Art Zoyd Studios works to preserve electroacoustic music and has a searchable archive that has been the subject of a major conservation project since 2019.

Against a backdrop of increasing technological obsolescence, electronic music requires constant updating, so that it can be interpreted by new musicians. Its durability, through the possibility of transmitting and replaying it despite the disappearance of certain technologies, depends largely on documentary work, as well as regular technical migration operations.

The work of archiving the pieces in the Art Zoyd Studios collection focuses on two aspects: firstly, documentation, through the collection of elements that exist on the various media linked to the production of the works; and secondly, migration, aimed at transferring pieces whose native technology has become obsolete and unusable to current devices. With this in mind, a database has been developed to facilitate consultation of all the documents and information gathered in the archive, as well as a software tool to emulate the operation of the old Akai S6000 samplers whose recurrent use marked the technical history of Art Zoyd's productions. Initially focusing on Gérard Hourbette's pieces, the documentation and safeguarding work now also extends to compositions produced during residencies at Art Zoyd Studios. 

In order to make the pieces replayable by new musicians, and following on from the 44 ½ anniversary project and the CD box set released in 2017, featuring numerous reinterpreted milestones in Art Zoyd's history, the Art Zoyd Studios archive team works at the crossroads of transcription, digital data processing, digitization of old documents, and interviews with witnesses to the creative stages and first performers of the pieces. The fruits of this work include a tribute concert to Gérard Hourbette Et avec votre esprit - La Forêt de Samplers in 2021, and a revival of the 1988 film-concert Nosferatu by the Orchestre de la Drôme in 2023.

We collect and archive data and documents relating to the production of works for all artists in residence who so wish, by means of video interviews, questionnaires and back-ups on local and external servers (hosted by the Huma-Num research infrastructure).