Cort Lippe studied Renaissance music in Italy for a year, composition and computer music with Larry Austin in the USA, and followed composition and analysis seminars with various composers including Boulez, Donatoni, K. Huber, Messiaen, Penderecki, Stockhausen, and Xenakis. From 1980-83 he studied and did research in The Netherlands, at the Instituut voor Sonologie with G.M. Koenig and Paul Berg in the fields of computer and formalized music. From 1983-1994 he lived in France where he worked for three years at the Centre d'Etudes de Mathematique et Automatique Musicales (CEMAMu), founded by Iannis Xenakis, while following Xenakis' courses on acoustics and formalized music at the University of Paris. Subsequently, he worked for nine years at the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM), founded by Pierre Boulez, where he gave courses on new technology in composition, developed real-time computer music applications, and was part of the original development team for the software Max. His research includes more than 35 peer-reviewed publications on interactive music, granular sampling, score following, spectral processing, FFT-based spatial distribution/delay, acoustic instrument parameter mapping, and instrument design. As a teacher, Lippe has given over 100 presentations and guest lectures around the world, and was a visiting professor at the Sonology Department of Kunitachi College of Music, Tokyo (1992, 1999-2007, and 2010), the Carl Nielsen Conservatory of Music, Odense, Denmark (1999-2001), New York University (2007), and as recipient of a Fulbright Award in 2009, he spent six months teaching and doing research at the National and Kapodistiran University of Athens, Greece. Since 1994 he has taught in the Department of Music of the University at Buffalo, New York where he is an associate professor of composition and director of the Lejaren Hiller Computer Music Studios.

Lippe's compositions have received numerous international prizes, including first prizes from the Irino Competition (Japan), the Bourges Electroacoustic Music Competition (France), El Callejon Del Ruido Competition (Mexico), USA League-ISCM Competition (USA), and the Leonie Rothschild Competition (USA); second prize from the Music Today Competition (Japan); third prize from the Newcomp Competition (USA); and honorable mentions from the Prix Ars Electronica 1993 and 1995 (Austria), the Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards (USA), the Sonavera International Competition (USA), the Bourges Electroacoustic Music Competition, and the Luigi Russolo Competition (Italy). Some of his commissions include the International Computer Music Association, the Sonic Arts Research Center (UK), the Festival El Callejon del Ruido (Mexico), the Dutch Ministry of Culture, and the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie (Germany); and he has written for many internationally acclaimed soloists, including bassist Robert Black, percussionists Pedro Carneiro, Patti Cudd, and Kenyon Williams, tubists Mel Culberton and Melvyn Poore, saxophonist Steven Duke, clarinetist Esther Lamneck, sho player Mayumi Miyata, harpist Masumi Nagasawa, pianist Yoshiko Shibuya, and bass clarinetist Harry Sparnaay. His music has been performed at more than 100 peer-reviewed and 150 invited national and international festivals and conferences, including the International Computer Music Conference, ISCM World Music Days, Gaudeamus (The Netherlands), the Music Today Festival (Tokyo), the Bourges Synthese Festival (France), the Huddersfield Festival (UK), and SARC's Sonorities Festival (UK). In addition, since 1993 Lippe has collaborated with the composers/researchers Miller Puckette and Zack Settel, performing as the Convolution Brothers at festivals worldwide. His works are recorded on more than 30 CDs, including ADDA, ALM, Apollon, Big Orbit, CBS-Sony, CDCM, CDE Music, Centaur, Classico, CMJ Recordings, EMF, Hungaroton Classic, Harmonia Mundi, ICMC2000/2003, IKG Editions, Innova, MIT Press, Neuma, Salabert, SEAMUS, Sirr, SMC07 and Wergo.