The Larsen Station: A Customizable Module Setup for Integrating Electroacoustic Feedback in Chamber Music

Maurilio Cacciatore

The Larsen Station: A Customizable Module Setup for Integrating Electroacoustic Feedback in Chamber Music
Image credit: Maurilio Cacciatore

Abstract:

Touching the air (2025) is a work for Larsen Station, flutes and live electronics, commissioned by Ensemble HANATSUmiroir. This paper presents the Larsen Station, a modular setup developed for the piece, and situates it within an ongoing research on the control and compositional use of electroacoustic feedback in chamber music. Developing from the Larsen Glassharmonica (2024), the setup overcomes the structural and sonic limitations of earlier piano-based configuration by decoupling feedback generation from large acoustic infrastructures and increasing configurational flexibility. The Larsen Station comprises multiple resonant modules: polystyrene boards, glass Helmholtz resonators, a kettle drum, and a low-frequency bass-drum unit, excited by contact loudspeakers and shakers. The paper discusses material choices, excitation and capture techniques, live electronic processing, and notation strategies, emphasizing gesture-based interaction in which hand movement and spatial positioning directly shape pitch, timbre, and stability of electroacoustic feedback.