His works are widely performed in the United States and internationally. He is also a contributor to a textbook on Csound and Computer Music (The Csound Book, editor: Richard Boulanger). His articles have been published in periodicals including Computer Music Journal, Perspectives of New Music, ARRAY, and Musicus. As of May, 2002, Karpen lives in Seattle, where he teaches at the University of Washington. He currently directs the Center for Advanced Research Technology in the Arts and Humanities (CARTAH), the School of Music Computer Center, and DXARTS (Center for Digital Arts and Experimental Media); he is the founder of both.