by helena.opower - March 20, 2023

Review on the Paper “The Timbre Explorer: A Synthesizer Interface for Educational Purposes and Perceptual StudiesReview on the Paper”

Overall, the article presents a well-designed and informative project on the concept of timbre and the implementation of the Timbre Explorer synthesizer interface that enables real-time control of four salient dimensions of timbre, i.e., attack time, brightness, spectral flux, and spectral density. The interface has a graphical user interface with live visualizations to help users understand the effects of each dimension. The applications of the Timbre Explorer include educating users about sound synthesis, the concept of timbre, and the frequency domain, as well as providing a practical shortcut for synthesizers and advancing our understanding of timbre through further perceptual studies. The article describes the background of the study and its influence on the Timbre Explorer’s design, including the previous timbre space instruments. The author also explains the Timbre Explorer’s synthesis model, which controls the base, unfiltered spectrum of the sound, the frequency filter, the initial spectro-temporal evolution of the timbre, and the temporal amplitude envelope.

One possible improvement could be to include more options for the user to customize the interface’s appearance and layout to better suit their preferences and needs. Additionally, some users may prefer a more tactile or physical interface, such as a MIDI controller, to better control the Timbre Explorer’s parameters.

One potential criticism of the article is that it could have provided more detail on the practical applications of the Timbre Explorer beyond its educational purposes. While the author briefly mentions its potential as a performance instrument and for further perceptual timbre studies, it would have been interesting to read more about its potential use in the music industry or other fields.

Overall, however, the article effectively communicates the purpose and design of the Timbre Explorer and provides valuable insights into the concept of timbre and its practical implementation in music synthesis.

http://doi.org/10.21428/92fbeb44.92a95683

by nagyija.bogas - March 20, 2023

The Mobile Audience as a Digital Musical Persona in Telematic Performance.

Interaction Design task: Literature research

In their paper “The Mobile Audience as a Digital Musical Persona in Telematic Performance,” Anna Xambó and Visda Goudarzi explore the role of mobile devices in telematic performances. The authors stated that mobile devices can serve as a tool for audience members to actively participate in the performance, rather than simply being observers. They propose the concept of the “digital musical persona” to describe the ways in which audience members can use their mobile devices to engage with the performance and contribute to the overall musical experience. This idea came during the pandemic, when people didn’t have the opportunity to visit concerts and people started to experiment with using live streaming services.

The authors provide several examples of telematic performances in which mobile devices were used in different ways to facilitate audience participation. They used gamification methods for that, such as using smartphones as musical instruments or using mobile apps to create interactive visual displays.

In their research, Xambó and Goudarzi did two case studies to investigate the use of mobile devices in audience participation during live music performances. The first case study involved an experimental music concert in which audience members were invited to use a mobile app to participate in the performance by generating live visualizations of their movements. The researchers found that the use of mobile devices allowed for a more immersive and interactive experience for the audience, and also provided valuable data for the performers to use in future performances. The second case study involved a more traditional music concert, but with the addition of a mobile app that allowed audience members to vote on the songs they wanted to hear next. The researchers found that this use of mobile technology not only increased audience engagement, but also provided valuable feedback for the performers on which songs were most popular.

Overall, Xambó and Goudarzi’s research offers valuable insights into the potential of mobile devices to transform the role of the audience in telematic performances. Their concept of the digital musical persona provides a useful framework for understanding how mobile devices can be used to enhance the musical experience for both performers and audience members.

Source:
https://nime.pubpub.org/pub/yju481nh/release/1

by nadine.lowden - March 20, 2023March 20, 2023

Feeling the Effort of Classical Musicians – A Pipeline from Electromyography to Smartphone Vibration for Live Music Performance

The article Feeling the Effort of Classical Musicians – A Pipeline from Electromyography to Smartphone Vibration for Live Music Performance provides an insightful overview of the live-stream MappEMG pipeline project, in which a mobile application was developed to mimic the muscle response of classical music performers for audience members. This project began with the notion that these “gestures”, or invisible muscle movements made by musicians while performing, are integral to the musician’s sense of place within a piece, and would increase the audience’s sense of immersion if they could be shared.

The project utilizes EMG sensor mapping to track muscle movements, “From an artistic perspective, EMG gives a direct access to the performer’s intention in terms of implied musical effort, which is expressed through actual physiological effort”. These movements are then reproduced as vibrations through the mobile device. Sound-based vibrotactile feedback has already been used for collaborative composition, audience interaction, and greater immersion for those with hearing impairments.

I found this case very compelling as I had never heard of a similar project. It is also interesting to see a real world use case involving the tools we are using now, such as Max8. I appreciate the drive to create a more immersive audience experience, and also to explore a new element of the performance in the musicians’ gestures.

