Screen-based musical instruments as semiotic machines

The ixi software project started in 2000 with the intention to explore new interactive patterns and virtual interfaces in computer music software. The aim of this paper is not to describe these programs, as they have been described elsewhere, but rather explicate the theoretical background that underlies the design of these screen-based instruments. After an analysis of the similarities and differences in the design of acoustic and screen-based instruments, the paper describes how the creation of an interface is essentially the creation of a semiotic system that affects and influences the musician and the composer. Finally the terminology of this semiotics is explained as an interaction model

IXI software: open controllers for open source audio software

Sound has been liberated. The 20th century freed music from various compositional constraints and ideologies, and during the last decade we have witnessed a transformation in the way sound is organized in terms of composition, production, distribution and consumption. This paper is concerned with the production part of this complex structure and will describe some of the ideas, experiments and conclusions of ixi software over the last years. ixi has been building open interfaces to be used with open source audio programming environments. We will go through which cultural and technological changes have affected our work and describe the situation of audio programming as it appears to us today, as inventors of virtual screen-based instruments

The acoustic, the digital and the body: a survey on musical instruments

This paper reports on a survey conducted in the autumn of 2006 with the objective to understand people's relationship to their musical tools. The survey focused on the question of embodiment and its different modalities in the fields of acoustic and digital instruments. The questions of control, instrumental entropy, limitations and creativity were addressed in relation to people's activities of playing, creating or modifying their instruments. The approach used in the survey was phenomenological, i.e. we were concerned with the experience of playing, composing for and designing digital or acoustic instruments. At the time of analysis, we had 209 replies from musicians, composers, engineers, designers, artists and others interested in this topic. The survey was mainly aimed at instrumentalists and people who create their own instruments or compositions in flexible audio programming environments such as SuperCollider, Pure Data, ChucK, Max/MSP, CSound, etc

The ixiQuarks: merging code and GUI in one creative space

This paper reports on ixiQuarks; an environment of instruments and effects that is built on top of the audio programming language SuperCollider. The rationale of these instruments is to explore alternative ways of designing musical interaction in screen-based software, and investigate how semiotics in interface design affects the musical output. The ixiQuarks are part of external libraries available to SuperCollider through the Quarks system. They are software instruments based on a non- realist design ideology that rejects the simulation of acoustic instruments or music hardware and focuses on experimentation at the level of musical interaction. In this environment we try to merge the graphical with the textual in the same instruments, allowing the user to reprogram and change parts of them in runtime. After a short introduction to SuperCollider and the Quark system, we will describe the ixiQuarks and the philosophical basis of their design. We conclude by looking at how they can be seen as epistemic tools that influence the musician in a complex hermeneutic circle of interpretation and signification

Cyclical Flow: Spatial Synthesis Sound Toy as Multichannel Composition Tool

This paper outlines and discusses an interactive system designed as a playful ‘sound toy’ for spatial composition. Proposed models of composition and design in this context are discussed. The design, functionality and application of the software system is then outlined and summarised. The paper concludes with observations from use, and discussion of future developments

Spectron: Graphical Model for Interacting With Timbre

Los algoritmos para crear y manipular el sonido por medios electrónicos o digitales han crecido en cantidad y complejidad desde la creación de los primeros sintetizadores análogos. Sin embargo, las técnicas para visualizar estos modelos de síntesis no han crecido a la par de los sintetizadores hardware o software. En este artículo se muestran posibilidades para representar y controlar gráficamente el timbre, basadas en la visualización de los parámetros involucrados en su modelo de síntesis. Un grupo de datos muy simple fue extraído de un sintetizador substractivo comercial y analizado con dos aproximaciones diferentes, reducción dimensional y visualización abstracta de datos. Los resultados de estas aproximaciones diferentes fueron usados como lineamientos para crear un prototipo de sintetizador digital: el sintetizador Spectron. Este prototipo usa el gráfico de Amplitud vs. Frecuencia como su principal herramienta para informar a cerca del timbre e interactuar con el, fue desarrollado en PureData y su control plantea una simplificación en la cantidad de variables de un oscilador clásico al mismo tiempo que expande las posibilidades para generar timbres adicionales a los de estos osciladores clásicos.The algorithms for creating and manipulating sound by electronic or digital means have grown in number and complexity since the creation of the first analog synthesizers. The techniques for visualizing these synthesis models have not increasingly grown with synthesizers, neither in hardware nor in software. In this paper, the possibilities to graphically represent and control timbre are presented, based on displaying the parameters involved in its synthesis model. A very simple data set was extracted from a commercial subtractive synthesizer and analyzed in two different approaches, dimensionality reduction and abstract data visualization. The results of these two different approaches were used as leads to design a synthesizer prototype: the Spectron synthesizer. This prototype uses an Amplitude vs. Frequency graphic as it´s main interface to give information about the timbre and to interact with it, it´s control offers a simplification in the amount of variables of a classic oscillator and expands its possibilities to generate additional timbre

