In this article we present the real-time audio plug-in X-Micks, an audio processing application allowing for remixing and hybridization of two beat-synchronized audio streams, which provides user interaction based on the extraction and visual rendering of information from the two real-time audio streams. In the current version, the plug-in uses the beat grid information provided by the plug-in host and a real-time estimation of energy in chosen frequency bands to construct an interactive matrix representation allowing for intuitive and efficient user interaction based on familiar representations such as the sonogram and the step sequencer. After trying to formulate the constitutional qualities of a rising new generation of audio processing tools of which we claim X-Micks being an exemplary specimen, the article gives an overview over the application’s interface, functionalities and implementaion.

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