Surfing the Waves: Live Audio Mosaicing of an Electric Bass Performance as a Corpus Browsing Interface

In this paper, the authors describe how they use an electric bass as a subtle, expressive and intuitive interface to browse the rich sample bank available to most laptop owners. This is achieved by audio mosaicing of the live bass performance audio, through corpus-based concatenative synthesis (CBCS) techniques, allowing a mapping of the multi-dimensional expressivity of the performance onto foreign audio material, thus recycling the virtuosity acquired on the electric instrument with a trivial learning curve. This design hypothesis is contextualised and assessed within the Sandbox#n series of bass+laptop meta-instruments, and the authors describe technical means of the implementation through the use of the open-source CataRT CBCS system adapted for live mosaicing. They also discuss their encouraging early results and provide a list of further explorations to be made with that rich new interface

Toward a model of computational attention based on expressive behavior: applications to cultural heritage scenarios

Our project goals consisted in the development of attention-based analysis of human expressive behavior and the implementation of real-time algorithm in EyesWeb XMI in order to improve naturalness of human-computer interaction and context-based monitoring of human behavior. To this aim, perceptual-model that mimic human attentional processes was developed for expressivity analysis and modeled by entropy. Museum scenarios were selected as an ecological test-bed to elaborate three experiments that focus on visitor profiling and visitors flow regulation

Interfacing the Network: An Embedded Approach to Network Instrument Creation

This paper discusses the design, construction, and development of a multi-site collaborative instrument, The Loop, developed by the JacksOn4 collective during 2009-10 and formally presented in Oslo at the arts.on.wires and NIME conferences in 2011. The development of this instrument is primarily a reaction to historical network performance that either attempts to present traditional acoustic practice in a distributed format or utilises the network as a conduit to shuttle acoustic and performance data amongst participant nodes. In both scenarios the network is an integral and indispensible part of the performance, however, the network is not perceived as an instrument, per se. The Loop is an attempt to create a single, distributed hybrid instrument retaining traditionally acoustic interfaces and resonant bodies that are mediated by the network. The embedding of the network into the body of the instrument raises many practical and theoretical discussions, which are explored in this paper through a reflection upon the notion of the distributed instrument and the way in which its design impacts the behaviour of the participants (performers and audiences); the mediation of musical expression across networks; the bi-directional relationship between instrument and design; as well as how the instrument assists in the realisation of the creators’ compositional and artistic goals

Molecular Simulations of Shock to Detonation Transition in Nitromethane

An extension of the model described in a previous work of Maillet, Soulard and Stoltz based on a Dissipative Particule Dynamics is presented and applied to liquid nitromethane. Large scale non-equilibrium simulations of reacting nitromethane under sustained shock conditions allow a better understanding of the shock-to-detonation transition in homogeneous explosives. Moreover, the propagation of the reactive wave appears discontinuous since ignition points in the shocked material can be activated by the compressive waves emitted from the onset of chemical reactions

Evaluation of live human-computer music-making: Quantitative and qualitative approaches

NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in International Journal of Human-Computer Studies. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, [VOL 67,ISS 11(2009)] DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhcs.2009.05.00

PLXTRM : prediction-led eXtended-guitar tool for real-time music applications and live performance

peer reviewedThis article presents PLXTRM, a system tracking picking-hand micro-gestures for real-time music applications and live performance. PLXTRM taps into the existing gesture vocabulary of the guitar player. On the first level, PLXTRM provides a continuous controller that doesn’t require the musician to learn and integrate extrinsic gestures, avoiding additional cognitive load. Beyond the possible musical applications using this continuous control, the second aim is to harness PLXTRM’s predictive power. Using a reservoir network, string onsets are predicted within a certain time frame, based on the spatial trajectory of the guitar pick. In this time frame, manipulations to the audio signal can be introduced, prior to the string actually sounding, ’prefacing’ note onsets. Thirdly, PLXTRM facilitates the distinction of playing features such as up-strokes vs. down-strokes, string selections and the continuous velocity of gestures, and thereby explores new expressive possibilities

Music and HCI

Music is an evolutionarily deep-rooted, abstract, real-time, complex, non-verbal, social activity. Consequently, interaction design in music can be a valuable source of challenges and new ideas for HCI. This workshop will reflect on the latest research in Music and HCI (Music Interaction for short), with the aim of strengthening the dialogue between the Music Interaction community and the wider HCI community. We will explore recent ideas from Music Interaction that may contribute new perspectives to general HCI practice, and conversely, recent HCI research in non-musical domains with implications for Music Interaction. We will also identify any concerns of Music Interaction that may require unique approaches. Contributors engaged in research in any area of Music Interaction or HCI who would like to contribute to a sustained widening of the dialogue between the distinctive concerns of the Music Interaction community and the wider HCI community will be welcome

Towards a Practitioner Model of Mobile Music

This practice-based research investigates the mobile paradigm in the context of electronic music, sound and performance; it considers the idea of mobile as a lens through which a new model of electronic music performance can be interrogated. This research explores mobile media devices as tools and modes of artistic expression in everyday contexts and situations. While many of the previous studies have tended to focus upon the design and construction of new hardware and software systems, this research puts performance practice at the centre of its analysis. This research builds a methodological and practical framework that draws upon theories of mobile-mediated aurality, rhetoric on the practice of walking, relational aesthetics, and urban and natural environments as sites for musical performance. The aim is to question the spaces commonly associated with electronic music – where it is situated, listened to and experienced. This thesis concentrates on the creative use of existing systems using generic mobile devices – smartphones, tablets and HD cameras – and commercially available apps. It will describe the development, implementation and evaluation of a self-contained performance system utilising digital signal processing apps and the interconnectivity of an inter-app routing system. This is an area of investigation that other research programmes have not addressed in any depth. This research’s enquiries will be held in dynamic and often unpredictable conditions, from navigating busy streets to the fold down shelf on the back of a train seat, as a solo performer or larger groups of players, working with musicians, nonmusicians and other participants. Along the way, it examines how ubiquitous mobile technology and its total access might promote inclusivity and creativity through the cultural adhesive of mobile media. This research aims to explore how being mobile has unrealised potential to change the methods and experiences of making electronic music, to generate a new kind of performer identity and as a consequence lead towards a practitioner model of mobile music

GestureChords: Transparency in gesturally controlled digital musical instruments through iconicity and conceptual metaphor

This paper presents GestureChords, a mapping strategy for chord selection in freehand gestural instruments. The strategy maps chord variations to a series of hand postures using the concepts of iconicity and conceptual metaphor, influenced by their use in American Sign Language (ASL), to encode meaning in gestural signs. The mapping uses the conceptual metaphors MUSICAL NOTES ARE POINTS IN SPACE and INTERVALS BETWEEN NOTES ARE SPACES BETWEEN POINTS, which are mapped respectively to the number of extended fingers in a performer’s hand and the abduction or adduction between them. The strategy is incorporated into a digital musical instrument and tested in a preliminary study for transparency by both performers and spectators, which gave promising results for the technique