Signal to Noise Loops: A Cybernetic Approach to Musical Performance with Smart City Data and Generative Music Techniques

This article introduces the Signal to Noise Loops project, which consisted of a series of performances and installations that took place worldwide between 2017 and 2022. The project utilized open data from a network of Internet of Things sensors placed around Dublin, Ireland, in the context of experimental music performance and composition. This network was underpinned by a theoretical framework from the field of cybernetics that united and integrated methods and approaches from the wide-ranging fields of data-driven music, generative music, rhythm analysis, and smart cities research.