KISDtalk: “On Expression, Control and Affordance in Musical Instrument Design“

When designing musical devices and their tangible interactions the goal is an intimate convergence between musician and instrument. With half a dozen conferences on the topic, a substantial amount of research has been produced in this research field over the last decades. Many findings can be applied to a general design process. How many degrees-of-freedom are too many? Where is the sweet-spot of challenging but still controllable complexity? Where is less expressiveness more versatile? Which affordances is an interface offering to the user?

The Center for Haptic Audio Interaction Research is dedicated to create hybrid acoustic interfaces for digital resonators. Our first instrument is the Tickle which has a vibro-acoustic surface to excite software resonators or analogue resonating filters. The talk will be given by Max Neupert and Clemens Wegener.

Max Neupert is a product designer, media artist and has researched in the field of audiovisual real-time media (Diploma in Art/Burg Giebichenstein University of Art Halle). He is a PhD candidate and researches on audiovisual cut-ups. He is a lecturer at the chair for Media Environments at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. Max organized the Pure Data Convention in 2011 – a five-day venue of conference, workshops, concerts and exhibitions. He presented his research on new musical interfaces and presentations at various international conferences. As a professor at Yeungnam University in South Korea, he taught digital media for artists.

Clemens Wegener holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science and Media from Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. He completed a Bachelor’s degree in musicology at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar. He works as a research assistant and lecturer in Interface Design at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. His research focuses on digital and analog sound synthesis as well as musical interfaces. He has many years of stage experience as a musician and DJ. Due to his broad knowledge, he is able to establish connections between classical musical instruments and modern technologies.

Wednesday, January 22, 5:30 pm, room 11

Max Neupert and Clemens Wegener

The KISDtalk “On Expression, Control and Affordance in Musical Instrument Design“ will be held in English language (room 11).