Interview with Julien Pauty

By Bert from Percussa

Please introduce yourself and your creative work?

Essentially, I’m a software engineer who loves to make music. My creative work is dedicated to create tools and software to make music. Yes, I spend more time building objects and software than actually making music with them I’m a builder, but what I build should make sound!

In your projects, who has been your source of inspiration?

I draw my inspiration in general from other people’s creation. I tend to read a lot of forums and blogs to get to know tendencies and keeping up to date. Recently, I got involved into DIY controllers. I built a monome and spent a lot of time with it. The monome people managed to build a community people around the controller, making all kind of applications, all based on the same minimalist controller. This is very inspiring for me. In the same way, I can say that the arduinome is also very inspiring for me.

For reader who haven’t heard about your work, can you point them to some references?

You can access to Serial-PyIO there: http://sourceforge.net/projects/serial-pyio/ . This is an OSC/Midi router for the monome. This is the piece of software that bridges the monome to other application. It is the “MidiBridge” for the monome. Initially, it was developped for linux, but it is actually crossplatform, since it is developped in Python.

You can also go to my Vimeo page, it contains a video showcasing the modified firmware I made for the Monome: http://www.vimeo.com/761495. Music comes from a Nord Modular controlled by a Pure Data patch.

Can you describe the kind of projects you work on?

Currently I’m working on a patch for AudioCubes. Basically it is a rythmbox, with analog emulation and poly-rhythmic capabilities. You can control playback and record patterns by interacting with the cubes. The main novelty is the way you interact with the cube: the patch detects gestures, such as tapping or double tapping on a cube’s face.

In your career, which are the achievements you are most proud of?

What I really like is knowing that my creations are useful to other people. For me, being useful to others is very rewarding.

How did you end up doing what you’re doing now?

Like many people, I’m fascinated by lighting devices. I’ve been interested for some years by the relation between music and lights. This started with the exhibition “Son & Lumière” at center George Pompidou in Paris (museum of Contemporary Art). Discovering the AudioCubes and the monome made me think that I could also start experimenting in this domain.

The way I started to collaborate with Percussa has something magical. When I first discovered the AudioCubes, I was working in Leuven (Belgium), the city where Percussa was based. Being so close, I thought I should apply to this company. A couple of months later, I was actually looking for a job. Things went pretty fast and I moved back to Paris, before having a chance to apply to Percussa. One year later, Bert found me via Vimeo and offered me to collaborate with Percussa.

Can you give us some insight into your creative workflow?

I’m a engineer / scientist, so my creative process is really technology driven. Most of the time, there is something I would like to do but I miss the tool. If I think it will be fun to make and interesting to use in the end, I will try to build it. I’m an iterative guy: I try to get as fast as possible a working solution. Then I iterate to improve and debug it.

For music creation, most of the time I’m sitting in front of my keyboard and start to play with my synths. I do not have a strict methodology, I tend to go where synth and current inspiration drive me. I must say I’m a pad lover. I love to make aquatic or aerial atmospheres. I’m also sometimes using a livelooping software (SooperLooper), which is pretty fun. For more algorithmic composition, I’m patching in Pure Data, like in the preceding video. LoopShaper for AudioCubes is a quite interesting live looping application I’d like to explore.

How did your work evolve throughout the years?

Initially, I was only composing music with my synths and a traditional DAW. Over the years, I started developing musical software, which now is my main activity. Maybe the tendency will reverse and I’ll restart composing more music, but I always have a couple projects !

Do you feel there is a tool or process missing in your workflow, and if yes, can you describe it?

Nowadays, I tend to launch 3 or 4 applications to do one task: an application for the cubes or the monome, the application to control the audio server, the live looper and then I have to connect everything together. This is clunky to me. I would love to have something that saves configuration across applications, that relaunches everything as it was during the last session, that automagically connects apps together …

What exactly got you interested in AudioCubes?

They are beautiful. This is what I liked first. They have a simple shape and can make colorful lighting effects. I immediately liked the design. Being able to change their colors is off course pretty neat ! For the geek I am, being able to patch them in Max is even better !

How was your first experience with AudioCubes?

Fun ! I immediately started to use max and make patches for them. With some thinking and patching they can be pretty versatile. I also like their tangible aspect, you turn them, move your hands around them, use gestures, …

For you, what is the relationship between art and technology in your creative process?

I got interested by the relation between music and light via an art exhibition. This was the trigger point. At that time I was just a spectator. Technology enabled me to become an actor and actually make experiences in this domain.

How many AudioCubes are in your setup?

Four. The more the better

For what type of work have you used AudioCubes? (e.g. live, studio, …)

I’ve only done patching with Max 5 up to now.

What other music technology tools do you use regularly?

I tend to like uncommon devices, with interesting capabilities. I own an AudioWeevil from Bug Brand. This is really a crazy device. It’s fully analog with contact points, to manually make shortcuts. It’s the first musical device that requires me to lick my fingers ! Recently, I bought second hand a Cwejman S1 and opened the doors of the world of analog modular synths. I’ve been lurking analog modular synth for a long time, then I got the possibility to get the Cwejman for a good price… Of course I love the “build and patch your own synth” aspect. There are so many modules ! I just miss, well…, time and money !

Can you recommend AudioCubes to other people?

Building patches for the AudioCubes is truly enjoyable. So, they are good candidates for people wanting to experiment with light, music, tangible interfaces and getting their hands into Max. Also, people are always intrigued by the cubes.

In what situations would you recommend them?

I would recommend them for people doing live performances. The visual and physical interactions are a plus for the show.

10 essential records to listen to in the history of music, according to Julien Pauty:

• Frédéric Chopin: the nocturnes and ballades.
• Air: Moon Safari
• Uatki & Philip Glass: Aguas di Amazonia
• Bjork: Homogenic
• Didier Squiban: Molène
• Queen: any album.
• Sound track of Pulp Fiction
• Kenji Kawai: Ghost in the shell soundtrack.