Liu Hao (刘昊)
Liu Hao (刘昊, also credited as Hao Liu) is an artist, composer, and software developer whose practice connects sound, image, computation, and interaction. He creates audiovisual works, electronic music, software instruments, and experimental systems that move between artistic expression and practical tools.
I started out with composition, studying it at a conservatory-affiliated secondary school. In 2008, I majored in electronic music at university. Around that time, I started creating interactive and new media art. A movement could change a sound, a mobile phone could become an instrument, Environmental sensor data could become a weight controlling how a sound's timbre morphs，and I could compose for electronic ensembles. I thought these things were cool. They allowed me to try ways of making art I had never encountered before. From 2010 onwards, my works began appearing on stage.
Composition has always shaped how I see art. I like systems, and I like perception. Whatever medium I work in, I care about whether the relationships within a work hold together, how tension builds and releases, and why, five minutes later, something is still worth continuing. Some works have a clear proposition, others don't. I don't think the audience necessarily needs to know the answer, but the work itself should stand on its own.
Later, in 2013, I began developing iOS apps independently. Some of my works were distributed as apps, some sounds became software instruments, and some ways of interacting I had in mind became tools. Workflows I had developed over time became software platforms.
I have worked at two music conservatories in China and taken part in arts research projects at universities. I also like being an independent artist now. Let art happen.
Artistic Works · Software Development · Research & Collaboration, 2010–2026
A real-time generative audiovisual work exploring computational growth through dynamically transforming geometric structures, audio-driven visuals, and generative sound synthesis.
An autonomous generative audiovisual installation concerned with local perception, fragments of sound, and shifting relationships among individuals.
The second documented part of The CONV extends sound-driven audiovisual structures into a human-form context, exploring how spatial movement and visual embodiment change perception.
Continued the Fragment audiovisual series with skeletal, wireframe, and spatially structured generative forms.
Published a collection of custom C++ externals for Max/MSP/Jitter, covering procedural geometry, noise, harmonic motion, and audio-reactive visual systems.
Published the source archive of Lithweft, an experimental C++/JUCE node-based audio programming environment begun in 2023 through iterative human–AI collaboration. The archive includes source code, example patches, and build instructions; it is not a production-ready application.
Continued development of LH NULL, a modular music creation platform for iPad combining sound synthesis, sequencing, logic, generative structures, and real-time interaction.
Developed a real-time generative audiovisual work using Max/MSP/Jitter and custom particle systems.
Publicly released PulseLoom, an independently developed Windows OSC sequencer for multitrack timelines, event control, automation curves, and communication with external sound and visual systems.
Continued development and refinement of the iPad FM synthesizer following its initial App Store release on 31 December 2024.
Released an independently developed iPhone synthesizer with dual oscillators, analog-style filtering, unison, and effects.
First released LH Resistor, an iPad FM synthesizer, on the App Store on 31 December 2024. Development continued into 2025.
Continued experiments with the node-based audio programming prototype, including audio processing, dynamically loaded blocks, and graphical patching in C++/JUCE.
Created a data-driven visual art project translating water-quality measurements into generative geometric forms and a navigable virtual exhibition.
Presented a virtual exhibition of images originating from an earlier recurrent-neural-network drawing experiment started in 2019.
Initiated an experimental node-based audio programming environment in C++ and JUCE, developed through sustained dialogue and iterative collaboration with ChatGPT.
Delivered an invited lecture, “Electronic Music and the Development of Music Technology,” for the GAS Audio Lecture Series in May 2023, associated with the China Musicians Association.
Created a real-time, sound-driven audiovisual work in Unreal Engine using a three-dimensional particle system. The work was presented at the Accessible Music Workshop at Tsinghua University Future Laboratory.
Developed an immersive, real-time audiovisual work exploring pressure, energy, light, and spatial form.
Served as Principal Investigator of a Central Conservatory of Music project investigating spatial-audio trajectories, subjective auditory perception, and principles for spatial-audio composition.
Participated as a speaker and mentor at the Tsinghua University Future Laboratory Accessible Music Workshop. Discussed new-media art and interactive music, and presented The CONV.
Participated as a new-media artist in the Beijing forum associated with the Original Music Festival on 20 January 2022.
Interviewed by Music Weekly for “Designing an Instrument for Each Work,” discussing electronic and computer music, independent software development, and audiovisual art.
Contributed music production and AI data analysis for a figure-skating gala opening video with a Central Conservatory of Music composition team.
