Infos

INVITATION TO JOIN THE WAVE FIELD SYNTHESIS LAB
Project week on Wave Field Synthesis — massive multichannel composition and sound projection at Westbahnstudios
Date: 14–20 September 2026

The ÆSR Sound Projection Lab invites you to take part in a week-long working session on Wave Field Synthesis. The focus is on massive multichannel composition and sound projection: participants can expect seminars on theory and practice in hardware and software, ample time for individual work at the system, and presentations on Saturday and Sunday.

Two systems will be set up — 192 channels in the main room and 32 channels in the side room. You can work with both fixed media and live input; the platforms are WFSCollider (SuperCollider) and Max (SPAT).

It's the first time we're setting up the full system, so the week is as much a test run for us as a course for everyone else. The working session is a collaboration between ÆSRL, ACME and the concert series Parken, which will host a concert evening with the system on Saturday.

As our guest speaker, Raviv Ganchrow (Institute of Sonology, The Hague) opens the week with a talk on the history, theory and practice of Wave Field Synthesis.

The team is Jonas Hammerer, Patrik Lechner, Florian Bogner, Moritz Haberkorn and Thomas Grill.

Max. number of participants: 8
Language: English / German
Prior knowledge: basics in multichannel work or SuperCollider / Max are an advantage
What to bring: laptop, headphones, audio material — either fixed media or a live setup to work with

Attendance on every single day is not required. The essential parts are the setup, the introduction and the seminars; the rest is optional individual work.

Location: Westbahnstudios, Preysinggasse 5, 1150 Vienna · https://westbahnstudios.at/

Registration: Email directly to Thomas Grill (grill@mdw.ac.at) with a short description of your interest, how and what you would like to work on. Places are limited, so early registration is recommended.
Registration deadline: Wednesday, 9 September

Weekly schedule (10 a.m.–4 p.m. daily)

Mon 14.9. — System setup and technical introduction; evening: first project work
Tue 15.9. — 10–12 check-in & Q&A · 1–4 p.m. talk by Raviv Ganchrow; evening: project work
Wed 16.9. / Thu 17.9. — 10–12 check-in & Q&A · 1–4 p.m. seminar (theory and practice); evening: project work
Fri 18.9. — Project work / rehearsals for Parken
Sat 19.9. — Parken concert
Sun 20.9. — Individual presentations · evening: teardown

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Guest Lecturer

Raviv Ganchrow’s (*1972) work focuses on interdependencies between sound, location and listener, aspects of which are explored through sound installations, writing, and the development of acoustic-forming and vibrationsensing technologies. Recent installations address context-specific sites of hearing as modes of the contemporary listener. His ongoing Listening Subjects project examines the contextual circuitry of listening whereby audibility, surroundings and subjectivity are ‘conductive’ of one another. He has been teaching architectural design in the graduate programme at Delft University of Technology and a faculty member at the Institute of Sonology since 2006.

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