15 research outputs found
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A new user interface for musical timbre design
This thesis characterises and addresses problems and issues associated with the design of intuitive user interfaces for timbral control. The usability of a range of synthesis methods and representative implementations of these methods is assessed, and three interface architectures - fixed architecture, architecture specification and direct specification - are identified. The characteristics of each of these architectures, as well as problems of usability inherent to each of them are discussed; it is argued that none of them provide intuitive tools for the manipulation and control of timbre.
The study examines the nature of timbre and the notion of timbre space; different kinds of timbre space are considered and criteria are proposed for the selection of suitable timbre spaces as vehicles for synthesis.
A number of listening tests, designed to demonstrate the feasibility of subsequent work, were devised and carried out; the results of these tests provide evidence that, where Euclidean distances between sounds located in a given timbre space are reflected in perceptual distances, the ability of subjects to detect relative distances in different parts of the space varies with the perceptual granularity of the space.
Three contrasting timbre spaces conforming to the proposed criteria for use in synthesis are constructed; the purpose of these spaces is to provide an environment for a novel user interaction approach for timbral design which incorporates a search strategy based on weighted centroid localization. Two prototypes which exemplify the proposed approach in alternative ways are designed, implemented and tested with potential users in order to validate the approach; a third contrasting prototype which represents a simple contrasting alternative is tested for purposes of comparison. The results of these tests are evaluated and discussed, and areas of further work identified
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A Critical Analysis of Synthesizer User Interfaces for Timbre
In this paper, we review and analyse categories of user interface used in hardware and software electronic music synthesizers. Problems with the user specification and modification of timbre are discussed. Three principal types of user interface for controlling timbre are distinguished. A problem common to all three categories is identified: that the core language of each category has no well-defined mapping onto the task languages of subjective timbre categories as used by musicians
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Timbre space as synthesis space: towards a navigation based approach to timbre specification
Much research into timbre, its perception and classification over the last forty years has modelled timbre as an n-dimensional co-ordinate space or timbre space, whose axes are measurable acoustical quantities (variously, spectral density, simultaneity of partial onsets etc). Typically, these spaces have been constructed from data generated from similarity/dissimilarity listening tests, using multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis techniques. Our current research is the computer assisted synthesis of new timbres using a timbre space search strategy, in which a previously constructed simple timbre space is used as a search space by an algorithm designed to synthesize desired new timbres steered by iterative user input. The success of such an algorithm clearly depends on establishing suitable mapping between its quantifiable features and its perceptual features. We therefore present here, firstly, some of the findings of a series of listening tests aimed at establishing the perceptual topography and granularity of a simple, predefined timbre space, and secondly, the results of preliminary tests of two search strategies designed to navigate this space. The behaviour of these strategies in a circumscribed space of this kind, together with the corresponding user experience is intended to provide a baseline to applications in a more complex space
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Music interaction: understanding music and human-computer interaction
We introduce and review recent research in Music and Human Computer Interaction, also known as Music Interaction. After a general overview of the discipline, we analyse the themes and issues raised by the fifteen chapters of this book, each of which presents recent research in this field. The bulk of this chapter is organised as an FAQ. This enables some FAQs to focus on cross cutting issues that appear in multiple chapters, and some chapters to feature in multiple FAQs. Broad topics include: the scope of research in Music Interaction; the role of HCI in Music Interaction; and conversely, the role of Music Interaction in HCI. High-level themes include embodied cognition, spatial cognition, evolutionary interaction, gesture, formal language, affective interaction, and methodologies from social science. Musical activities of interest include performance, composition, analysis, collaborative music making, and human and machine improvisation. Specific issues include: whether Music Interaction should be easy; what can be learned from the experience of being “in the groove”, and what can be learned from the deep commitment of musical amateurs. Broader issues include: what Music Interaction can offer traditional instruments and traditional musical activities; what relevance it has for non-musical domains; and ways in which Music Interaction can enable entirely new musical activities possible
Healthy Dietary Intake Moderates the Effects of Age on Brain Iron Concentration and Working Memory Performance
Age-related brain iron accumulation is linked with oxidative stress, neurodegeneration and cognitive decline. Certain nutrients can reduce brain iron concentration in animal models, however, this association is not well established in humans. Moreover, it remains unknown if nutrition can moderate the effects of age on brain iron concentration and/or cognition. Here, we explored these issues in a sample of 73 healthy older adults (61-86 years old), while controlling for several factors such as age, gender, years of education, physical fitness and alcohol-intake. Quantitative susceptibility mapping was used for assessment of brain iron concentration and participants performed an N-Back paradigm to evaluate working memory performance. Nutritional-intake was assessed via a validated questionnaire. Nutrients were grouped into nutrition factors based on previous literature and factor analysis. One factor, comprised of vitamin E, lysine, DHA omega-3 and LA omega-6 PUFA, representing food groups such as nuts, healthy oils and fish, moderated the effects of age on both brain iron concentration and working memory performance, suggesting that these nutrients may slow the rate of brain iron accumulation and working memory declines in aging
