New Interfaces for Musical Expression 2023, Mexico City, Mexico

https://www.nime2023.org/

May 29th - June 2nd, Mexico City, Mexico

If you will be attending NIME this year, we look forward to meeting you, please do say hi!

Here are the contributions of the Intelligent Instruments Lab to NIME:

ii lab talk 1: “Magnetic Interactions as a Somatosensory Interface”

Nicola Privato (presenter), Thor Magnusson and Einar Torfi Einarsson

Paper PDF: http://iil.is/pdf/2023_nime_privato_et_al_thales.pdf

Wednesday May 31st, 9:20, Paper Session 2, “New Controllers and Practice-based Research”

Abstract

Thales is a composed instrument consisting of two hand-held magnetic controllers whose interactions with each other and with other magnets produce the somatosensory manifestation of a tangible interface, that the musician generates and shapes in the act of performing. In this paper we provide a background for the development of Thales by describing the application of permanent magnets in HCI and musical interfaces. We also introduce the instrument’s sound generation based on a neural synthesis model and contextualise the system in relation with the concept of magnetic scores. We report on our preliminary user study and discuss the somatosensory response that characterise Thales, observing the interaction between the opposing magnetic field of the controllers as a tangible magnetic interface. Finally, we investigate its nature from the perspective of performative posthumanist ontologies.

ii lab talk 2: “Studying Subtle and Detailed Digital Lutherie: Motivational Contexts and Technical Needs”

Jack Armitage (presenter), Thor Magnusson & Andrew McPherson

Friday June 2nd, 9:20, Paper Session 11, “NIME Mix, 3 different topics in the NIME community”

Paper PDF: http://iil.is/pdf/2023_nime_armitage_et_al_subtlety.pdf

Abstract

Subtlety and detail are fundamental to what makes musical instruments special, but accounts of their development in digital lutherie have been constrained to ethnographies, in-the-wild studies, and personal reflections. Though insightful, these accounts are imprecise, incomparable, and inefficient for understanding how fluency with the subtle details of digital musical instruments (DMIs) develops. We have been designing DMI design probes and activities for closed and constrained observation of subtle and detailed DMI design, but in two previous studies these failed to motivate subtle and detailed responses. In this paper we report on our third attempt, where we designed a tuned percussion DMI and a hybrid handcraft tool for sculpting its sound using clay, and a one hour activity. Among 26 study participants were digital luthiers, violin luthiers and musicians, who all engaged with what we define as micro scale DMI design. We observed technical desires and needs for experiencing and comparing subtle details systematically, and also widely varying, subjective emotional and artistic relationships with detail in participants’ own practices. We reflect on the contexts that motivate subtle and detailed digital lutherie, and discuss the implications for DMI design researchers and technologists for studying and supporting this aspect of DMI design and craft practice in future.

ii lab talk 3: “Ergodynamics of String Feedback”

Halldor Ulfarsson, Thor Magnusson (presenter, online)

Friday June 2nd, 10:40, Paper Session 12, “Evaluation and User Studies of NIMEs”

Paper PDF: 2023_nime_ulfarsson_magnusson_ergodynamics_string_feedback.pdf

Abstract

This paper describes the iterations of signal path routing and mixing control for the halldorophone, an experimental electro-acoustic string instrument intended for music making with string feedback. The paper describes the design thinking behind the cybernetic control structure of the instrument which is informed by long term contact with dedicated users. Specifically, here we discuss the intended “feel” or ergodynamic design of how the electronic control and connectivity options of the instrument are presented on the instrument’s electronic interface and the considerations taken to simplify the control schema for new players while not limiting options for expert users. The paper presents a schema of the latest electronics design as a guide for replication of our most recent work.

ii lab poster: “The Feedback Aero-chordophone”

Halldor Ulfarsson (Intelligent Instruments Lab)

ii lab talk 4: “The Living Looper: Rethinking the Musical Loop as a Machine Action-Perception Loop”

Victor Shepardson (presenter), Thor Magnusson

Saturday June 3rd, 10:00, Paper Session 15, “Novel Controllers for Musical Expression”

Paper PDF: http://iil.is/pdf/2023_nime_shepardson_magnusson_living_looper.pdf

Abstract

We describe the Living Looper, a real-time software system for prediction and continuation of audio signals in the format of a looping pedal. Each of several channels is activated by a footswitch and repeats or continues incoming audio using neural synthesis. The live looping pedal format is familiar to electric guitarists and electronic musicians, which helps the instrument to serve as a boundary object for musicians and technologists of different backgrounds to study the impact of machine learning on musical performance. Each Living Loop channel learns in the context of what the other channels are doing, including those which are momentarily controlled by human players. This leads to shifting networks of agency and control between players and Living Loops. In this paper we present the ongoing design of the Living Looper as well as preliminary encounters with musicians in a workshop and concert setting.

ii lab talk 5: “A Scale-Based Ontology of Musical Instrument Design”

Jack Armitage (presenter), Thor Magnusson & Andrew McPherson

Saturday June 3rd, 16:40, Paper Session 20, “Historical, Theoretical or Philosophical Discussions about NIMEs”

Paper PDF: http://iil.is/pdf/2023_nime_armitage_et_al_ontology.pdf

Abstract

Subtlety 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. How- ever, research into digital musical instrument (DMI) design tools and processes have so far mainly focused on high-level conceptual concerns and low-level technical abstractions, leaving subtlety and detail under-explored and undervalued. These nuances, and the processes they result from, cannot be fully articulated in words alone, yet they largely define an instrument’s quality, and it is therefore important to understand how they come to be. We introduce a scale- based ontology that divides design details into three levels - macro, meso and micro - and we present a literature re- view of DMI design from the perspective of this ontology. Finally we extrapolate the ontology to consider its utility in broader contexts, and consider future directions.

NIME Concert #5: “Pandora’s Mycophony”

Jack Armitage & Celeste Betancur

Friday June 2nd, 17:00, Biblioteca Vasconcelos’ Auditorium (https://goo.gl/maps/X64h4ByFDQt1j2FP8)

Program Notes

Pandora hears her own dreams, they talk to her in mysterious voices, unknown languages. You find yourself standing alone, in the middle of her darkness. You don’t know how you got there. Are you one of Pandora’s dreams? Talk to her, maybe she will answer you.

In this audiovisual dreamscape lies a re-imagining of Pandora’s story, where the contents of her jar are bioluminescent swarming spores that seek to fill the world with hope instead of evil, and life instead of death. The spores want to get out, their evolutionary powers are hidden, and the whole universe is waiting to be explored. Meanwhile, Pandora is dreaming, condemned to keep the box closed. Life waits to be released.