Artificial Intelligence in Music – A ‘Do It Yourself’ Approach
Motivated by the desire to create, Bertolt Meyer embarked on a mission to transform his prosthetic hand into an extension of his modular synthesiser.
With one arm that functioned naturally and the other, a prosthetic replacement, he noticed a reduced expressive ability in the prosthetic arm when using his modular synthesizer. Although excellent in many other functions, the arm was not as responsive as necessary for the minute twists and subtle teases needed when adjusting the effects and inputs on his hardware. Rather than face a disheartening defeat, Bertolt decided to invent something quite remarkable…
The Process:
By taking apart an old, disused prosthetic hand, he noticed a point in the circuitry which sparked an idea. He used this part of the circuit to measure the output voltage on the electrodes in the arm that received signals from his brain. The voltage was too small to be recognised effectively by his synthesiser but fortunately, he found a piece of musical hardware in his repertoire that was able to convert the electronic signal from his arm into a larger voltage signal that could be interpreted by the synthesiser. With the help of the good people at Koma Elektronik, he was able to design a whole new circuit board that meant the signal he sent from his brain to his arm (i.e. ‘move left index finger’) would be received as a command to change an input or effect on his synthesiser. By plugging his newly created circuit board into the end of his prosthetic arm, he was able to send signals from his brain that controlled different aspect of his synthesiser. Thus, he created a device that allowed him to control sounds and effects purely through mental cognition, without having to lift a finger.
What does Artificial Intelligence mean for music production?
The initial interpretation of this is indeed ground-breaking. It seems for the first time; we have the capacity express music straight from its mental source. One could only assume this to be a clearer, less diluted translation from the mind to the outward world, something people have often theorised about.
In our current epoch, mentioning ‘Artificial Intelligence’ is becoming somewhat of a trigger phrase, often with negative implications. However, this new invention sheds some optimistic light on the potential of AI integration in music and provide inspiration for those who have ever considered the possibility, or now wish to. Producing music instantly from the mental conception rather than the physical action of say, turning a knob; would imply a quicker, more spontaneous musical expression and according to Bertolt, the creator, the process is “such a natural thing, requiring almost zero effort…”. Whilst he has habituated the process of sending these types of signals to his prosthetic arm, with practise we could fairly assume it would be this easy for anyone wishing to do the same, given the right equipment. Although currently unavailable to the general public, this step in biologically integrated technology offers encouraging prospects for the potential of future music technology. From this standpoint, a sense of great excitement seems worthy regarding the novel possibilities for musical expression and integrated AI technology. What we see here is a new way of producing music, even easier than the touch of a fingertip.
*Photo source: https://steemit.com/music/@guyfawkes4-20/the-impact-of-music-on-your-mind