Soundscapes by Robert Fripp

Soundscapes by Robert Fripp is a musical style developed by guitarist Robert Fripp, involving the use of audio loops created and modified by a specific set of digital music synthesizers and digital audio processing devices. It is separate from the soundscape concept utilized by various avant-garde composers.

In the late 1970s, Robert Fripp worked with a technique termed Frippertronics, in solo performances featuring audio loops created with electric guitar and interconnected tape recorders.

In the 1990s Fripp revamped the Frippertronics system by incorporating digital electronics in lieu of tape recorders and effects pedals, renaming it Soundscapes.

The new digital technology included digital delay devices, digital audio processors, and guitar synthesizers.

The audio flow would typically be:

Fripp states on the Discipline Global Mobile web site that Soundscapes "has the aim of finding ways in which intelligence and music, definition and discovery, courtesy and reciprocation may enter into the act of music for both musician and audience".

Because Fripp has also stated that the intent is for active listening by the audience, it can be argued that Soundscapes may not be considered as a type of ambient music, as it is sometimes described.

The performances are improvised: they can be quite loud, lengthy, dramatic, soothing, eerie, and possibly alarming. Because Soundscapes are often held as part of a rock concert, they can prove somewhat taxing on an unprepared audience.

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