As an outgrowth of our interest in dense wireless sensing and expressive applications of wearable computing, we have developed the world's most versatile human-computer interface for the foot. By dense wireless sensing, we mean the remote acquisition of many different parameters with a compact, autonomous sensor cluster. We have developed such a low-power sensor card to measure over 16 continuous quantities and transmit them wirelessly to a remote base station, updating all variables at 50 Hz. We have integrated a pair of these devices onto the feet of dancers and athletes, measuring continuous pressure at 3 points near the toe, dynamic pressure at the heel, bidirectional bend of the sole, height of each foot off conducting strips in the stage, angular rate of each foot about the vertical, angular position of each foot about the Earth's local magnetic field, as well as their tilt and low-G acceleration, 3-axis shock acceleration (from kicks and jumps), and position (via an integrated s...

This paper begins with some of the topics and questions about music improvisation using computers, the author has posed himself during more than a decade experience as a performer, composer, software designer and educator. After a quick review of several of his previous interactive music systems, some of those issues are then confronted in FMOL, a program initially designed as a tool for on-line collaborative composition that has been used by hundreds of on-line composers, and which is also being employed by the author in free-form audiovisual improvisation concerts . 1

Music today is more ubiquitous, accessible, and democratized than ever. Thanks to technologies such as high-end home studios, audio compression, and digital distribution, music now surrounds us in everyday life, almost every piece of music is a few minutes of download away, and almost any western musician, novice or expert, can compose, perform and distribute their music directly to their listeners from their home studios. But at the same time these technologies lead to some concerning social effects on the culture of consuming and creating music. Although music is available for more people, in more locations, and for longer periods of time, most listeners experience it in an incidental, unengaged, or utilitarian manner. On the creation side, home studios promote private and isolated practice of music making where hardly any musical instruments or even musicians are needed, and where the value of live

While personal computers have been used for over twenty years in live music contexts, the proliferation of powerful and affordable portable systems (laptops) has spurred the emergence of new music creation styles and venues outside of academia. Laptop performance is the practice of live computer music using software tools exclusively. This paper surveys the current state of laptop performance practice, discussing the styles of music that are typically performed in this way, and the techniques and tools used. This discussion serves as a context for a new software system for laptop performance. The system’s design is motivated by some of the problems encountered in this style of live use. The system supports the real-time definition and modification of generative musical patterns via a novel freehand drawing interface, allowing a solo performer to create multi-layered works on-stage. 1

The Australian-built ‘‘automatic computer’ ’ initially known as the CSIR Mk1, and later known as CSIRAC, was one of the world’s earliest storedprogram electronic digital computers (Williams 1997). (See Figure 1.) Coincidentally, it may also have been the first computer to play music, even though later work done elsewhere in the 1950s is clearly the origin of computer music as we know the field today. Developed in Sydney in the late 1940s by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the CSIR Mk1 ran its first program in November

This article describes physical modelling techniques that can be used for simulating musical instruments. The methods are closely related to digital signal processing. They discretize the system with respect to time, because the aim is to run the simulation using a computer. The physics-based modelling methods can be classified as mass–spring, modal, wave digital, finite difference, digital waveguide and source–filter models. We present the basic theory and a discussion on possible extensions for each modelling technique. For some methods, a simple model example is chosen from the existing literature demonstrating a typical use of the method. For instance, in the case of the digital waveguide modelling technique a vibrating string model is discussed, and in the case of the wave digital filter technique we present a classical piano hammer model. We tackle some nonlinear and time-varying models and include new results on the digital waveguide modelling of a nonlinear string. Current trends and future directions in physical modelling of musical instruments are discussed.