Barry Truax (born 1947) is a Canadian composer who specializes in

real-time Real-time or real time describes various operations in computing or other processes that must guarantee response times within a specified time (deadline), usually a relatively short time. A real-time process is generally one that happens in defined ...

implementations of

granular synthesis Granular synthesis is a sound synthesis method that operates on the microsound time scale. It is based on the same principle as sampling. However, the samples are split into small pieces of around 1 to 100 ms in duration. These small pieces ar ...

, often of

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of so ...

sounds, and

soundscape A soundscape is the acoustic environment as perceived by humans, in context. The term was originally coined by Michael Southworth, and popularised by R. Murray Schafer. There is a varied history of the use of soundscape depending on discipline, ...

s. He is credited with developing the first ever implementation of real-time granular synthesis in 1986, with being the first composer to explore the range between synchronic and asynchronic granular synthesis in ''Riverrun'' (1986), and being the first to use a sample as the source of a granular composition in ''Wings of Nike'' (1987). Truax is Professor Emeritus of

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located ...

, where he taught both electroacoustic music and acoustic communication. He was one of the original members of the

World Soundscape Project The World Soundscape Project (WSP) was an international research project founded by Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer in the late 1960s at Simon Fraser University. The project initiated the modern study of acoustic ecology. Its ultimate goal is ...

Selected compositions

* ''The Blind Man'' (1979) * ''Riverrun'' (1986,

Wergo WERGO is a German record label focusing on contemporary classical music. It was founded in 1962 by German art historian and music publisher (1903–1975) and the musicologist Helmut Kirchmeyer. Their first release, filed under "WER 60001", was ...

WER 2017-50) * ''Wings of Nike'' (1987, Cambridge Street Records CSR CD-9401 and '' Perspectives of New Music'' CD PNM 28) * ''Tongues of Angels'' (1988, Centrediscs CMC CD-4793) * ''Beauty and the Beast'' (1989, Cambridge Street Records CSR-CD 9601) * ''Pacific'' (1990, Cambridge Street Records CSR CD-9101) * ''Pacific Fanfare'' (1996) * ''Wings of Fire'' for female cellist and two digital soundtracks including the Joy Kirstin poem "Wings of Fire" read by Ellie Epp (1996) * ''Androgyne, Mon Amour'' for amplified male double bass player and two digital soundtracks including text from

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thr ...

' 1977 book of the same title read by Douglas Huffman (1997)

References

External links

, British Columbia {{DEFAULTSORT:Truax, Barry 21st-century classical composers Living people 1947 births 20th-century classical composers Canadian classical composers Canadian electronic musicians Electroacoustic music composers Canadian male classical composers 20th-century Canadian composers 20th-century Canadian male musicians 21st-century Canadian male musicians

Selected compositions

References

Further reading

External links