We have been invited to showcase our work at the NIME conference! I am delighted that our contribution and presentation will be published at NIME2025:
The Walkable Instrument: Modular Patches as Entangled Environments in OpenSoundLab
What happens if a modular synthesizer patch is no longer constrained to a flat, rigid configuration, but can instead be copied infinitely (and at no expense) and arranged in midair all around the performer? The performance showcases two modular patch designs assembled in OpenSoundLab, a mixed-reality patching system for Meta Quest that was developed in previous research. This platform allows users to freely position basic sound modules (oscillators, samplers, sequencers, effects, etc.) throughout real-world environments.
A long-standing challenge in electronic-music performance—whether you’re working with hardware synths, modular rigs, software patches, or full DAW setups—is that the patch architecture and live tweaks remain opaque, even to expert listeners. The system is often too small, too cluttered by patch cables, or simply too complex and hidden in menus, sub-patches, or binary code to be grasped visually. When a musician plays a traditional keyboard or a self-built NIME-style instrument, the audience can readily perceive timing, effort, and skill. In classic synth-tweaking shows, however, such clear audiovisual cues are largely absent. OpenSoundLab resolves this by letting performers position a modular patch at any scale and in any arrangement within the stage space. Freed from rigging and gravity, a modular setup can expose its inner sonic architecture in three dimensions, with less-critical modulation oscillators tucked behind larger, more prominent elements. Multichannel components become visibly entangled around the performers, spreading out in front of—or even encircling—them to map the patch’s full sonic possibility space.
During the performance, Anselm Bauer will present two patches that illustrate this concept. Both pieces inhabit the realm of abstract glitch techno. The first features tightly defined sound structures laid out as a clearly readable tree of audio channels and modulations (see figure 2), while the second explores generative, self-modulating processes, resulting in an even more entangled, rhizomatic patch topology.
Text: Ludwig Zeller, Anselm Bauer
You can see the programme and announcement here:
https://nime2025.org/sessions/concert-5.html
About the NIME:
New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME), is an international conference about new musical interfaces, their artistic use and the technologies involved in building them. Researchers from all over the world share their knowledge and late breaking work during the conference. The conference started as a workshop at the CHI conference in 2001 and, since then, has been held annually around the world.
The theme of NIME2025 is entangled NIME. This theme recognises the multilayered contexts of activity and impact involved in music making with new technology. In an era where music creation and performance are increasingly intertwined with social, cultural, and environmental factors, entanglement emphasises how musical interfaces are not simply tools but active agents in the complex web of human and technological relationships. From personal expression to collective experiences, from creative spontaneity to long-term artistic evolution, entangled NIME seeks to explore how new musical interfaces shape, and are shaped by, the environments, communities, and individuals they engage.
Through this lens, we invite researchers, artists, and technologists to reflect on how musical interfaces not only respond to immediate user input but also evolve with the musician over time, adapt to diverse cultural practices, and dynamically interact with the broader societal and ecological landscapes. Whether it’s the integration of AI as a co-creator, the ethical considerations of sustainable design, or the incorporation of gestures and environmental factors into performance, the entangled NIME theme calls for deeper examination of the reciprocal and non-linear interactions that emerge between musicians, technologies, and the worlds they inhabit.
Source: https://nime2025.org/