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Some reflections on the relation between augmented and smart musical instruments

Published: 12 September 2018 Publication History

Abstract

Augmented musical instruments (AMIs) consist of the augmentation of conventional instruments by means of sensor or actuator technologies. Smart musical instruments (SMIs) are instruments embedding not only sensor and actuator technology, but also wireless connectivity, onboard processing, and possibly systems delivering electronically produced sounds, haptic stimuli, and visuals. This paper attempts to disambiguate the concept of SMIs from that of AMIs on the basis of existing instances of the two families. We counterpose the features of these two families of musical instruments, the processes to build them (i.e., augmentation and smartification), and the respective supported practices. From the analysis it emerges that SMIs are not a subcategory of AMIs, rather they share some of their features. It is suggested that smartification is a process that encompasses augmentation, as well as that the artistic and pedagogical practices supported by SMIs may extend those offered by AMIs. These comparisons suggest that SMIs have the potential to bring more benefits to musicians and composers than AMIs, but also that they may be much more difficult to create in terms of resources and competences to be involved. Shedding light on these differences is useful to avoid confusing the two families and the respective terms, as well as for organological classifications.

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Cited By

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  • (2022)A Survey of Augmented Piano Prototypes: Has Augmentation Improved Learning Experiences?Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35677196:ISS(226-253)Online publication date: 14-Nov-2022
  • (2021)Exploring synergy in a mobile learning model for piano playing ornaments exercise with local musical heritageInternational Journal of Music Education10.1177/0255761421106634440:3(407-418)Online publication date: 11-Dec-2021
  • (2020)Touching the audience: musical haptic wearables for augmented and participatory live music performancesPersonal and Ubiquitous Computing10.1007/s00779-020-01395-225:4(749-769)Online publication date: 24-Mar-2020
  • Show More Cited By

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cover image ACM Other conferences
AM '18: Proceedings of the Audio Mostly 2018 on Sound in Immersion and Emotion
September 2018
252 pages
ISBN:9781450366090
DOI:10.1145/3243274
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected].

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 12 September 2018

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Author Tags

  1. Internet of Musical Things
  2. Smart instruments
  3. augmentation
  4. augmented instruments
  5. smartification

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  • Research-article
  • Research
  • Refereed limited

Funding Sources

  • H2020 Marie Sk?odowska-Curie Actions

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AM'18
AM'18: Sound in Immersion and Emotion
September 12 - 14, 2018
Wrexham, United Kingdom

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Overall Acceptance Rate 177 of 275 submissions, 64%

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Cited By

View all
  • (2022)A Survey of Augmented Piano Prototypes: Has Augmentation Improved Learning Experiences?Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35677196:ISS(226-253)Online publication date: 14-Nov-2022
  • (2021)Exploring synergy in a mobile learning model for piano playing ornaments exercise with local musical heritageInternational Journal of Music Education10.1177/0255761421106634440:3(407-418)Online publication date: 11-Dec-2021
  • (2020)Touching the audience: musical haptic wearables for augmented and participatory live music performancesPersonal and Ubiquitous Computing10.1007/s00779-020-01395-225:4(749-769)Online publication date: 24-Mar-2020
  • (2019)Smart Musical Instruments: Vision, Design Principles, and Future DirectionsIEEE Access10.1109/ACCESS.2018.28768917(8944-8963)Online publication date: 2019
  • (2019)An ubiquitous smart guitar system for collaborative musical practiceJournal of New Music Research10.1080/09298215.2019.163743948:4(352-365)Online publication date: 5-Jul-2019

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