A Musical Improvisation System That Provides Visual Feedback to the Performer

This report describes the design and realization of Mimi, a multi-modal interactive musical improvisation system that explores the potential and powerful impact of visual feedback in performer-machine interaction. Mimi is a performer-centric tool designed for use in performance and teaching. Its key and novel component is its visual interface, designed to provide the performer with instantaneous and continuous information on the state of the system. For human improvisation, in which context and planning are paramount, the relevant state of the system extends to the near future and recent past. The Mimi system, designed and implemented using the SAI framework, successfully integrates symbolic computations and real-time synchronization in a multi-modal interactive setting. Mimi’s visual interface allows for a peculiar blend of raw reflex typically associated with improvisation, and preparation and timing more closely aliated with score-based reading. Mimi is not only an eective improvisation partner, it has also proven itself to be an invaluable platform through which to interrogate the mental models necessary for successful improvisation.

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