“If you don’t give thought to design, users will not take to the technical tools you’ve created.”
T.B: Originally, the premise of the project aroused my interest because it seemed to provide a relevant analysis of the situation. It is a well-known fact that today representation is a real problem in most computer tools: the metaphor which mimics real-world devices is too restrictive and therefore does not work. I am convinced that to remedy this situation we must carry out as many experiments as we can. After this first insight into his project, I discovered what Aurélien had actually done and realized that he had come up with quite a number of very smart enhanced interface solutions fit to be industrially manufactured (especially concerning the way new modules can interact with one another in a coherent environment. Some of the ideas he brought to the fore concerning representation and interaction principles are rooted in an innovative approach to technology led by a designer who is ahead of his time. Thanks to the skills in graphic design he acquired during his training course he has gained a good understanding of how to exploit onscreen bi-dimensional space to represent musical devices. Tools for writing music are often quite rigid and composed of devices that always prove difficult to visualize and use onscreen. Aurélien came up with a few representational paradigms obtained through a clever use of the bi-dimensional nature of space. Thanks to these paradigms users can discover a new type of representation and therefore cast new light on the work they are in the process of writing. A mode of representation is never completely neutral, it always effects what we do and how we do it.
A musical environment is always comprised of numerous elements (sound matter, sound treatments, tools to adjust acoustic and musical features, parameter control devices, etc.). But amid this proliferation of instruments, the main challenge in terms of cognitive and gesture-related issues lies in how the interaction between concrete and abstract, between sound and music and between instrumentation and structures is understood and used by the composer. So far traditional sequencers have handled the switch from abstract to concrete sound very badly. Sound-generating and note-organizing tools are too often simply stacked upon another without anyone giving much thought to the link between the two. Speaking of which, Aurélien invented one or two representational paradigms that enable users to control values and to have greater control over effects. He has implemented an interesting type of object which solves one of the main issues posed by computer music: the link between abstract and concrete, which is brought to the fore by the interaction between the acoustic and musical dimensions.
CADI: Does Aurélien’s project seem industrially feasible to you?
T.B: Very much so, particularly as Aurélien has never had any musical training. Therefore, if he were to work in collaboration with signal experts and composition-literate users, he could design an object which is far more advanced than most existing ones. This student has created a sound concept. A profile like his – one that combines both technical and artistic skills – is not that easy to find. In the field of computer music development such skills and sensitivity in graphic design are quite rare.
Industrial lock-ip, inertia, open source? What scenarios for tomorrow?
CADI: Music has always relied on technical and technological evolutions. Over the past few decades, new digital technologies have led to tremendous upheavals in music perception (listening and composition) and interaction with music. As an engineer, what type of developments do you think music, musical tools and musical environments are about to go through?
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