Your laptop is the instrument. The speakers are the hall. No PA.
Oslo Laptop Orchestra (OLO) is an ad-hoc ensemble from the University of Oslo and the Norwegian Academy of Music. Since 2007 we have been asking a simple question: what happens when you treat the laptop like a clarinet section — acoustic sound only from the machine in front of you, played together in a room?
We follow the spirit of PLOrk (Princeton Laptop Orchestra): one performer, one laptop, one pair of speakers, and a shared commitment to listening.
fourms.github.io/olo — browser instruments, no install. Open the hub, pick an app, turn Audio on, and play through your laptop speakers.
| Instrument | What you do |
|---|---|
| CliX | Hold keys; a shared grid retriggers typed impulses |
| Crystalis | Bow or pluck; drag the pad like a trackpad |
| Droner | Crossfade four harmonic corners with the pointer |
| Clap Hands | Clap into the mic; delays answer back |
| Munge | Speak or play into a living delay cloud |
| Tap Bloom | Click to plant slow, pulsing pentatonic blooms |
| Green Button | Hold for a swelling drone (Space works too) |
| XY-FM | Full-screen FM — mouse = pitch & depth |
| Horizon | Shepard tone — tilt or drag vertically |
| Slice Keys | Record mic, keys 1–8 = slices |
| Vision Grain | Camera motion → granular cloud |
| Circular Groove | Euclidean rings + evolving L-system rules |
| Beat Matrix | QWERTY 16×4 step sequencer |
| Shiny Machine | 16-step drums — kits, swing, effects, velocity |
| Filter Ladder | Tilt/mouse opens ladder filter |
| Mic Theremin | Hum → pitch-tracked sine |
| Room Wash | Mic level → reverb wash |
| Shadow Seq | Webcam shadows → 8-step rhythm |
| Wavetable Scan | Mouse morphs wavetables |
| Autophagy | Starvation types & autophagy phases, sonified |
Full sensor catalog: docs/LAPTOP-INSTRUMENTS.md.
Ensemble tip: In CliX or Crystalis, use the Host tab to share a sync link so every laptop shares the same grid clock.
These are not technical constraints — they are an aesthetic:
- The laptop is a real instrument — played with intention, like trumpet or violin, not as a DJ booth behind a PA.
- Digital possibilities are welcome — synthesis, networks, sensors, and new social forms of playing together.
- Sound comes only from the extended instrument — we do not route through a house sound system; the music lives in the room as many small sources.
The result: a visible, distributed orchestra. You hear where people are sitting.
| Path | Contents |
|---|---|
web/ |
Current — Web Audio apps for workshops and concerts (docs) |
patches/ |
Archive — original Max/MSP and ChucK pieces (~2007–2009) |
| Wiki | History, legacy pieces, workshop notes |
Equipment: ordinary laptops with active studio monitors or powered speakers — loud enough for the room, still “from the instrument.”
OLO was founded in 2007 by Kjell Tore Innervik and Alexander Refsum Jensenius at RITMO / fourMs. Workshops and concerts have run at irregular intervals ever since, developing repertoire from the laptop-orchestra canon and new works for different line-ups.
The web/ collection is the latest chapter: the same pieces and ideas, runnable in any modern browser for teaching and performance without Max or ChucK installs.
Sister project: Oslo Mobile Orchestra (OMO) — the phone orchestra, same philosophy, pocket-sized speakers.
New performers are always welcome — students, faculty, and curious musicians.
- Project page: RITMO — Oslo Laptop Orchestra
- Contact: Alexander Refsum Jensenius