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The Paradox of Creating a Cocreator Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2024-02-29 Notto J. W. Thelle, Bernt Isak Wærstad
With the latest developments in AI it is becoming increasingly common to view machines as cocreators. In this article, we follow four musicians in the project Co-Creative Spaces through a six-month long collaborative process, in which they created new music through improvising with each other and—subsequently—with computer-based imitations of themselves. These musical agents were trained through machine
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Embodying Spatial Sound Synthesis with AI in Two Compositions for Instruments and 3-D Electronics Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2024-01-17 Aaron Einbond, Thibaut Carpentier, Diemo Schwarz, Jean Bresson
The situated spatial presence of musical instruments has been well studied in the fields of acoustics and music perception research, but so far it has not been the focus of human-AI interaction. We respond critically to this trend by seeking to reembody interactive electronics using data derived from natural acoustic phenomena. Two musical works, composed for human soloist and computer-generated live
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Cocreative Interaction: Somax2 and the REACH Project Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2024-01-16 Gérard Assayag, Laurent Bonnasse-Gahot, Joakim Borg
Somax2 is an AI-based multiagent system for human-machine coimprovisation that generates stylistically coherent streams while continuously listening and adapting to musicians or other agents. The model on which it is based can be used with little configuration to interact with humans in full autonomy, but it also allows fine real-time control of its generative processes and interaction strategies,
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Live Coding Machine Learning: Finding the Moments of Intervention in Autonomous Processes Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2024-01-16 Iván Paz, Shelly Knottsy
Machine learning (ML) deals with algorithms able to learn from data, with the primary aim of finding optimum solutions to perform tasks autonomously. In recent years there has been development in integrating ML algorithms with live coding practices, raising questions about what to optimize or automate, the agency of the algorithms, and in which parts of the ML processes one might intervene midperformance
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Composing the Assemblage: Probing Aesthetic and Technical Dimensions of Artistic Creation with Machine Learning Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2023-11-09 Artemi-Maria Gioti, Aaron Einbond, Georgina Born
In this article we address the role of machine learning (ML) in the composition of two new musical works for acoustic instruments and electronics through autoethnographic reflection on the experience. Our study poses the key question of how ML shapes, and is in turn shaped by, the aesthetic commitments characterizing distinctive compositional practices. Further, we ask how artistic research in these
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Tool or Actor? Expert Improvisers' Evaluation of a Musical AI “Toddler” Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2023-11-09 Çağrı Erdem, Benedikte Wallace, Kyrre Glette, Alexander Refsum Jensenius
In this article we introduce the coadaptive audiovisual instrument CAVI. This instrument uses deep learning to generate control signals based on muscle and motion data of a performer's actions. The generated signals control time-based live sound-processing modules. How does a performer perceive such an instrument? Does it feel like a machine learning-based musical tool? Or is it an actor with the potential
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Automatic Detection of Cue Points for the Emulation of DJ Mixing Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2023-08-08 Mickaël Zehren, Marco Alunno, Paolo Bientinesi
The automatic identification of cue points is a central task in applications as diverse as music thumbnailing, generation of mash ups, and DJ mixing. Our focus lies in electronic dance music and in a specific kind of cue point, the “switch point,” that makes it possible to automatically construct transitions between tracks, mimicking what professional DJs do. We present two approaches for the detection
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Complementary Roles of Note-Oriented and Mixing-Oriented Software in Student Learning of Computer Science plus Music Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2023-08-08 Lauren McCall, Jason Freeman, Tom McKlin, Taneisha Lee, Michael Horn, Brian Magerko
Many introductory computer science educational platforms foster student interest and facilitate student learning through the authentic incorporation of music. Although many such platforms have demonstrated promising outcomes in student engagement across diverse student populations and learning contexts, little is known about the specific ways in which music and computer science learning are uniquely
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Computer-aided Composition Using a Sound-based Notation Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2023-06-28 Mattias Sköld
This article describes the music data format of the recently introduced Sound Notation system, and how it makes possible computer-aided composition of scores representing sound-based music. The Sound Notation system is an adaptation of Lasse Thoresen's spectromorphological analysis notation, developed for composition and analysis. A detailed description of the data format is followed by two examples
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From Fiction to Function: Imagining New Instruments through Design Workshops Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2023-05-22 John Sullivan, Marcelo M. Wanderley, Catherine Guastavino
This article introduces a series of workshop activities carried out with expert musicians to imagine new musical instruments through design fiction. At the workshop, participants crafted nonfunctional prototypes of instruments they would want to use in their own performance practice. Through analysis of the workshop activities, a set of design specifications was developed that can be applied to the
