1,720,986 research outputs found
Channelisation of Noise through a Rhythmic Grid: Brutalist Mechatronic Sound-sculpture
No full textThe aim of this thesis is to provide accessibility and appreciation for sounds that are conventionally perceived as non-musical or “noise”. Ordering the noise on a grid of metric rhythms, and underlining its materiality through an audiovisual mode of expression are the two main strategies employed. Using the medium of mechatronics, mechanically generated sonic by-products of technological developments are chosen as the focus sonic material. As a result, the output of this research extends what is known as glitch music outside the territory of amplified sound, to a realm where noise is created physically and acoustically.
Based on these objectives, and following an investigation on the use of mechatronics in contemporary sound-based art, an ensemble of mechatronic sound-sculptures is designed and developed. Varying in terms of material, sound-generating mechanism, and sonic quality, the ensemble is divided into three different instrument-types, each of which is introduced, thoroughly described, and sonically evaluated. Next, three new audiovisual works are developed and realised utilising the mechatronic sound-sculptures, in order to turn into practice the ideas explored in this research. These compositions – which are all exhibited in competitive international symposiums – undertake the integration of mechatronics in three areas of sonic arts that are interconnected with the sound-sculptures.
Furthermore, this thesis also establishes an aesthetic framework that formalises a significant body of contemporary sound art and music that, prior to this work, had suffered academic inattention. Probing the various parallels between the ideas developed in this thesis and Brutalist architecture, ‘sound-based brutalism’ is coined and formulated as an aesthetic underpinning for not only the academically marginalised works discussed, but also the work of the author. Lastly, two audiovisual projects (a performance and a series of ten installation pieces) are developed using the entire mechatronic sound-sculpture series in an effort to realise ‘sound-based brutalism’
Iterative Design for Approachable, Mobile-Based Collaborative Electronic Music Instruments
No full textThe steep learning curve for technology for electronic music creation enforces a barrier to entry for new electronic musicians that prevents them from enjoying the playful process of creating music, without significant investment of time, energy, or money. This thesis argues that this barrier to entry should be abolished by using creative technology as a platform in order to begin the democratisation of electronic music creation processes. By drawing upon specific values inherent to the playful process of creating music, this thesis suggests a framework for iterative design of social, electronic musical instruments. The combination of implementing this framework and informing design directions upon user feedback has resulted in the creation of Pyxis Minor, a new, smartphone and tablet based, electronic musical interface/instrument that allows users of any prior musical background to have a playful creative and social experience of making music. This is important for distinguishing that the apparent barrier to entry for electronic music creation may be unnecessary, and it is possible to develop instruments and interfaces for the playful creation of electronic music that fulfil the needs and requirements of a diverse range of users
Contemporary Approaches to Live Computer Music: The Evolution of the Performer Composer
No full textThis thesis examines contemporary approaches to live computer music, and the impact they have on the evolution of the composer performer. How do online resources and communities impact the design and creation of new musical interfaces used for live computer music? Can we use machine learning to augment and extend the expressive potential of a single live musician? How can these tools be integrated into ensembles of computer musicians? Given these tools, can we understand the computer musician within the traditional context of acoustic instrumentalists, or do we require new concepts and taxonomies? Lastly, how do audiences perceive and understand these new technologies, and what does this mean for the connection between musician and audience?
The focus of the research presented in this dissertation examines the application of current computing technology towards furthering the field of live computer music. This field is diverse and rich, with individual live computer musicians developing custom instruments and unique modes of performance. This diversity leads to the development of new models of performance, and the evolution of established approaches to live instrumental music.
This research was conducted in several parts. The first section examines how online communities are iteratively developing interfaces for computer music. Several case studies are presented as examples of how online communities are helping to drive new developments in musical interface design.
This thesis also presents research into designing real-time interactive systems capable of creating a virtual model of an existing performer, that then allows the model’s output to be contextualized by a second performer’s live input. These systems allow for a solo live musician’s single action to be multiplied into many different, but contextually dependent, actions.
Additionally, this thesis looks at contemporary approaches to local networked ensembles, the concept of shared social instruments, and the ways in which the previously described research can be used in these ensembles.
The primary contributions of these efforts include (1) the development of several new open-source interfaces for live computer music, and the examination of the effect that online communities have on the evolution of musical interfaces; (2) the development of a novel approach to search based interactive musical agents; (3) examining how networked music ensembles can provided new forms of shared social instruments
Diffusion Evolved: New Musical Interfaces Applied to Diffusion Performance
No full textThis exegesis takes a critical look at the performance paradigm of sound diffusion. In making a shift away from the sixty-year-old practice of performing on a mixing desk or other fader bank console, it proposes and outlines a goal towards intuitive and transparent relationships between performance gesture and spatial trajectories. This is achieved by a coupling of the two previously segmented fields within electroacoustic: spatialisation and interface design. This research explains how connections between the two fields and an embracing of contemporary technological developments, with a goal toward increasing the liveness and gestural input that currently limit sound diffusion practice, could extend the art form into a virtuosic and compelling gestural performance art. The exegesis introduces and describes the author’s research and development of tactile.space, a new multitouch tool developed on the Bricktable for live sound diffusion. tactile.space is intended as a contribution to the growing research area of user interfaces developed specifically for the performance of sound in space. It affords performers a new level of gestural interaction with the space of the concert hall and the audience members and redefines multiple standardised interactions between the performer and the space, the gesture, the audience, and the sound in a diffusion concert
Designing Dynamic Systems For Advancing Aesthetic Spatial Engagement In Sound Art
No full textThis thesis documents three years of extensive research into the field of sonic spatial expression and is the culmination of years of fascination about all of the ways music is made. In particular, it focuses on the way sounds move through space. This research stems from artistic practice and a desire to deeply explore spatial aesthetics in sound art. A potential for further development of tools designed for aesthetic engagement with spatial attributes of music is identified. It is proposed that with new tools designed for the manipulation of spatial attributes, new spatial aesthetics might emerge. In exploring this proposition, a number of contributions to the field of spatial sound art are presented. The main approach taken is to apply new technologies to the design of spatialisation performance interfaces. It is hoped that in designing novel interfaces that specifically engage with spatial parameters, new ways for aesthetically engaging with space will be afforded for composers and performers. The tools designed all aim to exhibit a high level of intuitiveness in their control systems, allowing non- expert users access to these spatially expressive tools. Additionally, the new tools aim to provide high levels of expressivity so that advanced composers who are looking for new ways to use space expressively may also use them.