References

Verdugo, F., Ceglia, A., Frisson, C., Burton, A., Begon, M., Gibet, S., & Wanderley, M. M. (2022). Feeling the Effort of Classical Musicians – A Pipeline from Electromyography to Smartphone Vibration for Live Music Performance. NIME 2022. https://doi.org/10.21428/92fbeb44.3ce22588

by anine.hallen - March 20, 2023

On Board Call: A Gestural Wildlife Imitation Machine

ID task – Literature research

The topic of this article is the idea, development and evaluation of the On Board Call, a handheld device for imitating wildlife sounds.

“The On Board Call device is a handheld electronic gestural instrument that synthesises sounds resembling wildlife calls. It is designed to encourage deep listening and personal expression through imitation of natural sounds and as a performance tool.” This is the description of the device by the developer. Rather than playing back recorded wildlife sounds the On Board Call creates an imitation by synthesized sounds. The user creates these sounds with the board through a user interface on the device.

The article spends a lot of time explaining the technicalities of the hardware and software. It does state some reasoning for the choices that have been made, but I would be more interested in the arguments behind the gestures and interface layout. This is what the user interacts with, and will threrefore be critical for their experience. The article does for example not explain how well the ergonomics, learnability or feedback is.

Despite missing information about the argumentation behind the interaction between user and device, the article does explain that user trials have been carried out. It is not completely clear what the results and measures taken after the trials was when it comes to the interface, so this would have been interesting to hear more about.

Overall the project seems interesting, but a natural next step would be to test the interface more. It seems this has been designed out of ease for the producer, not out of usability.

Source:
https://nime.pubpub.org/pub/uofmcznd/release/1

by theresa.dietinger - March 20, 2023

The ambiDice

The ambiDice is a small tangible interface that enables players of TRPGs to immerse more into their games through sound experiences. The dice consists of a microcontroller that supports WIFI functionality to connect to it. The raw sensor data is sent to AmbietMusicBox, which is a self-contained software to process the audio values. The implementation of the scripting language has been refined after multiple user tests.

As the device is still in development there are a few factors that make the usability of the device open for improvement. While the idea is good and the first prototype is already working and being tested, there are a few major questions that are still unanswered for me.

Does the dice actually work as a dice and is it fair?
How good is the audio quality?
Does the dice need to be charged? How long does its battery last? TRPG sessions are usually going for many hours.

Once these questions are answered the ambiDice will improve greatly in my opinion.

by edwin.lang - March 19, 2023

An Excurse into the Field of Sonification

The following blogpost covers the content of the scientific paper named “SOIL CHOIR v.1.3 – soil moisture sonification installation”. It was published at the NIME 20 conference in Birmingham by Jiří Suchánek from Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts.

The project deals with the sonification of moisture values in soil, where each tube is filled with a different type of soil. The tubes form independent units, each consisting of three low-cost capacitive soil moisture sensors. The sensors are located at different depths and send information about the moisture values to a Bela board where they get transformed into organized sound structures.

The challenge in this project are the slowly changing values of the moisture sensors, letting the artist focus on creating a suitable listening experience for slowly evolving data inputs. Therefore, the idea was to create a sonic behavior similar to that of a Geiger counter.

I also tried to understand the sound mapping, unfortunately I did not understand it completely as I need to dig deeper into the theory of sonification first. However, I think this project shows the potential of sonification in nature and the ability to give a voice to normally silent processes. In my opinion the contrast between expected human musical time scale and the extremely slow environmental processes could listeners let rethink the perception of time.

References:

SOIL CHOIR v.1.3 – soil moisture sonification installation; Jiří Suchánek; Nime 2020
https://bela.io/images/products/bela.png

by carolin.dasilvanasseri - March 19, 2023March 19, 2023

Debris: A playful interface for direct manipulation of audio waveforms

ID Task 2: Literature Research

For this task i choose the article Debris: A playful interface for direct manipulation of audio waveforms published in 2021 by Frederic Anthony Robinson. It gives an overview of Debris which as the title suggests is a fun and intuitive software interface for manipulating audio waveforms. Its playful and engaging design aims to make audio editing a more creative and enjoyable process. The direct manipulation tools and real-time feedback help users understand the effects of their actions on the waveform. This encourages the user to experiment more throughout their creative process.

The interface is user-friendly, with clearly labeled tools and easy access to different features. The variety of tools available, such as looping, reversing, and layering tracks, provide users with many options for creating unique audio effects.

However, Debris may not be suitable for more advanced audio editing tasks due to its limited functionality. It is also only available as a standalone application for macOS, which limits its accessibility for some users.

Overall, Debris is a good tool for anyone looking to experiment with audio editing in a fun and intuitive way. It is well-suited for beginners and anyone looking for a creative audio editing experience.

Source:
https://nime.pubpub.org/pub/xn761337/release/1

by paula.w - March 16, 2023June 27, 2023

Packaging – Riso Part 3.

