Academic work on composing using VSTs?

[SparkySpark]

Hi,

I wonder if anyone knows of academic research (say doctoral theses) on creating music with electronic studios (VST instruments and effects especially).

I am pondering doing research on the workflow of VSTs, and smart(er) ways of composing music with them. In other words, I'm not that interested in the physics of audio, but in the workflow and the "interaction design" element.

Love to all,

SparkySpark

[tapper mike]

While VST's are capable of wondrous things making smarter music or music smarter or smarter musicians is a tenuous subject. The invention of the calculator did not make people who use calculator any smarter in fact some would argue quite the opposite. It also opens a huge can of worms regarding the downgrading of the music writing act to "merely an intellectual experience" Rather then humans communicating with humans on an emotive level. "Smarter music" doesn't mean "better music" nor does it mean "popular music"

[SparkySpark]

Hi,

Thanks, and I agree, but it's not what I'm after here. In sheet music notation software, the developers of the competing software aim to make music input as easy as ever possible, workin with "smart" features (copying rhythm pattern from other clef, for instance). The same can be done for sequencers and other music software, but I wonder if anyone here knows of any acadmic work being done in this field. (The academic term for this kind of study was previously usability and today interaction design.)

[Michael L]

Hi SparkySpark,
Three recommendations:

1 Start with a Google search using your keywords. I just did one with the keywords vst composition thesis and got many results, the first being Leif Sundstrup's thesis from U. Wollongong, "The virtual orchestra: a systematic method of realising music composition through sample-based orchestral simulation." There are many others, and you could spend days playing with various keywords. Theses are often more specific than your broad question.

2. Note the university programs that are most active in this area. The published theses and research articles (people publish articles based on or in advance of their thesis) will tell where they are studying. There are quite a few strong uni programs, often where pioneers of electronic music are teaching. See what research is currently being done there, and what symposia are planned that you can attend (eg IRCAM does them regularly).

3. Go to a research university (preferably one doing work in this area), then to the library and its Reference Desk. Pay them to do a literature search with your choice of keywords (this is an inexpensive service they provide). They will be able to access the various scientific search engines, and also the thesis databases that Google cannot. While you are there, talk with faculty!

Have a great life!
Michael

[SparkySpark]

Hi Michael,

You're right - thanks!

BTW, I too prefer MuLab nowadays. It's quite a steal!

[SparkySpark]

An example from Google that the crowd here might find interesting:

Supporting Liveness and Flow in Computer Music.

Nash, C. (2011).

PhD Thesis
University of Cambridge

abstract

As we begin to realise the sonic and expressive potential of the computer, HCI researchers face the challenge of designing rewarding and accessible user experiences that enable individuals to explore complex creative domains such as music.

In performance-based music systems such as sequencers, a disjunction exists between the musician’s specialist skill with performance hardware and the generic usability techniques applied in the design of the software. The creative process is not only fragmented across multiple physical (and virtual) devices, but divided across creativity and productivity phases separated by the act of recording.

Integrating psychologies of expertise and intrinsic motivation, this thesis proposes a design shift from usability to virtuosity, using theories of “flow” (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996) and feedback “liveness” (Tanimoto, 1990) to identify factors that facilitate learning and creativity in digital notations and interfaces, leading to a set of design heuristics to support virtuosity in notation use. Using the cognitive dimensions of notations framework (Green, 1996), models of the creative user experience are developed, working towards a theoretical framework for HCI in music systems, and specifically computer-aided composition.

Extensive analytical methods are used to look at corollaries of virtuosity and flow in real-world computer music interaction, notably in soundtracking, a software-based composing environment offering a rapid edit-audition feedback cycle, enabled by the user’s skill in manipulating the text-based notation (and program) through the computer keyboard. The interaction and development of more than 1,000 sequencer and tracker users was recorded over a period of 2 years, to investigate the nature and development of skill and technique, look for evidence of flow experiences, and establish the use and role of both visual and musical feedback in music software. Quantitative analyses of interaction data are supplemented with a detailed video study of a professional tracker composer, and a user survey that draws on psychometric methods to evaluate flow experiences in the use of digital music notations, such as sequencers and trackers.

Empirical findings broadly support the proposed design heuristics, and enable the development of further models of liveness and flow in notation use. Implications for UI design are discussed in the context of existing music systems, and supporting digitally-mediated creativity in other domains based on notation use.

full text

http://revisit.info/files/PhD_Thesis_600dpi.pdf (print quality, 28mb, recommended)
http://revisit.info/files/PhD_Thesis_192dpi.pdf (screen quality, 13mb)

[telecode]

you can try https://www.academia.edu/ and search for research papers. Usually grad students and the go-getter professors will post and advertise their research papers in the hopes of getting published in a journal. short of that, you have to go to academic journals or aggregators in libraries and check what issues have it. I recently saw one in computer music journal.

http://www.mitpressjournals.org/toc/comj/34/4

[Michael L]

Supporting Liveness and Flow in Computer Music.

Awesome. So great to see attention to 'feeling' rather than just 'features'

[Winstontaneous]

Check out Julien Bayle's e-book on interface design here.
DJ Spooky (Paul Miller) has written a lot about the effect of consumer technologies on music production (and produced a lot of music!)

Might be worth looking at research from the European Graduate School, Stanford's CCRMA, UC Berkeley's CNMAT, MIT Media Lab, etc.

Also the flip side is people like Aphex Twin, BT, and MonoLake creating their own software because existing applications didn't do what they wanted. Or someone like Zoe Keating writing scripts to tie together programs, getting them to do crazy things.

[woggle]

http://www.nime.org/ (International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression ) is an academic conference more or less looking at your question - the proceedings should have something or at least lead to something

[Michael L]

NIME looks fantastic! The site has an archive, and this year's conference has a NIME Primer Workshop "to provide a general and gentle introduction to the theory and practice of the design of interactive systems for music creation and performance. Our target audience consists of newcomers to the field who would like to start research projects, as well as interested students, people from other fields and members of the public with a general interest in the potential of NIME."

[SparkySpark]

Wow,

Thanks so much for the many replies!

I will surely pursue the matter, and I am confident others will have use of this thread as well.

Peace and love.