starfield

Create during my artist residency at Indexical, Santa Cruz, starfield is a networked orchestra of tiny synthesizers that can be controlled in real-time as part of a live performance or self-running audio installation. Each individual synthesizer node, or satellite, produces localized sound using an audio transducer to make speakers from various material; such as wood, metal, glass, etc.

My goal was to create a reusable system of control and audio production capabilities that can be explored and expanded over time. The initial design and materials can change to produce different sonic and visual experiences. This first realization of starfield feature 60 starfield satellites hanging above the audience in the performance space. The satellites also included a single LED that lit to indicate when the satellite was triggered to play a note or sound. This added a playful visual element to the experience.

The core of the system is an ESP32 microcontroller running the AMY Synthesizer library. This thumbnail sized computer is capable of point-to-point or grouped wireless communication, offering many interesting possibilities for control that I have just begun to explore.

My residency culminated in a live performance which included 5 live compositions featuring the starfield. These compositions explored various control, timbral, and spatialization capabilities of the system.

https://www.indexical.org/events/2026-01-09-premiere-thadeus-frazier-reed-q-a

And a long-form audio installation work, Oud, which ran for 10 hours over two days.

https://www.indexical.org/exhibitions/thadeus-frazier-reed-oud

The development and presentation of the starfield system, the premier performance and premier installation was made possible by an artist residency funded by Indexical and The Live Music Society Music in Action Grant.

testing the paper LED diffusion dome

starfield playing in its default tuning, self-play mode