirror Tempo Bell. It teaches how to start and progress a composition from a single synthesized sound. Readers’ learning is most effective when SuperCollider is installed on their computers. Please watch a tutorial video on how to run SuperCollider codes written for Dot Zip, the album in which Mirror Tempo was included.    

Form

The diagram below summarizes Mirror Tempo’s formal structure. 

• Step 1: SuperCollider creates a simple percussive sound
• Step 2: SuperCollider generates a motif for the first part
• Step 3: The motif is reversed for the second part
• Step 4: The first part repeats the melody many times, starting with a tempo A and ending with a tempo B. The number of repetitions, the number of steps, is the user’s choice
• Step 5: The second part repeats the reversed melody with a reversed starting and ending tempo (tempo B to tempo A). The total length is the same as its counterpart. The pitch is shifted one octave higher for clarity
• Step 6: While the two ostinati are playing at the same time, add a bass note by randomly choosing a note in the motif
• Step 7: Repeat Steps 4 to 6 a few times.

In the diagram above, an ostinato of [C, Bb, E, Ab, Gb] repeats many times, and the tempo gradually changes from BPM 80 to BPM 134. The retrograde ostinato [Gb, Ab, E, Bb, C] plays with the exact same number of notes as its counter melody but moves from BPM 134 to BPM 80. Meanwhile, a long bass tone is created by randomly picking a note from the motif. 

Code

Before using the provided code, watch a tutorial video on how to use the code. Downloadable MirrorTempol_DotZip.scd is included in the DotZip package. MirrorTempo_DotZip.scd has the following sections.
SynthDef(“TheSound”) creates the sound described in Step 1. The code creates a sound with a randomized number of harmonics with a percussive amplitude envelope.

The motif described in Step 2 is written as a list of half steps from a set key in MIDI note number. The key of the piece and the motive are coded as the following array.

~key=58;
~motif=[0,2,4,6,8,10,12]+~key;

Then, the motif is randomized with .scramble (Step 3) and reversed with .reverse method for the sounds described in Step 4 and Step 5. The related codes look as below

pitch=~motif.scramble;
pitch.reverse.wrapAt(count)+12

The function ~mirror creates the repeating melodies described in Step 4, Step 5, and Step 6 using Routine. It is usable by inputting a number of notes using the motif, starting BPM, and ending BPM.

~mirror.(size,bpm1,bpm2);

The mirror tempi are created using Array.interpolation. The gradual change of tempo with flexible length is made with the following.

formula=60/(Array.interpolation(size,bpm1,bpm2)); 

Next, the variable formula and its retrograde (formula.reverse) are assigned to .wait method in two Routine functions.

formula.at(count).wait;
formula.reverse.at(count).wait;

Lastly, the realization to sound is done with another Routine.

Routine({
	3.do{
		~mirror.(rrand(100,120),rrand(400,600),rrand(50,200),
			rrand(0.03,0.05),rrand(0.5,2.0),rrand(-1.0,1.0));
		rrand(7,10.0).wait;
	};
}).play;

In this Routine, ~mirror is generated three times with 7-10 second intervals. Each repetition is unique due to the random number generators used in the parameters of ~mirror.

Top-Down and Bottom-Up Composition

The tools used in electronic music composition (DAW, Max, SuperCollider, etc.) motivate users to try their features. These features sometimes intrigue the user, who explores them further and makes music to share the discovery and joy. That is a valid approach in electronic music composition, but it is not the only way. It is important to learn the tools well enough so that the composer can use the tools’ features to realize what’s in their head.

https://joowonpark.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/PresentationAtMSU.pdf