CamJam: A Modular Collaborative and Accessible Digital Musical Interface

Frej Lorenzen, Kevin Hansen, Emil Zawistowski, and Eirini Liapikou

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract

This paper presents CamJam, a modular, collaborative, and accessible digital musical interface designed to support inclusive music-making. The system enables musicians and non-musicians to engage in shared sound creation through a set of embodied, camera-based interaction modules, each contributing a distinct musical role within a synchronized, loop-based structure. CamJam was developed as a no-fail collaborative environment, in which harmonic constraints and temporal synchronization support intuitive participation without requiring prior musical training. The project explores how camera-based sensing can facilitate expressive yet approachable musical control grounded in embodied interaction design. The system has been explored through iterative testing and group-based user studies involving participants with diverse musical backgrounds. Observations from these studies suggest that CamJam supports intuitive engagement and collaborative play across differing levels of musical experience.

Citation

Frej Lorenzen, Kevin Hansen, Emil Zawistowski, and Eirini Liapikou. 2026. CamJam: A Modular Collaborative and Accessible Digital Musical Interface. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20784455 [PDF]

BibTeX Entry

@inproceedings{nime2026_150,
 abstract = {This paper presents CamJam, a modular, collaborative, and accessible digital musical interface designed to support inclusive music-making. The system enables musicians and non-musicians to engage in shared sound creation through a set of embodied, camera-based interaction modules, each contributing a distinct musical role within a synchronized, loop-based structure. CamJam was developed as a no-fail collaborative environment, in which harmonic constraints and temporal synchronization support intuitive participation without requiring prior musical training. The project explores how camera-based sensing can facilitate expressive yet approachable musical control grounded in embodied interaction design. The system has been explored through iterative testing and group-based user studies involving participants with diverse musical backgrounds. Observations from these studies suggest that CamJam supports intuitive engagement and collaborative play across differing levels of musical experience.},
 address = {London, United Kingdom},
 articleno = {150},
 author = {Frej Lorenzen and Kevin Hansen and Emil Zawistowski and Eirini Liapikou},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.20784455},
 editor = {Benedict Gaster and João Tragtenberg and Anna Xambó and Tom Mitchell},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 month = {June},
 note = {},
 numpages = {6},
 pages = {1220--1225},
 title = {CamJam: A Modular Collaborative and Accessible Digital Musical Interface},
 track = {paper},
 url = {http://nime.org/proceedings/2026/nime2026_150.pdf},
 year = {2026}
}