CORAIL(CORAL) is an interactive computer music environment for tenor or soprano saxophone. The program runs on a Macintosh computer using Max/MSP. The work exploits the possibilities of real-time pitch, gesture, and dynamic envelope tracking provided by Miller Puckette's fiddle~ object. The piece is designed for an instrumentalist equipped with a wireless microphone to enable free movement throughout a concert hall or in the open air during performance. Significant programming was accomplished by Manuel Poletti of IRCAM and Matthew Wright while he was at CNMAT. In a normal performance, the performer and the audience are immersed in a spatial ocean of high quality audio. Record and playback, reverb effects, spatial placement and movement are generated by the computer based on commands and analysis of incoming performance data from the soloist. Most of the sounds originate directly from the saxophone, captured and transformed in real-time. The system is autonomous and can be performed with the computer on stage sending four channels directly to the house.

There is no pre-defined score for CORAIL(CORAL). There exists a set of "environments" that function collectively and can be called by the saxophonist at any time. Persistence inside any one environment causes the program to begin generating responses on its own. CORAIL is a highly-constrained improvisation. Each performance may have a different unfolding but the meta-compositional structure remains. The instrumentalist must memorize and internalize through rehearsal all the functions of the programming.

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