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A malleable interface for sonic exploration

presentation
posted on 2023-06-08, 10:17 authored by Chris KieferChris Kiefer
Input devices for controlling music software can benefit from exploiting the use of perceptual-motor skill in interaction. The project described here is a new musical controller, designed with the aim of enabling intuitive and nuanced interaction through direct physical manipulation of malleable material. The controller is made from conductive foam. This foam changes electrical resistance when deformed; the controller works by measuring resistance at multiple points in a single piece of foam in order to track its shape. These measurements are complex and interdependent so an echo state network, a form of recurrent neural network, is employed to translate the sensor readings into usable control data. A cube shaped controller was built and evaluated in the context of the haptic exploration of sound synthesis parameter spaces. Eight participants experimented with the controller and were interviewed about their experiences. The controller achieves its aim of enabling intuitive interaction, but in terms of nuanced interaction, accuracy and repeatability were issues for some participants. It's not clear from the short evaluation study whether these issues would improve with practice, a longitudinal study that gives musicians time to practice and find the creative limitations of the controller would help to evaluate this fully. The evaluation highlighted interesting issues concerning the high level nature of malleable control and different approaches to sonic exploration.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Pages

6.0

Presentation Type

  • paper

Event name

New Interfaces For Musical Expression

Event location

Sydney, Australia

Event type

conference

Department affiliated with

  • Informatics Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-02-20

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