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Electronic Sound Synthesizer Interface Design
The focus of this project described in this paper is to address a deep-rooted problem in the user interface of present-day hardware and software of electronic music synthesizers. While sound qualities such as pitch and loudness lend themselves relatively easily to user control, the timbre of sound is much less easily described or defined in any systematic way. Consequently, in all present day user interfaces so far examined for controlling or modifying timbre in electronic synthesisers, there is a wide semantic gap between the task and system languages used. In this project, we are carefully analysing current approaches to controlling timbre, and investigating principles, issues and problems that must be addressed to improve the design of user interfaces for sound synthesis. In subsequent stages of the project, a prototype of a new kind of interface will be designed, implemented and evaluated.The research is still in its early stages, but a taxonomy of synthesizer interface design categories is identified and the conclusions drawn from a series of user tests summarised
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Analysis of the synthesizer user interface: cognitive walkthrough and user tests
The aim of this report is to analyse the user interfaces of two electronic synthesisers and to report the results of user tests conducted on these interfaces.Work on interface design in the sound synthesis domain here has tended to focus on the development of experimental input devices which capture physical gestures, and which are mapped to synthesis parameters. However, relatively little attention has been given to the analysis of existing audio and music related hardware and software (e.g. electronic synthesizers) from the HCI perspective. In the context of HCI, sound has, for the most part, only been considered as a means of providing warning or monitoring feedback to users of systems in which it otherwise does not play a role [1]. Auditory interfaces have sought to present data, which would normally be presented visually, in aural form, sometimes for the benefit of users with visual impairments [2][7][13]. Studies of software/hardware interfaces in which the creation, editing and storage of audio material is the prime focus are scarce, however [8] [15].Ruffner and Coker's review of synthesizer interface design [15] focused on the control surfaces of four contemporary instruments, and commented on the degree to which they conformed to design principles identified by Williges et al. [16] They concluded that the demands placed on the user by the interfaces made them far from ideal for the purpose: noting that, in general 'user interface principles have been, at best haphazardly applied' in the design of the synthesizer interface, the authors also suggested a number of issues that should drive future research in this area. Another more recent study [5] has applied an heuristic evaluation to an electric guitar pre-amplifier interface.As well as critically examining the control surfaces of the two instruments, the types of controllers and their layout, the study presented in this paper will seek to examine the user/system interaction required to complete three tasks typical of these instruments, firstly, by using the `cognitive walkthrough' technique, and secondly, through a number of user tests.The two synthesizers to be examined are the Roland XP50 and the Korg Trinity. The internal sound generation mechanisms of these instruments are broadly the same, using PCM samples as the basic waveform library, but using techniques derived from traditional analogue subtractive synthesis to process them [4]
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A novel user interface for musical timbre design
The complex and multidimensional nature of musical timbre is a problem for the design of intuitive interfaces for sound synthesis. A useful approach to the manipulation of timbre involves the creation and subsequent navigation or search of n-dimensional coordinate spaces or timbre spaces. A novel timbre space search strategy is proposed, based on weighted centroid localization (WCL). The methodology and results of user testing of two versions of this strategy in three distinctly different timbre spaces are presented and discussed. The paper concludes that this search strategy offers a useful means of locating a desired sound within a suitably configured timbre space
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Towards a mapping of timbral space
This paper presents the interim findings of a series of listening tests designed i) to test the extent to which the relative positions of sounds inhabiting a simple three dimensional co-ordinate space, whose axes are formant centre frequencies, are reflected in perceptual distances between those sounds, and how this varies through the space, ii) to establish the perceptual granularity of the space – how the maximum distance between two sounds in the space where no difference can be heard varies throughout the co-ordinate space, and iii) the extent to which the results of i) and ii) corelate. The paper concludes that, firstly, subjects are in general, able to perceive relative distances in this co-ordinate space, and that ability varies throughout the space , and that secondly, the ability to discriminate timbral shifts varies quite considerably in the space. In both cases, the shift in the second formant centre frequency seems to be salient; some errors in test data, however, prevent any firm conclusion on the extent to which the results of i) and ii) corelate. The purpose of this study is to provide empirical data to inform the development of more intuitive user interfaces for timbre specification