Composed a string quartet built through the transformation and redistribution of musical material across four instruments.
Continued experiments in machine-generated music, including Transformer-based piano generation and audiovisual visualization of generated material.
Led the music group in an Alibaba × Tsinghua University interdisciplinary project developing AI-assisted composition from quantified aroma-associated emotional data.
Worked as a Research Assistant at the Central Conservatory of Music’s Department of Music Artificial Intelligence and Music Information Technology (2020–2023).
Began a continuing series of real-time three-dimensional studies involving physical simulation, collisions, falling forms, and controlled randomness.
Developed an experimental image-generation system with recurrent neural networks, Python, and TensorFlow. Its incomplete and unexpected results later formed the basis of The Vintage Drawings.
Created a real-time three-dimensional study of tree-like geometry and organic forms, suggesting growth and changing structures.
Released an independently developed iPhone app that applied neural-network style transfer to photographs, offering eleven selectable artistic styles.
Collaborated with Xiaomi Technology on audio, audiovisual, and interactive software systems during 2019–2020, leading collaborative development on the project.
Collaborated with a composer on a Sino-Foreign Music Exchange project at the Affiliated Middle School of the China Conservatory of Music, developing a real-time controllable sound playback system.
Composed a piece for piano and cello exploring shifting harmonic relationships, reflection, and emotional tension.
Began a series of machine-learning music experiments combining neural-network composition, generated piano music, and real-time audiovisual representation.
Released a metronome app that combines practical music-practice functions with a real-time rendered three-dimensional environment.
Composed a piano work exploring duality, contrast, changing gestures, and musical relationships.
Developed a virtual-reality audiovisual experiment using Unity 3D and continuously transforming geometric forms.
Created a real-time audiovisual experiment using Max for Live and electronic music, exploring continuously transforming points, lines, and geometric structures.
Developed an experimental VST audio software project. This was a development experiment, not a documented public release.
Composed an orchestral work exploring sensitivity, hesitation, emotional changes, and fluid musical structures.
Created an audiovisual composition combining original piano music and live visual processing in Max/MSP/Jitter.
Developed a program synchronizing electronic music and visual imagery in real time for a teaching achievement concert at the China Conservatory of Music.
Released an independently developed iOS application combining instrument tuning, metronome functions, frequency analysis, and music-practice tools.
Released a generative audiovisual artwork as an iPhone/iPad application, combining twelve-tone algorithmic composition with real-time three-dimensional visualization, built using openFrameworks and C++.
Released an iOS tuner supporting multiple temperament systems and adjustable reference frequencies. The app was featured by App Store editors.
Released an iPad granular synthesizer with independent sound channels, touch interaction, OSC communication, and integrated effects.
Created a real-time audiovisual experiment in Max/MSP/Jitter using moving points, lines, and geometric forms.
Delivered an invited lecture at the China Conservatory of Music on electronic music composition, sensors, Kinect motion capture, synthesis, and sound design.
Released an independent iPad software synthesizer featuring a distinctive touch-based Keyboard Rubbing interface. Featured by App Store editors.
Released an independently developed granular synthesizer with touch control, OSC communication, and integrated audio effects.
Released an iPhone utility transmitting motion-sensor information over OSC for interactive music and audiovisual systems.
Presented an interactive audiovisual work at the New Media Art Exhibition of MUSICACOUSTICA–BEIJING, combining electronic music, real-time visuals, iPhone-based control, and stage lighting.
Performed several electronic music works at an event marking the establishment of the Department of Music Technology at the China Conservatory of Music.
Presented an interactive audiovisual work at the New Media Art Exhibition of the Beijing International Electronic Music Festival using environmental sensing, Kinect motion capture, electronic music, and real-time visuals.
Presented an ensemble performance using iPhones as instruments at the closing concert of the Beijing International Electronic Music Festival.
Collaborated with composer Zhu He on the electronic-music development and technical realization for The Song of Ubusiben (《乌布西奔之歌》), presented at Beijing Concert Hall. This was a contribution to the composer’s work, not an independent composition.
Presented a real-time electronic music ensemble performance at the closing concert of the Beijing International Electronic Music Festival, using five MIDI controllers and custom Max/MSP instruments.
Presented an interactive electroacoustic work at the Interactive Sound Art and New Media Art Exhibition of the Beijing International Electronic Music Festival using mobile-device sensors, OSC, Max/MSP, and Csound.