Building Web Based Interactive Systems with Csound PNaCl and WebSockets

This project aims to harness WebSockets to build networkable interfaces and systems using Csound’s Portable Native Client binary (PNaCl) and Socket.io. There are two methods explored in this paper. The first method is to create an interface to Csound PNaCl on devices that are incapable of running the Native Client binary. For example, by running Csound PNaCl on a desktop and controlling it with a smartphone or a tablet. The second method is to create an interactive music environment that allows users to run Csound PNaCl on their computers and use musical instruments in an orchestra interactively. In this paper, we will also address some of the practical problems that exist with modern interactive web-based/networked performance systems – latency, local versus global, and everyone controlling every instrument versus one person per instrument. This paper culminates in a performance system that is robust and relies on web technologies to facilitate musical collaboration between people in different parts of the world.