Anybody who has tried the experiment of watching their favorite movie with the sound off knows that images alone do not communicate very effectively. It could even be said, in many situations, that image is actually less important than the sound. This truth has long been recognized in the more mature field of film-making, but such a realization is still slow in coming within the computer graphics industry.

The growing number of papers and workshops on music and digital audio at SIGGRAPH's most recent annual conferences, however, demonstrates the increasing interest in the role of sound in enhancing visual communication and in creating a more engaging interactive experience.

McGill University's Music Technology team has not been slow in recognizing these trends, having prepared, for the Montreal SIGGRAPH community, a grand "tour de force" survey of advances in digital audio and musical technologies. The entire faculty of the Music Technology team will be present to speak about their individual research interests, ranging from psychoacoustics and musical recognition, to sound synthesis, real-time audio programming environments and gestural interfaces. Half the evening will be formal presentations, while the rest will be devoted to an open-ended discussion period in which topics will be pursued based on questions and requests from the attendees.

This event is organized in collaboration with the Society for Arts and Technology [SAT].