New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Three musicians playing hydraulophone, an instrument that is similar to a woodwind instrument but makes sound from incompressible fluid (water) rather than compressible fluid (air). Photo from concert programme of the NIME-07 conference in New York City.

New Interfaces for Musical Expression, also known as NIME, is an international conference dedicated to scientific research on the development of new technologies for musical expression and artistic performance. Researchers and musicians from all over the world gather to share their knowledge and late-breaking work on new musical interface design.

History

The conference began as a workshop at the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) in 2001. Since then, international conferences have been held annually around the world. NIME-06, the sixth international conference, was hosted by IRCAM, Paris, in June 2006. NIME-07 was held in New York City^[1], hosted by the Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center, New York University's Music Technology Program and the Interactive Telecommunications Program in the Tisch School of the Arts. NIME-08 was hosted by the Infomus Lab at the University of Genova^[2], Italy. NIME-09 was hosted by the Carnegie Mellon School of Music in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania^[3]. NIME 2010 took place in Sydney^[4]. NIME 2011 was held in Oslo, Norway. NIME 2012 will be hosted by the University of Michigan^[5].

The following is a partial list of topics covered by the NIME conference:

• Design reports on novel controllers and interfaces for musical expression
• Performance experience reports on live performance and composition using novel controllers
• Controllers for virtuosic performers, novices, education and entertainment
• Perceptual & cognitive issues in the design of musical controllers
• Movement, visual and physical expression with sonic expressivity
• Musical mapping algorithms and intelligent controllers
• Novel controllers for collaborative performance
• Interface protocols (e.g. MIDI) and alternative controllers
• Artistic, cultural, and social impact of new performance interfaces
• Real-time gestural control in musical performance
• Mapping strategies and their influence on digital musical instrument design
• Sensor and actuator technologies for musical applications
• Haptic and force feedback devices for musical control
• Real-time computing tools and interactive systems
• Pedagogical applications of new interfaces - Courses and curricula

Other related conferences

Other similarly themed conferences include

• International Computer Music Conference (ICMC);
• ACM Multimedia
• Sound and Music Computing (SMC)

See also

• Experimental musical instrument about several alternative instruments.

References

1. ^ http://itp.nyu.edu/nime/2007/
2. ^ http://nime2008.casapaganini.org/
3. ^ http://music.web.cmu.edu/nime09
4. ^ http://www.educ.dab.uts.edu.au/nime/
5. ^ http://www.eecs.umich.edu/nime2012/

External links

• Official website
• NIME 2012 conference website
• Index to NIME Conference Proceedings. From Trier University’s DBLP database.
• NIME group on YouTube. Videos of demos and performances at various editions of NIME.

Further Reading

• Allen, Jamie. “Review of NIME 2005.” Computer Music Journal 30/1 (Spring 2006).
• Lehrman, Paul D. “Tomorrow's Virtuosi & What They’ll Be Playing: A report from the fifth New Interfaces for Musical Expression conference, in Vancouver, Canada, May 2005.” Sound on Sound.
• Pritchard, Bob. “[Report] NIME 2010.” eContact! 12.4 — Perspectives on the Electroacoustic Work / Perspectives sur l’œuvre électroacoustique (August 2010). Montréal: CEC.
• Raskob, Evan. “Phasors Built My Hot Rod.” Documentary film about the NIME course at New York University.
• Richardson, Patrick. “Innovative New Digital Instruments: NIME Conference Multimedia Mega-Report.” Extensive report on NIME07. Create Digital Music blog. Posted 25 June 2007.