Debris: A playful interface for direct manipulation of audio waveforms

Frederic Anthony Robinson

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

• Year: 2021
• Location: Shanghai, China
• Article Number: 82
• DOI: 10.21428/92fbeb44.02005035 (Link to paper)
• PDF link
• Presentation Video

Abstract:

Debris is a playful interface for direct manipulation of audio waveforms. Audio data is represented as a collection of waveform elements, which provide a low-resolution visualisation of the audio sample. Each element, however, can be individually examined, re-positioned, or broken down into smaller fragments, thereby becoming a tangible representation of a moment in the sample. Debris is built around the idea of looking at a sound not as a linear event to be played from beginning to end, but as a non-linear collection of moments, timbres, and sound fragments which can be explored, closely examined and interacted with. This paper positions the work among conceptually related NIME interfaces, details the various user interactions and their mappings and ends with a discussion around the interface’s constraints.

Citation:

BibTeX Entry:

  @inproceedings{NIME21_82,
 abstract = {Debris is a playful interface for direct manipulation of audio waveforms. Audio data is represented as a collection of waveform elements, which provide a low-resolution visualisation of the audio sample. Each element, however, can be individually examined, re-positioned, or broken down into smaller fragments, thereby becoming a tangible representation of a moment in the sample. Debris is built around the idea of looking at a sound not as a linear event to be played from beginning to end, but as a non-linear collection of moments, timbres, and sound fragments which can be explored, closely examined and interacted with. This paper positions the work among conceptually related NIME interfaces, details the various user interactions and their mappings and ends with a discussion around the interface’s constraints.},
 address = {Shanghai, China},
 articleno = {82},
 author = {Robinson, Frederic Anthony},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.21428/92fbeb44.02005035},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 month = {June},
 presentation-video = {https://youtu.be/H04LgbZqc-c},
 title = {Debris: A playful interface for direct manipulation of audio waveforms},
 url = {https://nime.pubpub.org/pub/xn761337},
 year = {2021}
}