Sonic Wings: A Wearable Live Electronics Device for Performing Mixed Music

This paper introduces the Sonic Wings, a wearable device that can capture audio, apply computational processes, and output new audio data in real time. This study covers the device's construction and the composition and performance of a stochastic solo piece of mixed music for flute and live electronics using the device. The Sonic Wings were developed using found speakers inside cardboard-made acoustic waveguides, a microcomputer accessed remotely, and a portable audio interface connected to a clippable microphone. Mounted to the performer's body, this system allows the performer to move freely while playing and interacting with the device across a performance space in which audiences stand and move spontaneously. This study's approach to interactions with body-mounted interfaces in musical performance challenges notions of control introducing notions of companionship. Engaging with the figure of the cyborg as proposed by Haraway, this paper discusses how the development of such device unfolds the embodiment of hybrid ontologies through musical performance enabling interactions with audiences through movement across an acoustically evolving space.