Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!dali.cs.montana.edu!milton!decwrl!well.sf.ca.us!well!hlr@uunet.UU.NET From: decwrl!well.sf.ca.us!well!hlr@uunet.UU.NET (Howard Rheingold) Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds Subject: Re: Musical Virtual Worlds Message-ID: <11240@milton.u.washington.edu> Date: 16 Nov 90 05:42:53 GMT References: <1990Nov13.213038.27046@cpsc.ucalgary.ca> Sender: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu Lines: 37 Approved: hitl@hardy.u.washington.edu garry@cs-sun-fsc.cpsc.ucalgary.ca (Garry Beirne) writes: >First, it is assumed that the occupant/participant/user/performer in a >MVW is a 'virtuoso'; they are experts in communicating via very >specific musical gestures (bowing the violin, playing the piano, etc.) >and there is a well established vocabulary within the range of gestures >they use. In VR we almost always assume a naive user. Why not follow >the model of the instrument builder, and develop a set of gestures that >are 'appropriate' to the task of communicating to and from the visual >virtual world? Claude Cadoz, Annie Luciani, and Jean-loup Florens have been working with "the musical gesture," "gestual transducers," and "virtual instruments" since 1976. They founded ACROE (translated: Association for Research about Artistic Creation Tools) in Grenoble and have been working there ever since. They have developed a visual animation language (ANIMA) and a musical synthesis language (CORDIS) and a 16 degree of freedom keyboard. I tested the keyboard myself, and it is quite an astounding experience. They use peripheral devices to convert the keyboard into different virtual instruments. For example, I put my fingers into a couple of loops, moved my wrist, and voila -- the sound and *feel* of running a violin bow over a taut violin string. They can be reached at acroe@lifia.imag.fr Most of their reprints are in French. They didn't know a great deal about the ferment in the rest of the VR world until I showed up, although they are in touch with Margaret Minsky, who was the person who turned me onto them in the first place.