Name: DASE (Distributed Audio Sequencer)
URL: Not Archived
Category: Music Performance/Database_Examples/Dynamic Media
Location: US
Why is this of Interest:
Improvisational music software based on a client/server model developed in Australia and which lead to cross-continental performances in real-time between Cold Cut in the UK and DASE Team 5000 in Australia. It is now lost to the network and there is very little reliable history left easily accessible online. The speed at which the development of the network makes models redundant means that we have a very short memory of relatively successful applications and systems that otherwise had much to offer in terms of collaboration. This example is also notable for its local heritage and the links it has with a small but vibrant Australian electronic music community that is local but also very ‘networked’ – perhaps geography forces invention. Kenny Sabir, the developer of DASE may be worth talking to/interviewing; He is a founding member of The Herd – a now very successful hip hop/dub collective, he and the DASE application were contributors to the development of The Powerhouse Museam’s Soundbyte.org, he founded the continuing Sound Summit series of Independent Music Label conferences amongst a number of other notable exploits.
Description:
DASE was one of the first (?) client/server models of collaboration form music/performance on the internet. It was developed by Sydney based software developer, musician, label operator/founder (Elefant Trax), and conference organizer Kenny Sabir. Sometime in the late 1990′s (2000 is the earliest mention I can find) Kenny developed a Java based application that allowed musicians to sequence loops and sequencers of music locally and then to upload those sequences and samples to a central database. This engine allowed users to collaborate in near real-time buy adding loops to a sequence and having them downloaded and played locally in the JAVA application. Because samples were short and mostly looping and sequencer information is small in terms of data-weight the system allowed user to collaboratively develop a pool of sounds and then alter the sequence in near realtime. The client server model dealt relatively well with network contingencies and consequently allowed user to collaborate even over a 56k dial-up connection. The DASE engine became a central part of the Powerhouse Museum’s ground breaking Soundbyte.org project and as far as I can tell development of the software stopped soon after. The powerhouse program is now based on Sony’s Acid and Vegas softwares (hmmmm- i’ll hold my tongue -from Dase to Vegas).The project was never ‘open sourced’ and I can only assume that developers moved on to other things and the project died. The project may also have been a little ahead of its time. Access to the internet in Australia at the time was still via relatively slow dial-up connections. It is easy to imagine that with the ubiquity of broadband and social networking modes such an application might have had greater uptake today had development continued. There are now similar projects operating under engines like Pure Data and Max and perhaps these engines offer greater elasticity for open network collaboration. That said DASE was successfully developed and deployed for use by high school students an outcome hardly possible in the infamously complex MAX/PureData environment.