Epistemic tools: the phenomenology of digital musical instruments

Digital music technologies, and instruments in particular, are the result of specific systems of thought that define and enframe the user’s creative options. Distinctive divisions between digital and acoustic instruments can be traced, contrasting the conceptually based design of software with the affordances and constraints of physical artefacts. Having lost the world’s gift of physical properties, the digital instrument builder becomes more than a mere luthier. The process of designing and building the instrument is transformed into a process of composition, for it typically contains a greater degree of classification and music theory than its acoustic counterpart. Part I of this thesis begins by framing musical systems in the context of the philosophy of technology. Here technological conditions are questioned and theories introduced that will assist the investigation into the relationship between creativity and technology. After this general grounding, the ramifications digital technologies pose to the human body are explored in the context of human expression through tool use. The human-machine relationship is described from phenomenological perspectives and relevant theories of cognitive science. This analysis serves as a foundation for the concept of epistemic tools, defined as the mechanism whereby techno-cultural models are inscribed into technological artefacts. The cultural element of tool use and tool origins is therefore emphasised, an aspect that is highly relevant in musical technologies. Part I thus frames the material properties of acoustic and digital instruments in relation to human culture, cognition, performance and epistemology. Part II contextualises these theories in practice. The ixiQuarks, the live improvisation musical environment that resulted from the current research, are presented as a system addressing some of the vital problems of musical performance with digital systems (such as the question of embodiment and theoretical inscriptions), proposing an innovative interaction model for screen-based musical instruments. The concept of virtual embodiment is introduced and framed in the context of the ixi interaction model. Two extensive user studies are described that support the report on ixiQuarks. Furthermore, comparative surveys on the relationship between expression and technology are presented: a) the phenomenology of musical instruments, where the divergence between the acoustic and the digital is investigated; b) the question of expressive freedom versus time constraints in musical environments is explored with practitioners in the field; and c) the key players in the design of audio programming environments explain the rationale and philosophy behind their work. These are the first major surveys of this type conducted to date, and the results interweave smoothly with the observations and findings in the chapters on the nature and the design of digital instruments that make up the majority of Part II. This interdisciplinary research investigates the nature of making creative tools in the digital realm, through an active, philosophically framed and ethnographically inspired study, of both practical and theoretical engagement. It questions the nature of digital musical instruments, particularly in comparison with acoustic instruments. Through a survey of material epistemologies, the dichotomy between the acoustic and the digital is employed to illustrate the epistemic nature of digital artefacts, necessitating a theory of epistemic tools. Consequently virtual embodiment is presented as a definition of the specific interaction mode constituting human relations with digital technologies. It is demonstrated that such interactions are indeed embodied, contrasting common claims that interaction with software is a disembodied activity. The role of cultural context in such design is emphasised, through an analysis of how system design is always an intricate process of analyses, categorisations, normalisations, abstractions, and constructions; where the design paths taken are often defined by highly personal, culturally conditioned and often arbitrary reasons. The dissertation therefore dissects the digital musical instrument from the perspectives of ontology, phenomenology and epistemology. Respective sections in Part I and Part II deal with these views. The practical outcome of this research – the ixiQuarks – embodies many of the theoretical points made on these pages. The software itself, together with the theoretical elucidation of its context, should therefore be viewed as equal contributions to the field of music technology. The thesis closes by considering what has been achieved through these investigations of the technological context, software development, user studies, surveys, and the phenomenological and epistemological enquiries into the realities of digital musical instruments, emphasising that technology can never be neutral

