A background to Hyperinstruments :
Tod Machover started the
Hyperinstrument Group at the MIT
Media Lab in 1986, with the goal of
designing expanded musical
instruments, using technology to
give extra power and finesse to
virtuosic performers. Such
hyperinstruments were designed to
augment guitars and keyboards,
percussion and strings, and even
conducting, and have been used by
some of the world's foremost
musicians such as Yo-Yo Ma, the
Los Angeles Philharmonic, Peter
Gabriel, and members of Pierre
Boulez's Ensemble
InterContemporain. Since 1992, the
focus of the Hyperinstrument
Group has expanded in an attempt
to build sophisticated interactive
musical instruments for
non-professional musicians,
students, and music lovers in
general.
Part of this work is focused upon the principle of
engaging participants in an active, kinetic
relationship with the musical process--be it with
composition, interpretation, improvisation, or some
new experience which can only exist with the aid of a
computer. Though great technological advances have
been made in music for sound production,
processing, and compositional aids, these tools have
far outpaced our ability to control them in musically
interesting ways. Musical interfaces, whether for
experts or novices, must possess a refined physical
control and an intuitive link with the sounds they
produce. A keyboard key which produces a giant
electronic gong will not "play" as well as an
instrument which requires a swing of the arm to
produce the same sound. Moreover, as the musical
elements we choose to offer for users' real-time
control become more abstract--concepts such as
tempo, embellishment, or rhythmic activity--the
question of interface becomes even more challenging.
Examples of "classic" Hyperinstrument projects are: