A Bioelectric Controller for Computer Music Applications

This article is a description of a special purpose signal processing computer designed to acquire lowlevel neuroelectric and myoelectric signals, perform feature extraction on these signals, and then map the desired features to MIDI commands-all in real-time. The computer-called the Biomusecan be used as a "biocontroller" to augment normal musical instrument performance or as a direct nervous system, computer interface for musical composition and performance. Additionally, it could be used for paralyzed and movement impaired individuals as a means to regain the pleasures of music making. The concept of making musical sound from biological phenomena is not new. In fact, one of the earliest references to the idea of transforming a biological feature into musical sound appeared in an essay by the poet Rainer Maria Rilke in 1919 entitled The Primal Sound. In this essay, Rilke proposes creating a special stylus that could track the coronal suture of the skull and transduce the wave form into the "primal sound," just as a phonograph needle recreated sound from the wavy imprint in a wax roll. In the poet's words: