Paper Reading #7: Ben Neil and Bill Jones-Posthorn

Comments
Cindy Skach
Vince Kocks

Reference Information
Title: Ben Neil and Bill Jones-Posthorn

Authors: Ben Neil, Assisstant Professor of Music, Ramapo College of New Jersey, Mahwah, NJ
              Bill Jones, First Pulses Projects, New York, NY
Presentation Venue: CHI 2010: 28th ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems;
Date: April 10-15, 2010;
Location: Atlanta, GA, USA

Summary

This paper talks about an interactive computer system used in Posthorn, a multimedia composition which is performed on Ben Neil's self-designed instrument, the mutantrumpet. The mutantrumpet is an electro-acoustic instrument with a  a wide range of control capabilities. It is essentially the result of previous works merged together. In the 1980s Ben Neil made the acoustic trumpet interactive with electronics. In 1992, under the new name of mutantrumper, the instrument was made to interact with a computer. In 2008, a new version was made that refined and integrated the MIDI controller.

Having gone many modifications, the mutantrumpet primarily works with three computer programs that respond to Neil's playing in real time. After translating pitches and dynamics into MIDI information, the data is sent to all three programs at the same time.

1. Lisa, a live sampling program allows Neil to grab  samples and modify them using various Digital Signal Processing methods. Earlier samples can also be recalled.
2. Ableton, enables neil to trigger and modify the playback of MIDI sequences from the mutantrumpet, and process the audio output of Lisa.
3. Modul8 runs on a second computer and translates the MIDI data into real time digital video control. The samples create a set of visual effects.

In summary, Posthorn is an exploration of the expressive possibilites of interactive performance.

Discussion

I had a hard time following this paper, as I am not really music litterate. I also feel that the target audience is music experts. This gives them a tool to use that can enhance their performances. It does seem that this project is a merge of previous works, so the authors have a good grasp of the subject, and the techniques involved. In fact if you read the paper,  you feel like you are getting a lot of detailed information.