JUST TYPED ALONG WITH THE SESSION SO EVERYTHING IS STILL PRETTY MESSY, NO LINKS INCLUDED AND POSSIBLE FAULTS ARE MY OWN RATHER THAN THE SPEAKERS,…
Principles for Controlling Computer Music Designers
Keynote Session 1 – Perry Cook, Princeton University, Computer Science (also Music)
Book by Perry Cook: “The beautiful Voice and the Machine”
A follow up and update on the first NIME01 conference “Principles for Designing Computer Music Controllers”
Goals:
1 Revisit the 13 principles
2 What do they mean
3 Are they true today?
4 Add some more principles based on NIMEs and other since and based on teaching
Original Principles:
1 Programmability is a curse
Still true today, easy to add complexity, features, bandwidth
We should make instr. that can be understood, can be learned, can be played, can live on (and programmability works against all these points)
We should make pieces that; are actually performed, are actually listened to (by peers and general audience)
2 “Smart” Instruments are often not
Still true today, AI (Machine Learning). Machines may learn but don’t let the users know this
3 Copying an instrument is dumb, leveraging expert technique is smart
Leveraging examples: R-Bow and BoSSA, Hyperbow, vBow, Overtone Violin, Many others
4 Some players have spare bandwidth, some do not
Less true today
trumpets have 3 valves, a clarinetist is pretty busy
New Sensors give us new means to sense and map those to musical interesting things as well
5 Make a piece, not an instrument
Still very much true, we should actually perform for audiences on our interfaces and instruments
Ideally we should observe and work with others
6 Instant music, subtlety later
Still true,.. think about the piano and ourselves as infants,.. immediate sound and slowly developing skills.
Think about complexity, learning, retention, persistence expression and fun
7 MIDI = Miracle, Industry, Designed, Inadequate
Still an easy path to a quick prototype,.. pro’s and cons,,. but,.. now there is OSC
8 Batteries, Die (command, not an observation)
Things are getting better now,.. we are still waiting for those wind, solar, and hydrogen fuel cells etc.
9 Wires are not that bad (compared to wireless)
This point has definitely changed: 802.11, Bluetooth (Wii, Sparkfun), Zigbee, Roll-your-own Radio)
Still, wires are not that bad
[Demonstrates the lettuce shaker,.. accelerometer in a lettuce that controls a shaker algorithm with different sounds]
10 New algorithms suggest new controllers (and mappings)
Still True: PHISEM,.. unprepared piano, PHOLISE/Gaitlab, Scanned Synthesis, PHYSMISM
11 New Controllers suggest new algorithms
Still True, Radio Baton, Jmug, Fglass, P-Ray’s Cafe, Interval: Pork-o-phone, Stick(s), Nukelele,..
12 Existing Instruments Suggest new Controllers
Still true, Cook/Morrill Trumpet, BoSSA, SqueezeVox, Accordiatron, DigitalDoo, COWE, VOMID, Etabla/Sitar, many others
13 Everyday objects suggest good (and amusing) musical controllers
lots of examples,… be creative ad think like a child
Some New Principles:
14 More van be better! (but hard)
PLOrk (15+ laptops)
15 Music+Engineering is a great Teaching/Marketing Tool
Public interest, student interest, motivation for Teaching
16 The Younger the student, the more fearless
Conclusions: NIME has grown, we’ve learned and build a lot,.. there is still a lot to do,… new technology and new ideas,.. keep up the work!