This thesis focuses on the design, development, implementation, analysis, and artistic use of new spatial interfaces. The design methodology implemented for all of the interfaces includes both testing and analysis phases that involve the composition and performance of new musical works. The development of the interfaces is closely coupled with the development of the new musical works, with each design phase applied to a new work and each new work or spatial idea exploring the new aesthetics afforded by the tools. The assessment of these new tools takes various forms: they are assessed by critical evaluation of the new works created, by user study evaluations from other composers who utilise the tools, and, where appropriate, by quantifiable methods of evaluation that are adopted to assess specific spatialisation tools.
The new musical interfaces presented, described, and evaluated in this document were conceived of as musical instruments, each affording new approaches to spatial expression. This document also details an extensive collection of new musical works that feature the interfaces. It concludes by suggesting future directions for this research body and the spatialisation interface design field
L'Arte Di Interazione Musicale: New Musical Possibilities Through Multimodal Techniques
No full textMultimodal communication is an essential aspect of human perception,
facilitating the ability to reason, deduce, and understand meaning. Utilizing
multimodal senses, humans are able to relate to the world in many different
contexts. This dissertation looks at surrounding issues of multimodal
communication as it pertains to human-computer interaction. If humans rely on
multimodality to interact with the world, how can multimodality benefit the ways
in which humans interface with computers? Can multimodality be used to help
the machine understand more about the person operating it and what
associations derive from this type of communication?
This research places multimodality within the domain of musical
performance, a creative field rich with nuanced physical and emotive aspects.
This dissertation asks, what kinds of new sonic collaborations between musicians
and computers are possible through the use of multimodal techniques? Are there
specific performance areas where multimodal analysis and machine learning can
benefit training musicians? In similar ways can multimodal interaction or analysis
support new forms of creative processes?
Applying multimodal techniques to music-computer interaction is a
burgeoning effort. As such the scope of the research is to lay a foundation of
multimodal techniques for the future. In doing so the first work presented is a
software system for capturing synchronous multimodal data streams from nearly
any musical instrument, interface, or sensor system.
This dissertation also presents a variety of multimodal analysis scenarios for
machine learning. This includes automatic performer recognition for both string
and drum instrument players, to demonstrate the significance of multimodal
musical analysis. Training the computer to recognize who is playing an
instrument suggests important information is contained not only within the
acoustic output of a performance, but also in the physical domain. Machine
learning is also used to perform automatic drum-stroke identification; training
the computer to recognize which hand a drummer uses to strike a drum. There
are many applications for drum-stroke identification including more detailed
automatic transcription, interactive training (e.g. computer-assisted rudiment
practice), and enabling efficient analysis of drum performance for metrics
tracking.
Furthermore, this research also presents the use of multimodal techniques in
the context of everyday practice. A practicing musician played a sensoraugmented
instrument and recorded his practice over an extended period of time,
realizing a corpus of metrics and visualizations from his performance. Additional
multimodal metrics are discussed in the research, and demonstrate new types of
performance statistics obtainable from a multimodal approach.
The primary contributions of this work include (1) a new software tool
enabling musicians, researchers, and educators to easily capture multimodal
information from nearly any musical instrument or sensor system; (2)
investigating multimodal machine learning for automatic performer recognition
of both string players and percussionists; (3) multimodal machine learning for
automatic drum-stroke identification; (4a) applying multimodal techniques to
musical pedagogy and training scenarios; (4b) investigating novel multimodal
metrics; (5) lastly this research investigates the possibilities, affordances, and
design considerations of multimodal musicianship both in the acoustic domain,
as well as in other musical interface scenarios. This work provides a foundation
from which engaging musical-computer interactions can occur in the future,
benefitting from the unique nuances of multimodal techniques
Expressive Musical Robots: Building, Evaluating, and Interfacing with an Ensemble of Mechatronic Instruments
No full textAn increase in the number of parameters of expression on musical robots can result in an increase in their expressivity as musical instruments. This thesis focuses on the design, construction, and implementation of four new robotic instruments, each designed to add more parametric control than is typical for the current state of the art of musical robotics. The principles followed in the building of the four new instruments are scalable and can be applied to musical robotics in general: the techniques exhibited in this thesis for the construction and use of musical robotics can be used by composers, musicians, and installation artists to add expressive depth to their own works with robotic instruments.
Accompanying the increase in parametric depth applied to the musical robotics is an increase in difficulty in interfacing with them: robots with a greater number of actuators require more time to program. This document aims to address this problem in two ways: the use of closed-loop control for low-level adjustments of the robots and the use of a parametric encoding-equipped musical robot network to provide composers with intuitive musical commands for the robots.
The musical robots introduced, described, and applied in this thesis were conceived of as musical instruments for performance and installation use by artists. This thesis closes with an exhibition of the performance and installation uses of these new robots and with a discussion of future research directions
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