Towards a perceptual framework for interface design in digital environments for timbre manipulation

Sean Soraghan, Alain Renaud, and Ben Supper

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract:

Many commercial software applications for timbre creation and manipulation feature an engineering-focused, parametric layout. This paper argues the case for a perceptually motivated approach to interface design in such tools. `Perceptually motivated' in this context refers to the use of common semantic timbre descriptors to influence the digital representation of timbre. A review is given of existing research into semantic descriptors of timbre, as well as corresponding acoustic features of timbre. Discussion is also given on existing interface design techniques. The perceptually motivated approach to interface design is demonstrated using an example system, which makes use of perceptually relevant mappings from acoustic timbre features to semantic timbre descriptors and visualises sounds as physical objects.

Citation:

Sean Soraghan, Alain Renaud, and Ben Supper. 2016. Towards a perceptual framework for interface design in digital environments for timbre manipulation. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.1176129

BibTeX Entry:

  @inproceedings{Soraghan2016,
 abstract = {Many commercial software applications for timbre creation and
manipulation feature an engineering-focused, parametric layout. This paper argues
the case for a perceptually motivated approach to interface design in such tools.
`Perceptually motivated' in this context refers to the use of common semantic
timbre descriptors to influence the digital representation of timbre. A review is
given of existing research into semantic descriptors of timbre, as well as
corresponding acoustic features of timbre. Discussion is also given on existing
interface design techniques. The perceptually motivated approach to interface
design is demonstrated using an example system, which makes use of perceptually
relevant mappings from acoustic timbre features to semantic timbre descriptors
and visualises sounds as physical objects.},
 address = {Brisbane, Australia},
 author = {Sean Soraghan and Alain Renaud and Ben Supper},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.1176129},
 isbn = {978-1-925455-13-7},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 pages = {413--418},
 publisher = {Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University},
 title = {Towards a perceptual framework for interface design in digital environments for timbre manipulation},
 track = {Papers},
 url = {http://www.nime.org/proceedings/2016/nime2016_paper0081.pdf},
 year = {2016}
}