TECHNO-UTOPIA: Music Emerging from Colliding Embedded AI Instruments with Radio Orchestras and their Archives

Robert Laidlow, Nicola Privato, and Victor Shepardson

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract

This practice-led paper explores the musical work TECHNO-UTOPIA, composed for orchestra and soloist performing on traditional acoustic instruments, electronic samplers and embedded AI instruments. TECHNO-UTOPIA was co-commissioned by two radio symphony orchestras and it marked the first time either has worked with NIMEs.We examine how these embedded AI instruments functioned as compositional tools that shaped structural, harmonic, and textural decisions across the entire work, extending beyond moment-to-moment sound generation. The paper details the technical development of five RAVE models trained on orchestral archive data, including unexpected latent space characteristics discovered through sustained interaction, and other methods of exploring this archive and the idea of archive.The paper reports on the rehearsal process with professional orchestral musicians, examining how the soloist developed individual performance techniques distinct from the composer's approaches. We address practical challenges including notation systems for semi-improvised NIME performances, strategies for maintaining technological credibility in traditional orchestral settings, and methods for integrating archive-based instruments into live performance. This research contributes insights into ethical creative AI design using archival datasets obtained with express permission, and which pertain to the ensemble at hand and the relationship between NIMEs and established musical communities.

Citation

Robert Laidlow, Nicola Privato, and Victor Shepardson. 2026. TECHNO-UTOPIA: Music Emerging from Colliding Embedded AI Instruments with Radio Orchestras and their Archives. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20784107 [PDF]

BibTeX Entry

@inproceedings{nime2026_26,
 abstract = {This practice-led paper explores the musical work TECHNO-UTOPIA, composed for orchestra and soloist performing on traditional acoustic instruments, electronic samplers and embedded AI instruments. TECHNO-UTOPIA was co-commissioned by two radio symphony orchestras and it marked the first time either has worked with NIMEs.We examine how these embedded AI instruments functioned as compositional tools that shaped structural, harmonic, and textural decisions across the entire work, extending beyond moment-to-moment sound generation. The paper details the technical development of five RAVE models trained on orchestral archive data, including unexpected latent space characteristics discovered through sustained interaction, and other methods of exploring this archive and the idea of archive.The paper reports on the rehearsal process with professional orchestral musicians, examining how the soloist developed individual performance techniques distinct from the composer's approaches. We address practical challenges including notation systems for semi-improvised NIME performances, strategies for maintaining technological credibility in traditional orchestral settings, and methods for integrating archive-based instruments into live performance. This research contributes insights into ethical creative AI design using archival datasets obtained with express permission, and which pertain to the ensemble at hand and the relationship between NIMEs and established musical communities.},
 address = {London, United Kingdom},
 articleno = {26},
 author = {Robert Laidlow and Nicola Privato and Victor Shepardson},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.20784107},
 editor = {Benedict Gaster and João Tragtenberg and Anna Xambó and Tom Mitchell},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 month = {June},
 note = {},
 numpages = {8},
 pages = {225--232},
 title = {TECHNO-UTOPIA: Music Emerging from Colliding Embedded AI Instruments with Radio Orchestras and their Archives},
 track = {Paper},
 url = {http://nime.org/proceedings/2026/nime2026_26.pdf},
 year = {2026}
}