Panorama del Arte vasco contemporáneo en relación con las nuevas tecnologías

En esta ponencia se hace un recorrido por los diferentes movimientos artísticos que han estado ligados al desarrollo de un arte que experimenta con las nuevas tecnologías, siendo conscientes que estas divisiones solo suponen un marco espaciotemporal para el estudio, ya que desde el punto de vista del artista creador todas las tecnologías, viejas y nuevas, forman parte de un proceso global. Pero no es menos cierto que cada una de las nuevas tecnologías ha aportado al arte una serie de contenidos diferentes y una renovación de anteriores lenguajes.Teknologia berriekin esperimentatzen duen arte mota baten garapenarekin loturik egon diren arte mugimenduak arakatzen dira txosten honetan, ondo jakinik bereizketa hauek azterketarako esparru espazio-tenporal bat besterik ez direla, ezen, artista sortzailearen ikuspuntutik, teknologia guztiak, zaharrak zein berriak, prozesu global baten osagaiak diren. Egia ere bada, alabaina, teknologia berri bakoitzak eduki desberdinak ekarri dizkiola arteari, bai eta aurreko hizkuntzen berrikuntza ere.Dans ce compte-rendu on parcourt les différents mouvements artistiques qui ont été liés au développement d'un art qui expérimente les nouvelles technologies, étant conscients que ces divisions représentent seulement un cadre spatiotemporel pour l'étude, car du point de vue de l'artiste créateur toutes les technologies, anciennes ou nouvelles, font partie du processus global. Mais il est certain que chacune des nouvelles technologies a apporté à l'art une série de contenus différents et une rénovation des langages précédents.A brief tour of the twenty-five years of history of the Centre of Arts and Crafts in Deba. Starting from its forerunner, the Experimental School of Art set up by Jorge Oteiza to the current situation of the Centre. Some characteristics of a unique and atypical experience dedicated to teaching and reserving the traditional arts and crafts but always in close connection with the artistic world

Widgets Réactifs 3D pour l’interaction musicale

National audienceNotre travail porte sur l'utilisation de l'interaction 3D immersive pour la performance musicale. De nombreuses recherches ont été menées sur l'utilisation d'interfaces graphiques pour le contrôle musical. Elles ont notamment décrit l'intérêt que présentent les widgets réactifs, éléments graphiques qui permettent à la fois le contrôle de processus sonores et la visualisation d'informations sur ces processus. D'autres recherches ont montré les possibilités apportées par la réalité virtuelle en matière d'immersion et d'interaction. Néanmoins, aucune des applications 3D musicales développées jusqu'à maintenant n'exploite les avantages des widgets réactifs. Nous cherchons donc à explorer cette voie. Pour cela, nous avons développé un outil de création d'interfaces 3D, Poulpe3D. Il nous semble primordial de chercher la meilleure façon d'associer les paramètres visuels des widgets et les paramètres perceptifs sonores afin de permettre un contrôle efficace et un retour d'informations pertinent. Pour cela, nous nous appuyons sur plusieurs pistes de recherche, qui nous conduisent à penser qu'il est impossible de fixer ces associations de manière objective et à envisager une série de tests en utilisant un outil 3D de mapping intégré à Poulpe3D. Cet outil donne la possibilité à chaque utilisateur de configurer les liens selon ses préférences

Rethinking Interaction: Identity and Agency in the Performance of “Interactive” Electronic Music

This document investigates interaction between human performers and various interactive technologies in the performance of interactive electronic and computer music. Specifically, it observes how the identity and agency of the interactive technology is experienced and perceived by the human performer. First, a close examination of George Lewis’ creation of and performance with his own historic interactive electronic and computer works reveals his disposition of interaction as improvisation. This disposition is contextualized within then contemporary social and political issues related to African American experimental musicians as well as an emerging culture of electronic and computer musicians concerned with interactivity. Second, an auto-ethnographic study reveals a contemporary performers perspective via the author’s own direct interactive experience with electronic and computer systems. These experiences were documented and analyzed using Actor Network Theory, Critical Technical Practice, theories of Embodiment and Embodied Cognition, Lewis’s conceptions of improvisation, as well as Tracy McMullen’s theory of the Improvisative. Analyses from both studies revealed that when and how performers chose to “other” interactive technologies significantly influenced their actions. The implications of this are discussed in terms of identity formation both within performances of interactive electronic music and interactive technologies generally