Barry Truax (CAN)

Barry Truax (born 1947) is a Canadian composer who specializes in real-time implementations of granular synthesis, often of sampled sounds, and soundscapes. He developed the first ever implementation of real-time granular synthesis, in 1986, the first to use a sample as the source of a granular composition in 1987’s Wings of Nike, and was the first composer to explore the range between synchronic and asynchronic granular synthesis in 1986’s Riverrun. The real-time technique emphasizes auditory streams, which, along with soundscapes, inform his aesthetic.
Truax teaches both electroacoustic music and acoustic communication at Simon Fraser University. He was one of the original members of the World Soundscape Project. His students include composers Jean Piché, David Monacchi, Michael Vincent, Paul Dolden, Susan Frykberg, Charles Wilkinson, and John Oswald.