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Communication for Real-Time Music Systems: An Overview of O2 Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2023-04-18 Roger B. Dannenberg
Message passing between processes and across networks offers a powerful method to integrate and coordinate various music programs, facilitating software reuse, modularity, and parallel processing. Networking can integrate components that use different languages and hardware. In this article we describe O2, a flexible protocol for communication ranging from the thread level up to the level of global
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A Framework for Modifying Orchestral Qualities in Computer-Aided Orchestration Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2023-04-18 Daniele Ghisi, Carmine-Emanuele Cella
This article introduces the Orchidea Orchestral Qualities framework (OOQ), an extension of the Orchidea environment for computer-aided orchestration. Traditional target-based orchestration generally reconstructs a target sound “as faithfully as possible” with a collection of samples. But more often than not, composers do not have specific targets in mind while performing orchestration tasks. A large
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Dynamic Computer-Aided Orchestration in Practice with Orchidea Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2023-04-18 Carmine-Emanuele Cella, Daniele Ghisi, Yan Maresz, Alessandro Petrolati, Alexandre Teiller, Philippe Esling
The problem of target-based computer-aided orchestration is a recurring topic in the contemporary music community. Because of its complexity, computer-aided orchestration remains a partially unsolved problem and several systems have been developed in the last twenty years. This article presents a practical overview of the recently introduced Orchidea framework for dynamic computer-aided target-based
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Real-Time Symbolic Transcription and Interactive Transformation Using a Hexaphonic Nylon-String Guitar Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2023-04-18 Sérgio Freire, Augusto Armondes, Rubens Silva
GuiaRT is an interactive musical setup based on a nylon-string guitar equipped with hexaphonic piezoelectric pickups. It consists of a modular set of real-time tools for the symbolic transcription, variation, and triggering of selected segments during a performance, as well as some audio processing capabilities. Its development relied on an iterative approach, with distinct phases dedicated to feature
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Barry Schrader: Lost Analog Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2023-04-18 Ross Feller
Barry Schrader: Lost Analog
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Mapping Out the Origins of Electroacoustic Music Studios in Brazil Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2023-03-06 Felipe de Almeida Ribeiro, Ricardo de Oliveira Thomasi
This research presents a mapping out of the Brazilian electroacoustic music studios from 1960 to 2000, especially those that emerged in connection with universities and other institutions. A major criterion was to understand “music studios” as cultural territories, as places for creation, collaboration, and exchange. We present a timeline highlighting the main trajectories of composers, institutions
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Paisaje Sonoro Social: Socially Engaged Soundscapes in Mexico Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2023-02-22 Mario Alberto Duarte-García, Emma Wilde
Latin America has a tradition of socially engaged artists. In Mexico since the muralist movement of the 1920s, artists have shown a preoccupation for denouncing social issues in their works. In this article, we propose the concept of Paisaje sonoro social (socially engaged soundscapes), an approach to the composition of sound art that aims to raise awareness about specific social issues experienced
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The Studio PANaroma and Electroacoustic Music in Brazil Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2023-02-14 Flo Menezes
This article discusses the foundation of the Studio PANaroma de Música Eletroacústica in São Paulo in 1994, an institution of the São Paulo State University (UNESP) and one of the most active research and production centers in the area in the world, contextualizing its conception with the internationalist tendencies present since the beginning of modernism in Brazil. To this end, the text discusses
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An Analytical Approach to the Scenic Realization of Electroacoustic Music: The Theatricality of Lumínico Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2023-02-14 Guillermo Eisner
The present work studies the scenic realizations of the ensemble called Lumínico (Rodrigo Sigal and Alejandro Escuer) from the perspective of intermediality, performance theory, musicality, and theatricality. Lumínico's proposal offers, as sound and audiovisual artists, an alternative to the experience of the traditional chamber music and electroacoustic concert, both to themselves and to the audience
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An Electronic Bandoneon with a Dynamic Sound Synthesis System Based on Measured Acoustic Parameters Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2023-02-14 Juan Ramos, Esteban Calcagno, Ramiro Vergara, Joaquín Rizza, Pablo Riera
The bandoneon is a distinctive free-reed instrument with profound ties to tango culture and Latin American music. The scarcity of manufacturers and the related high retail prices, however, are restricting access to the instrument for new generations of musicians. By combining modern technologies and scientific research, the Bandoneon 2.0 project aims to create an expressive and accessible new version
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Architecture for Real-Time Granular Synthesis With Per-Grain Processing: EmissionControl2 Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2023-02-08 Curtis Roads, Jack Kilgore, Rodney DuPlessis
EmissionControl2 (EC2) is a precision tool that provides a versatile and expressive platform for granular synthesis education, research, performance, and studio composition. It is available as a free download on all major operating systems. In this article, we describe the theoretical underpinnings of the software and expose the design choices made in creating this instrument. We present a brief historical
