Drifting in Currents of Currents: A Hydro-Acoustic Interface for Gesture-Driven Neural Sound Synthesis and Entropic Memory

Tak Cheung Hui, Xiaoqiao LI, Chun-ting CHAN, and Cheuk-Kit CHUNG

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract

Drifting in Currents of Currents is an interactive hydro-acoustic system that explores the displacement of Hong Kong’s Tanka (boat people) through gesture, fluid dynamics, and neural sound synthesis. A solo interactor controls two theremin interfaces to drive a motorized XY plotter that drags a hydrophone through a water tank. The resulting water disturbance functions simultaneously as sound material and excitation signal for a neural audio model (RAVE) trained on coastal soundwalks recorded in Tai O and Aberdeen. Rather than reproducing historical vocal materials, textual fragments from documented Saltwater Songs operate as symbolic gating mechanisms within the synthesis pipeline: each fragment triggers a time-limited amplitude envelope that conditions the audibility of neural output without producing vocal sound. Audio is spatialized through multiple transducers attached directly to the tank and pedestal, establishing a physical hydro-acoustic feedback loop. Grounded in theories of cosmotechnics and wet ontology, and informed by perspectives on machine learning as a creative musical tool, the system frames memory as an entropic, materially mediated process—one that resists retrieval and remains perceptible only through instability, latency, and drift.

Citation

Tak Cheung Hui, Xiaoqiao LI, Chun-ting CHAN, and Cheuk-Kit CHUNG. 2026. Drifting in Currents of Currents: A Hydro-Acoustic Interface for Gesture-Driven Neural Sound Synthesis and Entropic Memory. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20784390 [PDF]

BibTeX Entry

@inproceedings{nime2026_126,
 abstract = {Drifting in Currents of Currents is an interactive hydro-acoustic system that explores the displacement of Hong Kong’s Tanka (boat people) through gesture, fluid dynamics, and neural sound synthesis. A solo interactor controls two theremin interfaces to drive a motorized XY plotter that drags a hydrophone through a water tank. The resulting water disturbance functions simultaneously as sound material and excitation signal for a neural audio model (RAVE) trained on coastal soundwalks recorded in Tai O and Aberdeen. Rather than reproducing historical vocal materials, textual fragments from documented Saltwater Songs operate as symbolic gating mechanisms within the synthesis pipeline: each fragment triggers a time-limited amplitude envelope that conditions the audibility of neural output without producing vocal sound. Audio is spatialized through multiple transducers attached directly to the tank and pedestal, establishing a physical hydro-acoustic feedback loop. Grounded in theories of cosmotechnics and wet ontology, and informed by perspectives on machine learning as a creative musical tool, the system frames memory as an entropic, materially mediated process—one that resists retrieval and remains perceptible only through instability, latency, and drift.},
 address = {London, United Kingdom},
 articleno = {126},
 author = {Tak Cheung Hui and Xiaoqiao LI and Chun-ting CHAN and Cheuk-Kit CHUNG},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.20784390},
 editor = {Benedict Gaster and João Tragtenberg and Anna Xambó and Tom Mitchell},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 month = {June},
 note = {},
 numpages = {5},
 pages = {1030--1034},
 title = {Drifting in Currents of Currents: A Hydro-Acoustic Interface for Gesture-Driven Neural Sound Synthesis and Entropic Memory},
 track = {paper},
 url = {http://nime.org/proceedings/2026/nime2026_126.pdf},
 year = {2026}
}