The first researches on the application of electronic and digital technologies to sound and music at the University of Padova date back to the 1960s, and led to the foundation of the "Centro di Sonologia Computazionale" (CSC) in 1979. Since 2009, the CSC is part of the Department of Information Engineering.

The activities of the CSC include scientific research, music production, education (and dissemination). CSC is an antidisciplinary laboratory: isn't a sum of a bunch of disciplines (information engineer, computer science, musicology, music theory, psychology, acoustics, philosophy) but something entirely new — the word defies easy definition. But what it means is a laboratory that doesn't fit within traditional academic discipline­­­ — a field of study with its own particular words, frameworks, and methods. Antidisciplinary research is akin to mathematician John von Neumann’s famous observation that attempting to develop a theory of non-equilibrium systems is like attempting to develop ‘a theory of non-elephants’. At CSC we study the non-elephant animals. Music is a transcultural language, and, taking advantage of this, CSC aims at facilitating the inclusion of people with disabilities (e.g., Multimodal interaction for Learning and Well-Being, Acoustic analysis for Safety and Security in the Workplace) and the dialogue among different cultures and populations (Production of New Cultural Events, Computing and Cultural Heritage, Audio documents: preservation and valorization, Computational Creativity, Speech).

The CSC labs are immersed in the cultural context in which the center was born and foster the stimulation of technological transfer to the market (thanks to AudioInnova, CSC spin-off), to involve researchers in the development of new musical ideas, and musicians as sources of creativity in scientific research. CSC attracts researchers and musicians who carry out research, production and teaching activities jointly.

The CSC collaborates with many organizations, both at a national and international level. Teaching activities include the course "Computer Engineering for Music and Multimedia" within the Master Degree in Computer Engineering, the supervision of Ph.D. students, and the hosting of Erasmus students in collaboration with our European partners.
The CSC archive is included in "Rete degli Archivi del Veneto".

References:

• Sara Giuriati, Anna Zuccante, Alessandro Russo, Alessandro Fiordelmondo, Matteo Spanio, Antonio Rodà and Sergio Canazza (2026). Artificial Intelligence for Musical Cultural Heritage: Preservation, Interpretation, and Human-Centered Creativity at the Centro di Sonologia Computazionale. Heritage, 9(9), 344. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage9090344
• Sergio Canazza, Giovanni De Poli and Alvise Vidolin. Gesture, Music and Computer: The Centro di Sonologia Computazionale at Padova University, a 50-Year History. Sensors. 2022; 22(9):3465. https://doi.org/10.3390/s22093465
• Sergio Canazza, Giovanni De Poli and Alvise Vidolin. I primi 40 anni del Centro di Sonologia Computazionale di Padova. Un intreccio di saperi tra ricerca scientifica, creatività musicale e alta formazione. Cleup. Collana: Ingegneria industriale e dell'informazione. ISBN: 9788854953314. 2020.
  https://www.cleup.it/product/22028892/i-primi-40-anni-del-centro-di-sonologia-computazionale-di-padova
• Sergio Canazza and Giovanni De Poli. Four decades of music research, creation, and education at Padua’s Centro di Sonologia Computazionale. Computer Music Journal, 43(4):58–80, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1162/comj_a_00537

VIDEO

• RAI Buongiorno Veneto, report from Italian national broadcasting company (RAI) on CSC, with the participation of Sergio Canazza.

Video link