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    The fundamental principle of IRCAM is to encourage productive interaction among scientific research, technological developments, and contemporary music production. Since its establishment in 1977, this initiative has provided the foundation for the institute’s activities. One of the major issues is the importance of contributing to the renewal of musical expression through science and technology. Conversely, sp…

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  • Research

    The fundamental principle of IRCAM is to encourage productive interaction among scientific research, technological developments, and contemporary music production. Since its establishment in 1977, this initiative has provided the foundation for the institute’s activities. One of the major issues is the importance of contributing to the renewal of musical expression through science and technology. Conversely, sp…

    • Research Topics
    • The STMS Lab
    • Research Teams
    • Sound Systems and Signals: Audio/Acoustics, InstruMents
    • Acoustic and Cognitive Spaces
    • Perception and Sound Design
    • Sound Analysis-Synthesis
    • Sound Music Movement Interaction
    • Musical Representations
    • Analysis of Musical Practices
    • Projects
    • Sound Workshop
    • The Musical Body
    • Creative Dynamics
    • Musique/Sciences Collection
  • Creation

    IRCAM is an internationally recognized research center dedicated to creating new technologies for music. The institute offers a unique experimental environment where composers strive to enlarge their musical experience through the concepts expressed in new technologies.

    • Composers & Artists in Studio
    • In Ex Machina
    • Jazz Ex Machina
    • Improvise cum machina 1/2
    • Improvise cum machina 2/2
    • Like Sound, Like Flesh
    • Silent Talks
    • Music-Fictions
    • Tablado
    • Musical creation around Outer Space
    • Campo Abierto
    • Musical creation around Dream Work
    • Biotope
    • EROR
    • IDEA
    • Artistic Research Residency
    • Artistic Residencies: The Blog
    • Rendez Vous 20.21
    • Season 2021.22
    • Seasons from 1996 to present
    • ManiFeste-2022
    • ManiFeste festival from 2012 to 2022
    • L’Étincelle, IRCAM’s journal of creation
  • Transmission

    In parallel to its fundamental missions of research and creation, IRCAM is committed to sharing its knowledge and know-how, its technologies with the general public. Cutting-edge research and diffusion of innovations, an international reference for education and the democratization of artistic practices are the driving forces behind the institute’s educational activities.

    • 2022.23 Training Courses
    • Max, Max for Live
    • OpenMusic
    • Modalys
    • TS2 and Partiels
    • Sound spatialization
    • From PureData to audio plugins
    • Sensors, Interfaces, and Interactive Machine Learning
    • Other training programs
    • Practical Information
    • Advanced Programs
    • Cursus Program on Composition and Computer Music
    • Supersonic Chair
    • Master ATIAM
    • Sound Design Master's Program
    • Music Doctorate
    • AIMove Master
    • School Programs
    • Studios of Creation
    • Mixed-Music
    • Artistic and Cultural Education
    • Career Discovery Visit
    • Art School Reserach and Creation Workshop
    • Images of a Work Collection
    • ManiFeste-2022, the Academy
  • Innovations

    At the center of societal and economic concerns combining culture and information technologies, the current research at IRCAM is seen by the international research community as a reference for interdisciplinary projects on the sciences and technologies for sound and music, constantly exposed to society’s new needs and uses.

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Symbioz

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Renault Symbioz Sound Design
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IRCAM’s Sound Perception and Design team responded to two challenges in designing the sound of Renault Symbioz, Renault’s new concept car: the conception of external sound to warn pedestrians of the car’s presence and the design of a collection of sounds for the car’s interior.

After unveiling a vision for 2030 with the concept car Symbioz at the Frankfurt motor show in September 2017, Renault gave journalists the chance to drive the Symbioz demo car.

To curate the sonic aspects of this project, in 2016 an industrial collaboration was initiated between Renault’s Design/Innovation Lab departments, and IRCAM’s Sound Perception and Design Team, represented by engineer-researcher Nicolas Misdariis and sound designer Andrea Cera.

Symbioz represents a fusion of vehicle and living space. Care for the passenger’s comfort and peace of mind coexists with experimentation of new technologies to control the car’s behavior, internal atmosphere, and feel. The project offered two sound design challenges: the design of an external sound to warn pedestrians of the presence of the car (sound signature), and the design of a collection of sounds for the car’s interior (cockpit sounds).

The sound signature is diffused when the car’s speed is between 0 and 30 km/h – a speed range in which the electric car is potentially silent. Its features are derived from two previous projects by the same team, the sound signatures of Renault Trezor (a concept-car) and Renault Zoé (a commercialized model).

The nature of Symbioz’s sound signature is a hybrid of electric and turbine components, with a trace of a powerful, but not aggressive, internal combustion engine. When the car is idling, it emits sequences of soft, short, and high-pitched sounds creating an abstract language (from the emerging behavior of audio agents) and warning pedestrians that the car is switched on. The sound was prototyped in Max and converted to a proprietary algorithm.

Symbioz is a laboratory for studying the future of cockpit sounds. IRCAM developed a series of innovative sonic Human-Machine Interfaces (HMI), in two distinct directions.

1.    Exhaustiveness – All driver/passenger/cockpit interactions related to Symbioz’s modes of functioning were processed. The availability of a self-driving mode creates new design challenges. How to communicate levels of the car’s autonomy? How to reassure the passengers that everything is OK when the car is self-driving? To manage the large number of HMIs needed a prototype was created in Max.

2.    Spatialization – IRCAM developed an original concept of spatial sonic HMI.
Every sound played in Symbioz’s cockpit (blinkers, alarms, info sounds…) is placed in a virtual acoustic space. The car has three modes of use (Classic, Dynamic, Autonomous). In each mode the sounds move slightly around virtual positions, with different degrees of jitter and reverberation. For instance, in Dynamic Mode the blinkers are firmly placed in the direction the car will take. In Autonomous Drive Mode the blinkers are oriented much loosely, since no passenger is focused in driving. By moving in space, HMIs become less annoying and more natural – changes in position translate into subtle timbral shifts due to phasing and reflections in the cockpit walls.

https://audio-branding-academy.org/renault-symbioz-sound-design/

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