PERROTIN
Olivier
CNRS Researcher
PhD Thesis

Singing with hands:

Chironomic interfaces for digital musical instruments

This page provides all the documents related to the work conducted during this thesis. Click on the following links to navigate quickly through the page:

Manuscript

Abstract

This thesis deals with the real-time control of singing voice synthesis by a graphic tablet, based on the digital musical instrument Cantor Digitalis.

The relevance of the graphic tablet for the intonation control is first considered, showing that the tablet provides a more precise pitch control than real voice in experimental conditions.

To extend the accuracy of control to any situation, a dynamic pitch warping method for intonation correction is developed. It enables to play under the pitch perception limens preserving at the same time the musician's expressivity. Objective and perceptive evaluations validate the method efficiency.

The use of new interfaces for musical expression raises the question of the modalities implied in the playing of the instrument. A third study reveals a preponderance of the visual modality over the auditive perception for the intonation control, due to the introduction of visual clues on the tablet surface. Nevertheless, this is compensated by the expressivity allowed by the interface.

The writing or drawing ability acquired since early childhood enables a quick acquisition of an expert control of the instrument. An ensemble of gestures dedicated to the control of different vocal effects is suggested.

Finally, an intensive practice of the instrument is made through the Chorus Digitalis ensemble, to test and promote our work. An artistic research has been conducted for the choice of the Cantor Digitalis' musical repertoire. Moreover, a visual feedback dedicated to the audience has been developed, extending the perception of the players' pitch and articulation.

Multimedia appendices of the thesis

Examples of each Cantor Digitalis voice

Lyric voices Other voices Unreal voices Sea sounds Textures Percussions
Soprano
 Baby
 Zombie 1
 Foghorn
 Desert breeze
 Wood bells
Alto
 Child
 Zombie 2
 Seagull
 Pitched noise
 Ping pong
Tenor
 Bulgarian
 Zombie 3
 Wind 1
 Ring modulator
Bass
 Lion
 Zombie 4
 Wind 2
 Didjeridoo

Examples of automatic pitch corrections

Name Type Correction Setting Playback speed References
NoCorrection
 Audio None Normal Figure 4.1
Figure 4.4
Discrete
 Audio Discrete Normal Figure 4.1
Figure 4.4
DPW_A_normal
 Video
Audio		 DPW
Elastic		 A Normal Table 4.3
Figure 4.4
DPW_A_slow
 Video DPW
Elastic		 A Slow (x3) Table 4.3
Figure 4.4
DPW_B_normal
 Video
Audio		 DPW
Elastic		 B Normal Table 4.3
Figure 4.4
DPW_B_slow
 Video DPW
Elastique		 B Slow (x3) Table 4.3
Figure 4.4
DPW_C_normal
 Video
Audio		 DPW
Elastic		 C Slow Table 4.3
Figure 4.4
DPW_C_slow
 Video DPW
Elastic		 C Slow (x3) Table 4.3
Figure 4.4
Haken_D
 Audio Haken D Normal Table 4.3
Figure 4.4
Haken_E.wav
 Audio Haken E Normale Table 4.3
Figure 4.4
Haken_F
 Audio Haken F Normal Table 4.3
Figure 4.4

The Cantor Digitalis software and the Chorus Digitalis ensemble

The Cantor Digitalis software is provided on a dedicated website http://cantordigitalis.limsi.fr
Information about Chorus Digitalis can be found on this link.

Related publications

Journal papers

International conferences with proceedings

French speaking conferences with proceedings

French speaking conferences without proceedings

Scientific magazines

  • C. d'Alessandro, S. Delalez, B. Doval, L. Feugère, O. Perrotin (2019)
    Les instruments chanteurs
    Acoustique et Techniques : trimestriel d'information des professionnels de l'acoustique, 89, pp. 36-43.

Softwares

Awards

Grenoble Images Parole Signal Automatique laboratoire

UMR 5216 CNRS - Grenoble INP - Université Joseph Fourier - Université Stendhal