Live performance involves three feedback loops: code/programmer, sound/programmer, and audience/programmer

McLean identifies three feedback loops that jointly define liveness in live coded performance. The first, manipulation feedback (Nash and Blackwell 2011), is between the programmer and their code — making a change and reading it in context with any syntactic errors. The second, performance feedback, connects the programmer and program output (the music as heard). The third, social feedback, connects the programmer with their audience and co-performers — especially foregrounded at algorave events where the audience is dancing. Together these loops connect the programmer to ‘the live, passing moment’. Crucially, all three operate simultaneously, which is what makes live coding both demanding and rewarding.

Examples

Algorave: code projected on screen (manipulation feedback visible to audience); crowd dancing response shapes next code change (social feedback); hearing the mix change immediately (performance feedback).

Assessment

Name all three feedback loops, identify which is unique to live musical performance compared to other kinds of live programming, and explain why social feedback matters for the music.