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Borrowed Gestures: The Body as an Extension of the Musical Instrument Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2023-02-08 Doga Cavdir, Ge Wang
This article presents design and performance practices for movement-based digital musical instruments. We develop the notion of borrowed gestures, which is a gesture-first approach that composes a gestural vocabulary of nonmusical body movements combined with nuanced instrumental gestures. These practices explore new affordances for physical interaction by transferring the expressive qualities and
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Listening to the Anthropocene: A Queda do Céu Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2023-02-09 André Rabello-Mestre, Felipe Otondo
This article discusses the algorithmic design and implementation of A Queda do Céu, a sound installation and kinetic sculpture related to the Soundlapse project. In it we provide an overview of the project and go on to describe the main computational challenges related to the installation, which included a variety of realtime processing, interpolation, and mapping algorithms. We contextualize the work
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Narrative, Activism, and Aesthetics: Composing Electroacoustic Music for Mexicans Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2023-02-09 Rosalia Soria Luz
This article presents the composition process of three electroacoustic pieces belonging to the project Contra el racismo en Mexico (Against Racism in Mexico). The project aims to raise awareness about racism. Concerned with engagement, national identity, and the invisibility of racism in Mexico, the author included fragments of interviews with Mexicans to share their views and call for a change. In
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Part of the Computer Music History… (Trust Me, Latin America Has Always Been There!) Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2023-02-07 Ricardo Dal Farra
The political and economic instability in most Latin American countries has been profoundly affecting the lives of its inhabitants for decades. Support for artistic activities has usually been postponed to solve urgent social problems. Despite that, the development in these countries of the electronic arts, in general, and electroacoustic and computer music, in particular, is astounding. Mauricio Kagel
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Embrace the Weirdness: Negotiating Values Inscribed into Music Technology Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2022-10-06 Giacomo Lepri, Andrew McPherson
This article explores the ways specific hardware and software technologies influence the design of musical instruments. We present the outcomes of a compositional game in which music technologists created simple instruments using common sensors and the Pure Data programming language. We identify a clustering of stylistic approaches and design patterns, and we discuss these findings in light of the
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Enabling Programmatic Data Mining as Musicking: The Fluid Corpus Manipulation Toolkit Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2022-05-31 Pierre Alexandre Tremblay, Gerard Roma, Owen Green
This article presents a new software toolbox to enable programmatic mining of sound banks for musicking and musicking-driven research. The toolbox is available for three popular creative coding environments currently used by “techno-fluent” musicians. The article describes the design rationale and functionality of the toolbox and its ecosystem, then the development methodology—several versions of the
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Linear and Nonlinear Digital Filters: From the Analog and Beyond Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2022-05-31 Victor Lazzarini, Joseph Timoney
A common approach in the development of digital filters is to begin with an existing analog filter and produce an equivalent computer program to realize it. This may involve, at the extreme, the detailed analysis of circuit behavior, or it may stem from a higher-level approach that looks at block diagrams and s-domain transfer functions. In this article, we first take the latter approach to develop
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James Dashow: Archimedes—A Planetarium Opera Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2022-05-31 Bradley S. Green
James Dashow: Archimedes—A Planetarium Opera
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A Physically Inspired Implementation of Xenakis's Stochastic Synthesis: Diffusion Dynamic Stochastic Synthesis Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2022-05-31 Emilio L. Rojas, Rodrigo F. Cádiz
This article presents an extension of Iannis Xenakis's Dynamic Stochastic Synthesis (DSS) called Diffusion Dynamic Stochastic Synthesis (DDSS). This extension solves a diffusion equation whose solutions can be used to map particle positions to amplitude values of several breakpoints in a waveform, following traditional concepts of DSS by directly shaping the waveform of a sound. One significant difference
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Celebrating Electronics: Music by John Bischoff (Concert) and John Bischoff: Bitplicity (Album) Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2022-05-31 Ralph Lewis
Celebrating Electronics: Music by John Bischoff (Concert) and John Bischoff: Bitplicity (Album)
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Immersive Spatial Interactivity in Sonic Arts: The Acoustic Localization Positioning System Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2022-05-31 Dominik Schlienger, Victor Khashchanskiy
The Acoustic Localization Positioning System is the outcome of several years of participatory development with musicians and artists having a stake in sonic arts, collaboratively aiming for nonobtrusive tracking and indoors positioning technology that facilitates spatial interaction and immersion. Based on previous work on application scenarios for spatial reproduction of moving sound sources and the
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Agostino Di Scipio and Dario Sanfilippo: Machine Milieu Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2022-05-31 Daniele Pozzi
Agostino Di Scipio and Dario Sanfilippo: Machine Milieu
