LIMITER: A Gamified Interface for Harnessing Just Intonation Systems

Antonis Christou

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract

This paper introduces LIMITER, a gamified digital musical instrument for harnessing and performing microtonal and justly intonated sounds. While microtonality in Western music remains a niche and esoteric system that can be difficult both to conceptualize and to perform with, LIMITER presents a novel, easy to pickup interface that utilizes color, geometric transformations, and game-like controls to create a simpler inlet into utilizing these sounds as a means of expression. We report on the background of the development of LIMITER, as well as explain the underlying musical and engineering systems that enable its function. Additionally, we offer a discussion and preliminary evaluation of the creativity-enhancing effects of the interface.

Citation

Antonis Christou. 2025. LIMITER: A Gamified Interface for Harnessing Just Intonation Systems. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15698896 [PDF]

BibTeX Entry

@article{nime2025_52,
 abstract = { This paper introduces LIMITER, a gamified digital musical instrument for harnessing and performing microtonal and justly intonated sounds. While microtonality in Western music remains a niche and esoteric system that can be difficult both to conceptualize and to perform with, LIMITER presents a novel, easy to pickup interface that utilizes color, geometric transformations, and game-like controls to create a simpler inlet into utilizing these sounds as a means of expression. We report on the background of the development of LIMITER, as well as explain the underlying musical and engineering systems that enable its function. Additionally, we offer a discussion and preliminary evaluation of the creativity-enhancing effects of the interface. },
 address = {Canberra, Australia},
 articleno = {52},
 author = {Antonis Christou},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.15698896},
 editor = {Doga Cavdir and Florent Berthaut},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 month = {June},
 numpages = {6},
 pages = {373--378},
 presentation-video = {https://vimeo.com/1079127921},
 title = {LIMITER: A Gamified Interface for Harnessing Just Intonation Systems},
 track = {Paper},
 url = {http://nime.org/proceedings/2025/nime2025_52.pdf},
 year = {2025}
}