Advanced Media Control Through Drawing: Using a graphics tablet to control complex audio and video data in a live context

This paper demonstrates the results of the authors’ Wacom tablet MIDI user interface. This application enables users’ drawing actions on a graphics tablet to control audio and video parameters in real-time. The programming affords five degrees (x, y, pressure, x tilt, y tilt) of concurrent control for use in any audio or video software capable of receiving and processing MIDI data

Advanced Media Control Through Drawing: Using a graphics tablet to control complex audio and video data in a live context

This paper demonstrates the results of the authors’ Wacom tablet MIDI user interface. This application enables users’ drawing actions on a graphics tablet to control audio and video parameters in real-time. The programming affords five degrees (x, y, pressure, x tilt, y tilt) of concurrent control for use in any audio or video software capable of receiving and processing MIDI data. Drawing gesture can therefore form the basis of dynamic control simultaneously in the auditory and visual realms. This creates a play of connections between parameters in both mediums, and illustrates a direct correspondence between drawing action and media transformation that is immediately apparent to viewers. The paper considers the connection between drawing technique and media control both generally and specifically, postulating that dynamic drawing in a live context creates a performance mode not dissimilar to performing on a musical instrument or conducting with a baton. The use of a dynamic and physical real-time media interface re-inserts body actions into live media performance in a compelling manner. Performers can learn to “draw/play” the graphics tablet as a musical and visual “instrument”, creating a new and uniquely idiomatic form of electronic drawing. The paper also discusses how to practically program the application and presents examples of its use as a media manipulation tool

Music Technology in the Classroom

The last twenty years have exhibited unprecedented growth of music technology in the fields of commercial music, professional recording studios, personal home studios, and music education in the public school music classroom. With the establishment of school district programs providing students with access to computer technology from state lottery monies, music classrooms are now receiving their own computers and music software. Music software in the marketplace provides challenges to teachers and their efforts to integrate technology to their classroom instruction. How music educators determine what software is needed, what is appropriate, effective, and within their music budget is still a daunting and questioning effort. This can be a deterrent to those band and choral educators, who are initially reticent about music technology from acquiring, learning, and using music technology in their classrooms. This project will address these issues, the changing roles of teachers, music technology\u27s effect on learning, use in the classroom instruction, National Standards, and philosophical viewpoints

Teaching and Learning Music Technologically

Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, multimedia technology has transformed all educational paradigms. In this mixed-methods study, the researcher shows the effects of inspiring instructional technologies on assimilating musical knowledge and developing performance concepts. Thus, assisted- technology learning is the foundation of inspiration to induce music performance and theory, hardening self-esteem as the core subject of this study. The researcher measures time and skills gathered over two years by a group of high school music students, assessing them with two variables: first, traditional conservatory instruction, and second, the MusicLab method. In addition, the researcher quantifies how technological tools intervene in fundamental musical knowledge and development in a greater or lesser time and what capacities are established more than others at the same phase with the two variables

A Proposal for an Open Source System of Development and Research for Music CAI

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the historical use of music Computer Assisted lnstruction (CAl) software to show that research on music CAl has decreased and to propose using a new method of coding and distribution (open source) that might increase research opportunities using music CAl. The reduction in research is due in part to limitations in existing software, as well as the practices of the music community. An open source CAl program called Mobius is described as an example of how open source programming can offer new opportunities for music researchers. CAl software has played a prominent role in the college music school, and has a long history of research and innovation. Early CAl was used in numerous studies to show how effective computers could be at delivering instruction, while reducing the teacher workload at the same time. As computers became more widely adopted, CAl became more commonplace in the music school, and many CAl software programmers sold their programs to fill the growing demand. Modern CAl is now viewed more as a commercial product, and less as a research tool. CAl can still be used as a powerful research tool. This thesis recommends using open source software development for music CAl since it allows programmers to share the workload of developing software, and allows CAl researchers to use existing open source as the basis for their new research programs. lncluded in this thesis are storyboards for several key components of an open source CAl program on music fundamentals, including an administrative portion, the actual CAl program, and a custom report builder

Creating Digital Musical Instruments with libmosaic-sound and Mosaicode

Music has been influenced by digital technology over the last few decades. With the computer and the Digital Musical Instruments, the musical composition could trespass the use of acoustic instruments demanding to musicians and composers a sort of computer programming skills for the development of musical applications. In order to simplify the development of musical applications several tools and musical programming languages arose bringing some facilities to lay-musicians on computer programming to use the computer to make music. This work presents the development of a Visual Programming Language (VPL) to develop DMI applications in the Mosaicode programming environment, simplifying sound design and making the creation of digital instruments more accessible to digital artists. It is also presented the implementation of libmosaic-sound library, which supported the VPL development, for the specific domain of Music Computing and DMI creation

Straddling the intersection

Music technology straddles the intersection between art and science and presents those who choose to work within its sphere with many practical challenges as well as creative possibilities. The paper focuses on four main areas: secondary education, higher education, practice and research and finally collaboration. The paper emphasises the importance of collaboration in tackling the challenges of interdisciplinarity and in influencing future technological developments

Padworks – Building a solo live performance with iPad

In the early Spring 2012 my friend asked me to join his project: a band of three iPads. I did, and we started a band called Autokomplete. We played one gig, a short medley of songs in a publication event of a news reader iPad app. We used three iPads, and six or seven different apps. It was a success: the audience liked us, we had great fun, and most importantly the iPads worked very well as musical instruments. As far as I know we were the first band of iPads in Helsinki in 2012. Playing the iPad was welcomed by the public as something new and exciting. I was excited about it, too. I liked the possibilities that the big touch screen provided, the new sounds that I was about to create, and the new ways of interacting with the music and band mates. This has lead to several occasions where I’ve played iPad live, one of the highlights being a performance of iPad Orchestra in Sibelius Academy in 2014. Now in 2016 I’m still excited. Playing the iPad has become a fixed part of my musical setup. It raises interest in other people and actually iPad as a musical instrument is still regarded as something fairly new. In last few years, the amount of musical apps in the App Store has increased in number and iPad’s have become faster. But basically it’s still the same device with same possibilities and defects: it’s a portable touchscreen computer with modest computational power and enough memory to run a few apps at the same time. It’s not a musical instrument by design. However, as a musician I find it intriguing. It is the apps that make the iPad an instrument, together with the different built-in sensors. The apps can be used to produce interesting music and that music can be played live as a solo performance, using the iPad as the main instrument. This master thesis discusses how it’s possible to build an interesting live solo music performance with iPad. The research is anchored to the ideas of research of computer music and New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME). I use my own practice and experience as a basis to this research. I list factors that influence the creative process of a musician who uses iPad in the live setup. Based on these factors I compose a live performance for the iPad. As a conclusion I reflect different approaches to build a live composition with my own experiences, personal background motivation, attitudes and ideas. The conclusion sums up different factors that constitute a musical live performance done using iPad as the main instrument that I find interesting. This research can be used as groundwork for defining what iPad musicianship is