Out-of-Control Feedback Systems and Collaborative Influence with the Instrumentalist Mixer Feedback Transmutation System

Nolan Hildebrand; Timothy Roth

Out-of-Control Feedback Systems and Collaborative Influence with the Instrumentalist Mixer Feedback Transmutation System

Abstract:

This paper explores a novel live interactive electroacoustic system Instrumentalist Mixer Feedback Transmutation (IMFT) (formally called the ANONYMIZED) [1]. IMFT occurs when an instrumentalist is patched into a mixing board with feedback loops. The instrumentalist interacts and influences the mixer’s feedback together with another performer playing the mixer. In this system, a chaotic, out-of-control relationship can be formed where the output of the mixer and the gestures from the mixer performer can be in battle with the input from the instrumentalist and vice-versa. After a brief historical contextualization of mixer feedback (a.k.a no-input mixer), the IMFT system and the complex relationships that form between human and machine are introduced. No-input mixer performance practices are discussed, followed by exploration of a single feedback loop to illustrate some of the mixer’s possible sound worlds and the nature of the instrument. Performance experiences from two recent compositions by the first author, generative open graphic score #1 (2023) and noise ritual (2023), are described in order to explore different performance interactions created by different instrumentalists working with the IMFT system. This practice-based research provides a useful case study examining the entangled relationship between performers and interfaces in feedback-based music systems and how innovative approaches to an established electronic practice can create new perspectives and collaborative opportunities.