Qianji: A Resilient Framework for Orchestrating "A Thousand Machines" in Distributed Performance

Ruilei Duan, and Zhengyang Ma

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract

This paper introduces Qianji (literal translation is “A Thousand Machines” in Chinese), a web-based framework designed for massive distributed audio performance over audience members’ own cellular networks. When hundreds of smartphones must function as a synchronized speaker array in a single venue, the congestion and jitter inherent to high-density 4G/5G environments demand an architecture that prioritizes connection survival over bidirectional interactivity. Qianji addresses this with a “resilience-first” unidirectional design utilizing Server-Sent Events (SSE) and stateless HTTP clock synchronization, ensuring textural coherence even under severe network degradation. We validate this framework through two public performances of “The Discourse of an Instrument, and a Thousand Machines,” deploying up to 421 audience smartphones as a distributed resonance chamber for a traditional Guqin, with server-side stress tests confirming scalability to 2000+ concurrent connections. To manage the complexity of such an array, we present the “Video-to-Volume” workflow, which allows composers to treat the audience as pixels in a low-resolution display, mapping spatial gestures directly to sound without the overhead of real-time synthesis control. Grounded in the philosophy of cosmotechnics, this case study demonstrates how Qianji enables a new scale of acoustic intervention, reconciling the characteristic of the zither with the macro-granular digital presence of the crowd.

Citation

Ruilei Duan, and Zhengyang Ma. 2026. Qianji: A Resilient Framework for Orchestrating "A Thousand Machines" in Distributed Performance. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20784103 [PDF]

BibTeX Entry

@inproceedings{nime2026_25,
 abstract = {This paper introduces Qianji (literal translation is “A Thousand Machines” in Chinese), a web-based framework designed for massive distributed audio performance over audience members’ own cellular networks. When hundreds of smartphones must function as a synchronized speaker array in a single venue, the congestion and jitter inherent to high-density 4G/5G environments demand an architecture that prioritizes connection survival over bidirectional interactivity. Qianji addresses this with a “resilience-first” unidirectional design utilizing Server-Sent Events (SSE) and stateless HTTP clock synchronization, ensuring textural coherence even under severe network degradation. We validate this framework through two public performances of “The Discourse of an Instrument, and a Thousand Machines,” deploying up to 421 audience smartphones as a distributed resonance chamber for a traditional Guqin, with server-side stress tests confirming scalability to 2000+ concurrent connections. To manage the complexity of such an array, we present the “Video-to-Volume” workflow, which allows composers to treat the audience as pixels in a low-resolution display, mapping spatial gestures directly to sound without the overhead of real-time synthesis control. Grounded in the philosophy of cosmotechnics, this case study demonstrates how Qianji enables a new scale of acoustic intervention, reconciling the characteristic of the zither with the macro-granular digital presence of the crowd.},
 address = {London, United Kingdom},
 articleno = {25},
 author = {Ruilei Duan and Zhengyang Ma},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.20784103},
 editor = {Benedict Gaster and João Tragtenberg and Anna Xambó and Tom Mitchell},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 month = {June},
 note = {},
 numpages = {7},
 pages = {218--224},
 title = {Qianji: A Resilient Framework for Orchestrating "A Thousand Machines" in Distributed Performance},
 track = {Paper},
 url = {http://nime.org/proceedings/2026/nime2026_25.pdf},
 year = {2026}
}