Bei meinem neuesten Projekt habe ich eine Kaffeebohnenverpackung mit dem Riso gedruckt. Mein Fokus lag dabei auf einem Blauton, der die Charakteristik des Kaffees widerzuspiegeln. Die lebendige Farbe verlieh der Verpackung eine ästhetische und moderne Wirkung und eine gewisse Einzigartigkeit.

Leider war auch bei diesem Projekt die Farbhaftigkeit nicht so gut und vor allen an gefalzten Stellen ging die Farbe ab.

Die Farbhaftbarkeit spielt bei Kaffeebohnenverpackungen eine entscheidende Rolle, da sie verschiedenen Umwelteinflüssen ausgesetzt sind. Kunden sollen die hochwertige Gestaltung und das attraktive Design der Verpackung genießen können, ohne dass die Farben verblassen oder abfärben.

Gedruckt wurde auf einem 300m/g2 Aquarellpapier, ich denke mit einem dünneren Papier kann man bessere Ergebnisse erzielen. Leider war teilweise die Farbe nicht optimal verteilt.

Das Drucken einer Kaffeebohnenverpackung mit dem Riso ermöglichte mir eine kreative Freiheit und ein einzigartiges Endergebnis. Es ist eine großartige Möglichkeit, das Produktdesign zu individualisieren und den Kaffee auf ansprechende Weise zu präsentieren. Indem man die Farbhaftbarkeit sorgfältig berücksichtigt und die geeigneten Maßnahmen ergreift, können Verpackungen entstehen, die nicht nur visuell ansprechend sind, sondern auch eine langanhaltende Farbintensität bieten.

by paula.w - March 16, 2023June 27, 2023

Flyer – Riso Part 2.

Das Besondere am Risographen ist, dass er Farbverläufe mit einem einzigartigen Riso-Effekt erzeugen kann. Ich habe Flyer mit solchen Farbverläufen gedruckt und das Ergebnis war einfach beeindruckend. Die sanften Übergänge zwischen den Farben verleihen den Flyern eine dynamische und ansprechende Optik. Der Riso-Effekt verleiht den Farbverläufen eine gewisse Textur und Tiefe, die sie von herkömmlichen Druckverfahren abhebt. Es ist faszinierend zu sehen, wie der Risograph diese Farbverläufe zum Leben erweckt und ihnen eine ganz besondere Note verleiht. Die Flyer sind definitiv ein Blickfang und ziehen die Aufmerksamkeit auf sich. Wie für die anderen Prints habe ich beide Farben einzeln vorbereitet um sie danach zu drucken.

Ich habe die Farben Schwarz und Pink verwendet. Gedruckt wurde auf einem Paint On Multi-Techniques A4 – 250g/m2. Das nimmt die Farbe des Druckers gut auf und verleiht dem Print eine bessere Leuchtkraft als zum Beispiel normales Kopierpapier.

by paula.w - March 16, 2023June 14, 2023

Poster – Riso Teil 1.

Mein erstes Projekt wird ein Poster in drei verschiedenen Farben. Für das Design habe ich verschiedene Gradients verwendet um ihm einen sommerlichen Look zu verpassen.

Für den Print habe ich drei Farben verwendet (von links nach rechts): Orange, Pink und Blau. Diese habe ich in dieser Reihenfolge übereinander gedruckt und die Deckkraft für verschiedene Elemente angepasst. Ich habe sowohl vollflächige Elemente übereinander gedruckt als auch einen Gradient von Pink nach Orange verwendet. Das hat meine Farbenvielfalt erhöht und dem Poster einen sehr sommerlichen und lebhaften Effekt gegeben.

Papier:

Ich habe sowohl auf A3 Druckerpapier als auch auf A4 Papier gedruckt, welches ein bisschen gröber ist. Bei gröberen Papieren wirken die Farben leuchtender. Auf sehr glatten Papier wirkt die Farbe sehr platt und hell. Deshalb werde ich weiterhin gröbere Papiere wie leichte Aquarellpapiere verwenden. Zusätzlich kann man die Farbintensität beim Riso einstellen, diese habe ich immer auf die höchste Stufe gestellt, das hilft zusätzlich bei der Intensität.

Probleme:

Manchmal hat die Vorlage nicht perfekt gepasst und es gab unterschiede bei den Positionen der verschiedenen Farben.

Man braucht Geduld um mit dem Riso zu drucken, wenn man das dünne Druckerpapier zu schnell für die nächste Schicht verwendet, kann Farbe an den Papierträgern hängenbleiben und Spuren auf dem Druck hinterlassen. Durch Putzen kann man das ein bisschen vermeiden, trotzdem würde ich empfehlen gröbere Papiere (bei denen die Farbe besser einzieht) zu verwenden und ein bisschen länger zu warten.

Outcome:

Das fertige Poster hat einen sehr sommerlichen Flair, was ich erreichen wollte. Insgesamt würde ich sagen, dass dieser Print meine Erwartungen übertroffen hat, da die Farben sehr gut miteinander harmonieren.