Data Driven Analysis of Tiny Touchscreen Performance with MicroJam

The widespread adoption of mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, has made touchscreens a common interface for musical performance. New mobile musical instruments have been designed that embrace collaborative creation and that explore the affordances of mobile devices, as well as their constraints. While these have been investigated from design and user experience perspectives, there is little examination of the performers' musical outputs. In this work, we introduce a constrained touchscreen performance app, MicroJam, designed to enable collaboration between performers, and engage in a novel data-driven analysis of more than 1600 performances using the app. MicroJam constrains performances to five seconds, and emphasises frequent and casual music making through a social media-inspired interface. Performers collaborate by replying to performances, adding new musical layers that are played back at the same time. Our analysis shows that users tend to focus on the centre and diagonals of the touchscreen area, and tend to swirl or swipe rather than tap. We also observe that while long swipes dominate the visual appearance of performances, the majority of interactions are short with limited expressive possibilities. Our findings are summarised into a set of design recommendations for MicroJam and other touchscreen apps for social musical interaction

Knobs and nodes : a study of UI design in audio plugins : an exegesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master's in Creative Enterprise at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand

Knobs and Nodes explores how alternate user interfaces influence the use of audio plugins in music production. This idea was investigated through the development and user testing of audio plugins with node-based user interfaces. The Nodal Plugin Duo, comprises two unique audio plugins which exhibit delay and reverb digital signal processing. Once developed, these plugins were tested by music producers, sound designers, and composers in their native creative environments to provide insight on the usability and interactivity of the Nodal Plugin Duo

Towards the convergence of music, mathematics and computing in the primary school through the use of a visual programming system designed for in-the-wild delivery

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Wolverhampton for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.In comparison to the 2014 changes concerning the UK National Curriculum (NC) for Information Communication Technology (ICT) and maths, the NC for music has remained relatively unchanged. A decline in the number of students studying music in UK schools has also been noted throughout the last decade. Considering the NC statutory requirements for music, maths and computing at Key Stage (KS) One, this thesis argues that in a visual programming context, music harbours interdisciplinary symmetric correlations concerning both maths and computing. Thus, the NC statutory requirements for music, maths and computing at KS One are drawn together in a bespoke visual programming system called Music And Mathematics In Collaboration (MAMIC). MAMIC is a thematic-based interdisciplinary curricular connection visual programming system designed for inthe- wild use. MAMIC has been delivered by several non-expert practitioners from varying backgrounds (with minimal training), as part of four case studies across KS One and Two in situ. Based on the results from the case studies, the MAMIC library topology model is presented as a central contribution. This model employs multiple layers of visual programming abstractions which house the symmetric correlations across the music, maths and computing NC statutory requirements. The sequence number is presented at the syntegration concept of this model. From these findings, the MAMIC library topology model and the MAMIC interdisciplinary model can be used to design interdisciplinary visual programming systems for in-the-wild curricula. A pedagogical framework is also presented to illustrate ways that interdisciplinary visual programming can be incorporated into the primary school curriculum. Music’s potential as an interdisciplinary vehicle in a visual programming context is also explored. However, it seems this potential is difficult to access by in-the-wild nonexpert practitioners and students alike. Finally, this thesis presents several recommendations that aim to reposition music in a new interdisciplinary space by using a set of KS One interdisciplinary NC statutory requirements for the subjects of music, maths and computing

Subtlety and detail in digital musical instrument design

PhD thesisSubtlety and detail are fundamental to what makes musical instruments special, and worth dedicating a life’s practice to, for designer, maker, player and listener alike. While instruments are recognised and classified by form, it is the nuances of individual instruments that constitute their power to say what could not be said any other way. Digital musical instruments (DMI) have long been criticised as lacking expressive depth, but technology of sufficient fidelity now exists, which raises compelling questions. What can contemporary DMI designers learn from heritage practices about mastering subtlety and detail? What forms does this mastery take, and how can it be elucidated, compared and shared? Using DMI design tools, kits and activities as probes, this thesis addresses these questions from the perspectives of design, embodiment and craft. In a preliminary study, violin luthiers were asked about subtlety and detail in their practice and culture. The outcomes suggested that subtle details originate in the tacit and embodied realms, which are facilitated to develop by specific contexts, environments and materials. In the first study, attendees of a DMI research conference participated in a workshop reflecting on subtlety and detail. Attendees were divided into groups and explored the physical details of a DMI design kit, in an activity book ended by discussion. Responses focused on re-interpretations of instrumental identity, suggesting that the provided context motivated in the opposite direction to the original brief. In the second study, the same kit was deployed with single rather than co-located groups of digital luthiers, modifying instead the sound of the instrument via a Pure Data patch, and responses focused less on instrumental identity and more on gesture-sound mapping strategies. Provocatively, neither studies resulted in sustained focus on details, motivating a novel DMI probe and activity for individuals. In the third study, digital and traditional instrument makers, musicians and other creatives, were invited to handcraft the resonance models of a digital tuned percussion instrument using sculpting clay, responding to constrained briefs. Participants’ backgrounds deeply influenced their responses, and distinctive themes emerged related to aesthetics, tacit and embodied knowledge, and algorithmic pattern. This thesis introduces a scale-based ontology of DMI design, dividing detail into macro, meso and micro levels. Focusing on the micro scale, a series of reflections and suggestions are provided based on the investigations, for how DMI design practitioners, technologists and researchers can illuminate this domain, for the benefit of subtle and detailed digital musical expression