Distributed acoustical meshes on the Internet

An acoustical mesh distributed over the Internet is constructed of scattering junction nodes with bidirectional audio streaming between them. Components of common network music performance (NMP) applications like JackTrip can be adapted for experimentation with the concept. In the usual context of ensemble NMP, an audio hub server accepts bidirectional audio connections from multiple clients. The clients are located apart from each other physically and the hub server handles audio to and from the ensemble of sites, typically comprising a band or choir. The usual spoke and wheel topology (single hub server/mulitple hub clients) requires some modifications to run as a mesh of interconnected scattering juntions. The resulting waveguide mesh topology is explored for its properties, some of which resemble extensions of waveguide mesh physical model simulations of musical instruments and rooms. The acoustical medium that this creates is a live, vibrating acoustic mesh across Internet space. Unique properties, such as non-uniform distribution of nodes, are described in an experiment that explores analogies to plates and membranes and is characterized by the inherently anisotropic propagation of the network.