One idea, four ways to explore it
Flavors
W-P is an ongoing exploration of what happens when composition responds to the world around it
What happens when the composer meets a human improviser? A computer game? A guitarist with a looper? A stream of scientific data? Over time, I've built different implementations to explore that question. I call them flavors.
They share a creative intention, but each opens a different door for its unique context.
01
W-P Core
The original dialog
Core is where Whole-Play began as a performance instrument. A human improviser plays; a virtual composer listens, shapes the developing piece, and directs a virtual band. Diferent composers can have distinct musical identities, and the bands give those decisions a sound.
Core has produced music such as Flow. It remains the main space for exploring the relationship between an improviser and a virtual composer.
02
W-P Web
Whole-Play in the browser
W-P Web is a lighter implementation built for the web. Its composer, band, and instruments can run in a browser, opening Whole-Play to online experiences and different kinds of input, including data and video tracking.
Here, a visitor might encounter a composition directly on a page. The browser becomes a place to listen, interact, and connect Whole-Play with other media.
03
W-P Games
The game becomes the improviser
W-P Games explores how Whole-Play can compose music for video games. Built for Unity, a game engine, the music organically responds as the game changes.
This flavor is also a project in its own right: an exploration of how music and an interactive world can shape one another, and will be released as a Unity plugin in the near future.
04
W-P Looper
Beyond the loop
W-P Looper is a live multi-track guitar looper. It records and repeats what the improviser has played, then shares the loop's timing and events with Whole-Play Core so a virtual composer can respond.
The loop is the starting point. Whole-Play takes it beyond repetition, bringing a virtual composer into the performance.
What they make possible
Flavors are ways of pursuing the same artistic questions in different circumstances. Individual projects are the particular pieces, performances, and experiments that emerge from them.