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Electronic Music and Generative Remixing: Improving L-Systems Aesthetics and Algorithms Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2022-04-04 Umberto Roncoroni
Postmodern art theories, overproduction, and digital technologies are testing the creativity, innovation, and social and political engagement of art. One Dadaist solution being explored by artists is the aesthetic possibilities associated with the conceptual process. For example, in the field of electronic music, producers and DJs are claiming that remixing is a genuine example of such a creative procedure;
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Time-Domain Adaptive Algorithms for Low- and High-Level Audio Information Processing Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2022-04-04 Dario Sanfilippo
In this paper, we present a set of time-domain algorithms for the low- and high-level analysis of audio streams. These include spectral centroid, noisiness, and spectral spread for the low level, and dynamicity, heterogeneity, and complexity for the high level. The low-level algorithms provide a continuous measure of the features and can operate with short analysis frames. The high-level algorithms
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Complex Adaptation in Audio Feedback Networks for the Synthesis of Music and Sounds Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2022-04-04 Dario Sanfilippo
This article presents recent outcomes of the author's research on musical complex adaptive systems (CASs). The first part focuses on the concepts of adaptation and complexity within the framework of CASs and suggests a rigorous placing of the concepts within the musical domain. This analysis involves a distinction of the notions of context and information between the engineering field of information
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Perceptual Recognition of Sound Trajectories in Space Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2022-04-04 Federico Schumacher, Vicente Espinoza, Francisca Mardones, Rodrigo Vergara, Alberto Aránguiz, Valentina Aguilera
Sound spatialization is a technique used in various musical genres as well as in soundtrack production for films and video games. In this context, specialized software has been developed for the design of sound trajectories we have classified as (1) basic movements, or image schemas of spatial movement; and (2) archetypal geometric figures. Our contribution is to reach an understanding of how we perceive
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About This Issue Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2021-12-01
The four articles of this issue explore, in retrograde order, the topics announced on this issue's front cover: “Spatialization, Sonification, Transcription, and Visual Programming.” We begin with Vesa Norilo and Luis Alejandro Olarte's article on visual programming. In Computer Music Journal 39:4 (Winter 2015), Norilo presented Kronos, his programming language for digital signal processing. In that
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Chris Cundy: Crude Attempt Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2021-12-01 Seth Rozanoff
Chris Cundy: Crude Attempt.
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Jack Callahan and Jeff Witscher: Stockhausen Syndrome Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2021-12-01 Ross Feller
Jack Callahan and Jeff Witscher: Stockhausen Syndrome.
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Örjan Sandred: Sonic Trails Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2021-12-01 Ross Feller
Örjan Sandred: Sonic Trails.
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A Visual Programming Interface for Digital Luthiery: Implementing Circuits with Veneer Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2021-12-01 Vesa Norilo, Alejandro Olarte
This article presents a method for programming musical signal-processing circuits visually, using expressive idioms and abstractions from functional programming. Special attention is paid to the creative workflow, framing the education in a constructionist context. Our aim is to empower musicians in signal processing: The claim was tested in a university workshop for relatively inexperienced programmers
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Sonification of a 3-D Spider Web and Reconstitution for Musical Composition Using Granular Synthesis Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2021-12-01 Isabelle Su, Zhao Qin, Tomás Saraceno, Ally Bisshop, Roland Mühlethaler, Evan Ziporyn, Markus J. Buehler
Three-dimensional spider webs feature highly intricate fiber architectures, which can be represented via 3-D scanning and modeling. To allow novel interpretations of the key features of a 3-D Cyrtophora citricola spider web, we translate complex 3-D data from the original web model into music, using data sonification. We map the spider web data to audio parameters such as pitch, amplitude, and envelope
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Transcribing Lead Sheet-Like Chord Progressions of Jazz Recordings Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2021-12-01 Gabriel Durán, Patricio de la Cuadra
The vast majority of research on automatic chord transcription has been developed and tested on databases mainly focused on genres like pop and rock. Jazz is strongly based on improvisation, however, and the way harmony is interpreted is different from many other genres, causing state-of-the-art chord transcription systems to achieve poor performance. This article presents a computational system that
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Design, Control, and Evaluation of Mixed-Order, Compact Spherical Loudspeaker Arrays Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2021-12-01 Stefan Riedel, Franz Zotter
Beamforming on the icosahedral loudspeaker (IKO), a compact, spherical loudspeaker array, was recently established and investigated as an instrument to produce auditory sculptures (i.e., 3-D sonic imagery) in electroacoustic music. Sound beams in the horizontal plane most effectively and expressively produce auditory objects via lateral reflections on sufficiently close walls and baffles. Can there
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Jeff Morris: Hearing Voices Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2021-07-27 Ross Feller
Jeff Morris: Hearing Voices.
