Cornelius Pöpel: On openness, formalization and resulting questions in the design of computer-based musical instruments

ABSTRACT

This talk gives a brief introduction to my research in the design of computer-based musical instruments (CMI). I will focus on questions related to what affordances a CMI built for traditional instrumentalists (e.g. string players) should provide and what constraints come with the process of formalization necessary when developing CMIs. Based on my conclusions I will present an alternating approach to sound synthesis which I call Audio-Signal-Driven Sound Synthesis and I will talk about how basic aspects of the signal-driven approach can be mapped onto other systems/fields in music and what questions may evolve when doing this.

 

ABOUT CORNELIUS PÖPEL

Cornelius Poepel is Professor for sound in media at Ansbach University of Applied Sciences in Germany. He received a Doctorate in Music from the University of Birmingham on Audio-Signal-Driven Sound Synthesis in 2011. He has studied viola with Jürgen Kussmaul and Hatto Beyerle at the Music Universities in Düsseldorf and Hannover, Germany as well as audio design with Wolfgang Heiniger at the Music Academy Basel, Switzerland. As orchestra musician, he has performed internationally with conductors like Claudio Abbado, Peter Eötvös or Michael Gielen e.g. at the Salzburg Festival or the Festival Vienna Modern. As an audio designer, he has worked for Swiss and German TV and Radio stations, as a sound director for live-electronic music and for orchestras like the Basel Symphony Orchestra and the European Chaos String Quintet. After his position as a research associate at ZKM Karlsruhe (Centre for Art and Media), he was artistic and academic staff member at the Cologne Academy for media arts before joining Ansbach University in 2008. 

His current research interests lie in human aspects in Media, in perception and cognition of music and in the development and use of computer-based musical instruments. 

An example of a project he is currently working on with his students: http://wagnerlicht.com/