This paper describes two recent improvisation systems that incorporate timbre as an integral element in performance characterization and decision-making. The first London system uses high-level performance descriptors, adapted from recent work in mood detection in music, to coordinate low-level performance events. It was used in performances at LAM 2006 and NIME 2007. After careful evaluation o...

The Human vocal tract is considered for its sonorous qualities in carrying prosodic information, which implicates vision in the perceptual processes of speech. These considerations are put in the context of previous work in NIME, forming background for the introduction of two sound installations; “Microphone”, which uses a camera and computer vision to translate mouth shapes to sounds, and “Mic...

We present an overview of machine learning (ML) techniques and their application in interactive music and new digital instrument design. We first provide the non-specialist reader an introduction to two ML tasks, classification and regression, that are particularly relevant for gestural interaction. We then present a review of the literature in current NIME research that uses ML in musical gest...

"Perfect Take" is a public installation out of networked acoustic instruments that let composers from all over the world exhibit their MIDI-works by means of the Internet. The primary aim of this system is to offer composers a way to have works exhibited and recorded in venues and with technologies not accessible to him/her under normal circumstances. The Secondary aim of this research is to hi...

This paper describes a theory for modulated objects based on observations of recent musical interface design trends. The theory implies extensions to an object-based approach to controller design. Combining NIME research with ethnographic study of shamanic traditions. The author discusses the creation of new controllers based on the shamanic use of ritual objects.

The occurrence of relatively long notes, and the repetition of melodic phrases are important cues to the metre, or regular beat, of a piece of music. A model of how people use this information to infer the metre of unaccompanied melodies is described here. The model is in the form of a computer program, and involves a definition of melodic repetition which encompasses repetitions that include c...

1. The shallow ponds of the nature reserve ‘De Maten’ form a metacommunity, in which individual ponds are highly interconnected via a system of overflows and rivulets. This study reports on the relations between cladoceran species richness and (a) connectivity patterns and (b) local environmental variables. 2. No relation was found between local species richness and three connectivity variables...