Towards a musician's Cockpit: transducers, feedback and musical function

Abstract

This paper describes our on-going theoretical research into the design of computer music instruments.Traditionally, an acoustical instrument is used as an extension of the body.We feel the importance of this tight relationship between musician and instrument has traditionally been underestimated in the design of computer music controllers.In this paper, we will show the benefits of a cybernetic approach to the man-instrument system, in which we specify relationships between body-parts, different types of transducers, feedback, and the musical function performed.Matching these different requirements is a first step into bringing computer music instruments into reach of the skilled musician.