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extended-abstract

Toward a computationally-enhanced acoustic grand piano

Published: 10 April 2010 Publication History

Abstract

Although the capabilities of electronic musical instruments have grown exponentially over the past decades, many performers continue to prefer acoustic instruments, perceiving them to be more expressive than their electronic counterparts. We seek to create a new application for computer music interfaces by augmenting, rather than replacing, acoustic instruments. Starting with an acoustic grand piano, an optical keyboard scanner measures the continuous position of every key while electromagnetic actuators directly induce the strings to vibration. Unlike the traditional piano, the performer is given the ability to continuously modulate the sound of each note, resulting in a new creative vocabulary. Ongoing work explores the creation of intelligent mappings from sensed user input to acoustic control parameters which build on the existing musical intuition of trained pianists, creating a hybrid acoustic-electronic instrument that offers new expressive dimensions for human performers.

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Cited By

View all
  • (2022)A Survey of Augmented Piano Prototypes: Has Augmentation Improved Learning Experiences?Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35677196:ISS(226-253)Online publication date: 14-Nov-2022
  • (2018)The intuitive in HCIProceedings of the 10th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/3240167.3240202(505-514)Online publication date: 29-Sep-2018
  • (2011)Multidimensional gesture sensing at the piano keyboardProceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/1978942.1979355(2789-2798)Online publication date: 7-May-2011

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cover image ACM Conferences
CHI EA '10: CHI '10 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems
April 2010
2219 pages
ISBN:9781605589305
DOI:10.1145/1753846

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 10 April 2010

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Author Tags

  1. multidisciplinary design
  2. music interfaces
  3. piano

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  • Extended-abstract

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CHI '10
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CHI EA '10 Paper Acceptance Rate 350 of 1,346 submissions, 26%;
Overall Acceptance Rate 6,164 of 23,696 submissions, 26%

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Cited By

View all
  • (2022)A Survey of Augmented Piano Prototypes: Has Augmentation Improved Learning Experiences?Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35677196:ISS(226-253)Online publication date: 14-Nov-2022
  • (2018)The intuitive in HCIProceedings of the 10th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/3240167.3240202(505-514)Online publication date: 29-Sep-2018
  • (2011)Multidimensional gesture sensing at the piano keyboardProceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/1978942.1979355(2789-2798)Online publication date: 7-May-2011

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