Research
Loudspeakers and Sonic Practices in the Rural Wedding Soundscape (2025)
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Candra Bangun Setyawan
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Abstract : This study highlights the use of loudspeakers in wedding parties held in rural areas around Jombang, East Java, Indonesia. In this context, loudspeakers serve not only as devices for sound transmission but also as a bridge between the soundscape and the surrounding social conditions. In rural communities, wedding parties are often understood as moments of rame-rame—a concept that encompasses not only the large number of attendees but also the celebration's sonic aspectsloud, dominant sounds, typically generated by renting. Culturally, festivity is associated with the presence of loud and dominant sounds, typically generated through the rental of large-scale sound systems. The louder the sound played, the more festive the wedding party is perceived to be. The use of high-powered audio systems, including strong subwoofers, becomes an essential element in creating a socially “proper” celebratory atmosphere. The absence of loudspeakers is often attributed to the hosting family’s economic limitations, which in turn affects their social perception and status within the community. Thus, loudspeakers are no longer neutral tools of communication; they have transformed into markers of quality, prestige, musical preference, and auditory satisfaction. In this context, the wedding soundscape is not merely perceived as noise, but as a culturally meaningful practice—one that carries social values, reflects power structures, and both shapes and mirrors the collective identity of the rural community.
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Keywords: Alphabet, Max/MSP, Live Improvisation.
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Enkripsi No II: Using the Alphabet as the Medium for Encrypting Traditional Music Idioms in Electroacoustic Music
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Candra Bangun Setyawan
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Abstract : This research aims to expand the encryption area by implementing Max/MSP as an arrangement for non-Western musical idioms. The problem in the digital processing of traditional music, which is only a medium change, has prompted the author to expand the encryption area to the idiomatic area. I use a multi-method approach, namely literature study and practice-led research, so that creation can be started from a contextual review, to the creation process. The result of the creation is a new concept found in designing electroacoustic music works using a synthesis between Max and the alphabet. Through experimentation based on the workings of the exploration and synthesis stages, Max can be implemented as a sound arrangement concept in building new grammar through traditional musical idioms.
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Keywords: Alphabet, Max/MSP, Live Improvisation.
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Experimentation of Alphabet Techniques Through a Permutation Approach in Quotation Music
Candra Bangun Setyawan
Abstract : The use of learning models that are not appropriate in the material of creating contemporary music has an impact on not achieving the target of student learning completeness in cultural arts subjects in class XII (Senior High School). One of the ways to solve this problem is to make a procedural composition based on the alphabet as an offer in making a learning model that is flexible, accurate, and efficient. However, to make the alphabet a procedural composition that can be adapted to the needs of learning requires consideration of the arrangement of musical aspects.
This creation applies the synthesis and experimentation of alphabetic, permutation, and quotation techniques based on extra-musical and intra-musical relationships based on the research problem.
The method that I use in creating procedural alphabet-based compositions is a qualitative method with a focus on a multi-method approach, namely instrument case studies, and practice-led research. This creation consists of three main components: (1) data collection, (2) creation process, and (3) evaluation. These components are used relatively together and influence one another.
The result of this creative research is a composition algorithm in the procedural form with consideration of the arrangement of musical aspects that have the potential to balance cognitive, affective, and psychomotor aspects. The procedural alphabet is possible to encourage teachers to make learning models that are flexible, accurate, and efficient with conditions in the school, especially in the category of Project-Based Learning model approaches.
Keywords: Procedural, Musical Aspects, Alphabet, Learning Model.
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Max/MSP as a Medium for Expanding Composers’ Perspectives in Contemporary Music Works
Candra Bangun Setyawan
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Abstract : This article is a literature review about Max/MSP, a software-based visual programming language for music and multimedia. The integration of music and technology has broadened various perspectives in representing experiences into musical works. The emergence of Max offers a variety of possibilities related to the space of creativity, as well as having an impact on the loss of the boundaries of the creative process. On the other hand, from the many possibilities that can be offered, access and availability of books related to Max are still very limited in Indonesia. Various literature shows that Max contributes to expanding musical works through various new perspectives.
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Keywords: Technology, Computer, Software, Max/MSP, Creativity.
Implementation of the Castelnuovo-Tedesco Alphabet Technique in Multimedia Composition
Candra Bangun Setyawan
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Abstract : This creative research aims to examine and formulate the processing of musical materials in the development of Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s alphabet technique through the use of Max/MSP as an interactive audio-visual programming environment within multimedia composition. Max/MSP is positioned as a simulation space that functions as a conceptual analogy for redesigning the principles of cryptographic music, particularly in the systematic mapping of letters into musical parameters. This study employs an artistic research method with a practice-led research approach, which places compositional practice as the primary source of knowledge production through a series of experiments, patch design, output analysis, and reflective parameter revision. The results of this research yield a model for developing the Castelnuovo-Tedesco alphabet technique in the form of an encryption table and a Max/MSP-based mapping system, which can serve as an operational framework for multimedia composition.
Keywords: Alphabet, Max/MSP, Multimedia Music, Cryptography
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