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David Felder: Jeu de Tarot Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2021-07-27 Ross Feller
David Felder: Jeu de Tarot.
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About This Issue Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2021-07-27
This double issue of Computer Music Journal consists of a guest-edited special issue as well as some off-topic articles handled by our usual editorial staff. The guest editors, Franziska Schroeder and Romain Michon, have written this issue's Editors' Notes, in which they describe the articles they selected, all of which concern new musical interfaces. Among other topics, the articles highlight accessibility
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Editors' Notes Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2021-07-27 Franziska Schroeder, Romain Michon
For the past 20 years, the New Interfaces for Musical Expression conference (NIME) has served as a hub for musicians and researchers from all over the world to share their late-breaking work on new musical interface design, and to collectively think about the future of this field.
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Addressing NIME's Prevailing Sociotechnical, Political, and Epistemological Exigencies Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2021-07-27 Lauren Hayes, Adnan Marquez-Borbon
Nearly two decades after its inception as a workshop at the Association for Computing Machinery Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME) exists as an established international conference significantly distinct from its precursor. Although this origin story is often noted, the implications of NIME's history as emerging from a field predominantly
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Enabling Communities of Practice Surrounding the Design and Use of Custom Accessible Music Technology Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2021-07-27 Alex Lucas, Franziska Schroeder, Miguel Ortiz
In this article, the research group Performance without Barriers reflect on the process of collaboratively designing a custom guitar-inspired instrument with Eoin Fitzpatrick, a physically disabled musician from the Drake Music Project, Northern Ireland. As part of a longitudinal ethnographic case study designed to uncover factors that contribute to the longevity of custom assistive music technology
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Construction and Performance Applications of an Augmented Violin: TRAVIS II Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2021-07-27 Chantelle Ko, Lora Oehlberg
We present the second iteration of a Touch-Responsive Augmented Violin Interface System, called TRAVIS II, and two compositions that demonstrate its expressivity. TRAVIS II is an augmented acoustic violin with touch sensors integrated into its 3-D printed fingerboard that track left-hand finger gestures in real time. The fingerboard has four strips of conductive PLA filament that produce an electric
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Annette Vande Gorne: Illusion Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2021-07-27 Arian Bagheri Pour Fallah
Annette Vande Gorne: Illusion.
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The Experience of Sound: An Interview with Thomas DeLio Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2021-07-27 Thomas Licata
Thomas DeLio is a composer and theorist of international renown in both fields and especially noted for his work in computer music. In this conversation he discusses his musical thinking with over 40 years in the field. His compositions have been performed worldwide and are recorded on numerous labels. Neuma recordings has recently released five volumes of his recorded compositions in an ongoing series
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Electronic_Khipu_: Thinking in Experimental Sound from an Ancestral Andean Interface Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2021-07-27 Laddy Patricia Cadavid Hinojosa
A khipu is an artifact used in the ancient Inca Empire and previous Andean societies to process and transmit statistical and narrative information. It is known as one of the first textile computers, a tangible interface encrypted in knots and strings made of cotton and wool. This system was widely used until the Spanish colonization that banned and destroyed many of the existing khipus. This article
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Levels of Detail in Visual Augmentation for Novice and Expert Audiences Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2021-07-27 Olivier Capra, Florent Berthaut, Laurent Grisoni
Digital musical instruments offer countless opportunities for musical expression by allowing artists to produce sound without the physical constraints of analog instruments. By breaking the intuitive link between gestures and sound they may hinder the audience experience, however, making the musician's contribution and expressiveness difficult to discern. To cope with this issue without altering the
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An Analysis of “nyx” (2017), a Computer Music Work by Kerry Hagan Comput. Music J. Pub Date : 2021-07-27 Maxence Larrieu
Kerry Hagan composed “nyx,” a real-time computer music work, in 2017. The key inspiration of “nyx” is noise, which Hagan achieves through chaos theory. In Greek mythology, Nyx was born from Chaos, and she is the deity of the night. In the same way, two key materials of the work are chaotic synthesis and, at a higher level, the use of several random algorithms. To analyze “nyx,” I apply a specific methodology