Hybrid Violin Performance
Seth Dominicus Thorn · 2020
My augmented violin is a personal instrument consisting of an acoustic violin, realtime signal processing, a custom sensor glove, and a violin shoulder rest embedded with voice coils for haptic feedback. Feature construction in software is not model-based but built by abductive experimentation---continuously refined by trial and error. My approach to movement analysis is not based on classifying formalized styles of bowing but on continuous tracking of non-tokenized movement and gesture. These techniques are co-developed with novel sonification methods ad libitum, conditioning the performance media without schematizing possible gestures a priori. Furthermore, ongoing development of the instrument, which includes novel haptic feedback elements, effectively symmetrizes sensory feedforward and feedback paths---the enactive loop between action and perception---yielding refined instrumental dynamics, yet the signal processing decisions entail no claim to universality or scientific validity. I improvise with this instrument in live performance, unfurling its possibilities and resingularizing my technique.