Intra-Actions: Experiments with Velocity and Position in Continuous Controllers

Continuous MIDI controllers commonly output their position only, with no influence of the performative energy with which they were set. In this paper, creative uses of time as a parameter in continuous controller mapping are demonstrated: the speed of movement affects the position mapping and control output. A set of SuperCollider classes are presented, developed in the author’s practice in computer music, where they have been used together with commercial MIDI controllers. The creative applications employ various approaches and metaphors for scaling time, but also machine learning for recognising patterns. In the techniques, performer, controller and synthesis ‘intra-act’, to use Karen Barad’s term: because position and velocity are derived from the same data, sound output cannot be predicted without the temporal context of performance

Exciting Instrumental Data: Toward an Expanded Action-Oriented Ontology for Digital Music Performance

Musical performance using digital musical instruments has obfuscated the relationship between observable musical gestures and the resultant sound. This is due to the sound producing mechanisms of digital musical instruments being hidden within the digital music making system. The difficulty in observing embodied artistic expression is especially true for musical instruments that are comprised of digital components only. Despite this characteristic of digital music performance practice, this thesis argues that it is possible to bring digital musical performance further within our action-oriented ontology by understanding the digital musician through the lens of Lévi-Strauss’ notion of the bricoleur. Furthermore, by examining musical gestures with these instruments through a multi-tiered analytical framework that accounts for the physical computing elements necessarily present in all digital music making systems, we can further understand and appreciate the intricacies of digital music performance practice and culture

Multiparametric interfaces for fine-grained control of digital music

Digital technology provides a very powerful medium for musical creativity, and the way in which we interface and interact with computers has a huge bearing on our ability to realise our artistic aims. The standard input devices available for the control of digital music tools tend to afford a low quality of embodied control; they fail to realise our innate expressiveness and dexterity of motion. This thesis looks at ways of capturing more detailed and subtle motion for the control of computer music tools; it examines how this motion can be used to control music software, and evaluates musicians’ experience of using these systems. Two new musical controllers were created, based on a multiparametric paradigm where multiple, continuous, concurrent motion data streams are mapped to the control of musical parameters. The first controller, Phalanger, is a markerless video tracking system that enables the use of hand and finger motion for musical control. EchoFoam, the second system, is a malleable controller, operated through the manipulation of conductive foam. Both systems use machine learning techniques at the core of their functionality. These controllers are front ends to RECZ, a high-level mapping tool for multiparametric data streams. The development of these systems and the evaluation of musicians’ experience of their use constructs a detailed picture of multiparametric musical control. This work contributes to the developing intersection between the fields of computer music and human-computer interaction. The principal contributions are the two new musical controllers, and a set of guidelines for the design and use of multiparametric interfaces for the control of digital music. This work also acts as a case study of the application of HCI user experience evaluation methodology to musical interfaces. The results highlight important themes concerning multiparametric musical control. These include the use of metaphor and imagery, choreography and language creation, individual differences and uncontrol. They highlight how this style of interface can fit into the creative process, and advocate a pluralistic approach to the control of digital music tools where different input devices fit different creative scenarios

Exploring the Motivations for Building New Digital Musical Instruments

Over the past four decades, the number, diversity and complexity of digital musical instruments (DMIs) has increased rapidly. There are very few constraints on DMI design as such systems can be easily reconfigured, offering near limitless flexibility for music-making. Given that new acoustic musical instruments have in many cases been created in response to the limitations of available technologies, what motivates the development of new DMIs? We conducted an interview study with ten designers of new DMIs, in order to explore 1) the motivations electronic musicians may have for wanting to build their own instruments; and 2) the extent to which these motivations relate to the context in which the artist works and performs (academic vs. club settings). We found that four categories of motivation were mentioned most often: M1: wanting to bring greater embodiment to the activity of performing and producing electronic music; M2: wanting to improve audience experiences of DMI performances; M3: wanting to develop new sounds, and M4: wanting to build responsive systems for improvisation. There were also some detectable trends in motivation according to the context in which the artists work and perform. Our results offer the first systematically gathered insights into the motivations for new DMI design. It appears that the challenges of controlling digital sound synthesis drive the development of new DMIs, rather than the shortcomings of any one particular design or existing technology

