An Interactive Bio-Music Improvisation System

ABSTRACT In this paper, we focus on electrical bio-signals of humans as a core musical material. Typically, interaction is under-utilized in bio-music; an improved system can offer alternative design opportunities compared to a collection of instruments controlled by bio-signals in real-time. Our Interactive Bio-music Improvisation System (IBIS) is capable of rendering pre-recorded bio-signals under controlled situations, and allows two performers to interact with the computational representation of a third one in real-time. These capabilities afford a multitude of narratives. Here, we present our bio-signal instrumentation and audiovisual synthesis strategies in detail; we aim to demonstrate the components of the IBIS during the ICMC-08 Conference. 1. INTRODUCTION Bio-music is an experimental music form that is based on sensor data obtained from living organisms. In this paper, we focus on electrical bio-signals of humans; on their acquisition, processing and feature extraction, and particularly on their usage in concurrent audio-visual synthesis within an interactive improvisation system. The performing characteristics of bio-music make bio-signals an important and meaningful source of musical information both in composition and interactive improvisation. Many bio-music controllers have been used as computer interfaces for composition and performances [1]. Early pioneers, such as Alvin Lucier, Richard Teitelbaum, and David Rosenboom have produced important bio-music works [2], some of which are direct mappings of the performer’s onto musical structures. In these works, interaction was rather limited; such works can be regarded as direct sonification of the biofeedback systems. Rosenboom has systematically investigated the neurological interaction in order to extract musical features. In his work