Digital Luthier

Ambience: Electronic Music
Composers are using computers to create music by tapping into the emotional states of the performers and the audience. I’m Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.

Knapp: I call myself a digital luthier, somebody who uses computers to make musical instruments.

Ben Knapp is Director of the Institute on Creativity, Art, and Technology at Virginia Tech

Knapp: So what happens, whether it’s the performer’s emotional state that’s creating sound or music, or whether it’s the audience’s emotional state that’s creating sound or music, the music is directly created from a computer. So, the computer is measuring the physiology of the audience, or measuring the physiology of the performer and mapping that physiology to sound. And that mapping is determined by a modern composer.

During a performance, computers will be measuring things like the pulse rate and electrical signals from both the performers and the audience.

Knapp: If we create music that comes straight from our emotions, is that an interesting sound? Is it interesting to play? And the answer is absolutely yes. Anybody that’s gotten to try making music from their emotional state has always been astounded by the interaction that occurs. And then, is it interesting to listen to? Well, that’s a challenge not just for the design of the instrument, but also the composer. So, where this is headed is, can we compose music that is to be directly controlled from the emotional state? We’re just at the beginning of that. Where that will take us, I have no idea.

I’m Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.

Digital Luthier

Tapping into the emotional states of performers and their audience.

Air Date:07/07/2017

Scientist:

Transcript:

Digital Luthier

Ambience: Electronic Music
Composers are using computers to create music by tapping into the emotional states of the performers and the audience. I'm Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.

Knapp: I call myself a digital luthier, somebody who uses computers to make musical instruments.

Ben Knapp is Director of the Institute on Creativity, Art, and Technology at Virginia Tech

Knapp: So what happens, whether it's the performer's emotional state that's creating sound or music, or whether it's the audience's emotional state that's creating sound or music, the music is directly created from a computer. So, the computer is measuring the physiology of the audience, or measuring the physiology of the performer and mapping that physiology to sound. And that mapping is determined by a modern composer.

During a performance, computers will be measuring things like the pulse rate and electrical signals from both the performers and the audience.

Knapp: If we create music that comes straight from our emotions, is that an interesting sound? Is it interesting to play? And the answer is absolutely yes. Anybody that's gotten to try making music from their emotional state has always been astounded by the interaction that occurs. And then, is it interesting to listen to? Well, that's a challenge not just for the design of the instrument, but also the composer. So, where this is headed is, can we compose music that is to be directly controlled from the emotional state? We're just at the beginning of that. Where that will take us, I have no idea.

I'm Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.