End-user action-sound mapping design for mid-air music performance

How to design the relationship between a performer’s actions and an instrument’s sound response has been a consistent theme in Digital Musical Instrument (DMI) research. Previously, mapping was seen purely as an activity for DMI creators, but more recent work has exposed mapping design to DMI musicians, with many in the field introducing soware to facilitate end-user mapping, democratising this aspect of the DMI design process. This end-user mapping process provides musicians with a novel avenue for creative expression, and offers a unique opportunity to examine how practising musicians approach mapping design.Most DMIs suffer from a lack of practitioners beyond their initial designer, and there are few that are used by professional musicians over extended periods. The Mi.Mu Gloves are one of the few examples of a DMI that is used by a dedicated group of practising musicians, many of whom use the instrument in their professional practice, with a significant aspect of creative practice with the gloves being end-user mapping design. The research presented in this dissertation investigates end-user mapping practice with the Mi.Mu Gloves, and what influences glove musicians’ design decisions based on the context of their music performance practice, examining the question: How do end-users of a glove-based mid-air DMI design action–sound mapping strategies for musical performance?In the first study, the mapping practice of existing members of the Mi.Mu Glove community is examined. Glove musicians performed a mapping design task, which revealed marked differences in the mapping designs of expert and novice glove musicians, with novices designing mappings that evoked conceptual metaphors of spatial relationships between movement and music, while more experienced musicians focused on designing ergonomic mappings that minimised performer error.The second study examined the initial development period of glove mapping practice. A group of novice glove musicians were tracked in a longitudinal study. The findings supported the previous observation that novices designed mappings using established conceptual metaphors, and revealed that transparency and the audience’s ability to perceive their mappings was important to novice glove musicians. However, creative mapping was hindered by system reliability and the novices’ poorly trained posture recognition.The third study examined the mapping practice of expert glove musicians, who took part in a series of interviews. Findings from this study supported earlier observations that expert glove musicians focus on error minimisation and ergonomic, simple controls, but also revealed that the expert musicians embellished these simple controls with performative ancillary gestures to communicate aesthetic meaning. The expert musicians also suffered from system reliability, and had developed a series of gestural techniques to mitigate accidental triggering.The fourth study examined the effects of system-related error in depth. A laboratory study was used to investigate how system-related errors impacted a musician’s ability to acquire skill with the gloves, finding that a 5% rate of system error had a significant effect on skill acquisition.Learning from these findings, a series of design heuristics are presented, applicable for use in the fields of DMI design, mid-air interaction design and end-user mapping design

Gesture-sound causality from the audience’s perspective: : investigating the aesthetic experience of performances with digital musical instruments.

In contrast to their traditional, acoustic counterparts, digital musical instruments (DMIs) rarely feature a clear, causal relationship between the performer’s actions and the sounds produced. They often function simply as systems for controlling digital sound synthesis, triggering computer-generated audio. This study aims to shed light on how the level of perceived causality of DMI designs impacts audience members’ aesthetic responses to new DMIs. In a preliminary survey, 49 concert attendees listed adjectives that described their experience of a number of DMI performances. In a subsequent experiment, 31 participants rated video clips of performances with DMIs with causal and acausal mapping designs using the eight most popular adjectives from the preliminary survey. The experimental stimuli were presented in their original version and in a manipulated version with a reduced level of gesture-sound causality. The manipulated version was created by placing the audio track of one section of the recording over the video track of a different section. It was predicted that the causal DMIs would be rated more positively, with the manipulation having a stronger effect on the ratings for the causal DMIs. Our results confirmed these hypotheses, and indicate that a lack of perceptible causality does have a negative impact on ratings of DMI performances. The acausal group received no significant difference in ratings between original and manipulated clips. We posit that this result arises from the greater understanding that clearer gesture-sound causality offers spectators. The implications of this result for DMI design and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved

Everyone can be composer today – full stop or question mark?

The incredible tempo of technological development has been incomparable with the rapidity of paradigm shifts in art, particularly over the past 25 years of the "digital age". Approaching technology using its surface control level as an easy tool for art creation (due to lack of time while exploring it, or lack of knowledge, or just due to superficiality) is not often challenging enough to compete with core traditions of art craft across creative disciplines. Due to the rising complexity of user interfaces technologies require either more knowledge, experience and specialization, or provide their users with simplifying solutions. Technologies also do not represent only pool of tools to be used. From media point of view, they gradually incorporate history of knowledge and its continuity. Using piece of technology to make music does not necessarily mean we understand how music is created on its structural level. We become composers thanks to knowledge embodied in the technology itself. Thanks to preset-based-technologies everyone can become composer today reaching quite complex results. In my presentation I am addressing issues of craft and virtuosity in contemporary music composition and performance and I am looking for ways how deep music knowledge can be taught and developed through use of technologies

An evaluation of digital interfaces for music composition and improvisation

This PhD reports research on current representative performance paradigms using various interfaces for real time interaction with computer-based musical environments. Each device was selected to cover a particular range of interfaces. Research covers the following areas: hardware interfaces (tangible & game devices); live coding; optical devices, and hardware prototyping.The projects highlight affordances, comparative strengths and weaknesses, and provide suggestions for further improvements for each paradigm. Particular focus is given to the importance of mapping. Each project comprises corresponding software that was developed to facilitate each performance paradigm.The work is not intended to provide an exhaustive evaluation of the technology used in this research; instead, it aims to examine its feasibility for artistic and musical context. The outcomes of the examinations include a series of musical performances employing improvisation as the basis for composition. These paradigms are examined in a live context as well as fixed media that uses material originating in live performances

Tangible user interfaces : past, present and future directions

In the last two decades, Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) have emerged as a new interface type that interlinks the digital and physical worlds. Drawing upon users' knowledge and skills of interaction with the real non-digital world, TUIs show a potential to enhance the way in which people interact with and leverage digital information. However, TUI research is still in its infancy and extensive research is required in or- der to fully understand the implications of tangible user interfaces, to develop technologies that further bridge the digital and the physical, and to guide TUI design with empirical knowledge. This paper examines the existing body of work on Tangible User In- terfaces. We start by sketching the history of tangible user interfaces, examining the intellectual origins of this field. We then present TUIs in a broader context, survey application domains, and review frame- works and taxonomies. We also discuss conceptual foundations of TUIs including perspectives from cognitive sciences, phycology, and philoso- phy. Methods and technologies for designing, building, and evaluating TUIs are also addressed. Finally, we discuss the strengths and limita- tions of TUIs and chart directions for future research