Playing with Feedback: Unpredictability, Immediacy, and Entangled Agency in the No-input Mixing Desk

Document Title

Playing with Feedback: Unpredictability, Immediacy, and Entangled Agency in the No-input Mixing Desk

Document Information

• Author: Tom Mudd
• Conference: CHI '23, April 23–28, 2023, Hamburg, Germany
• Research Areas: Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Music Technology, Creative Interaction
• Keywords: Feedback, Creative Interaction, Music Technology, Performance, No-input Mixing Desk

Research Background and Issues

• Issues or Challenges

  • Feedback practices in music and creative tools are rarely seen in digital music tools, despite being common in acoustic and electronic instruments.
  • Digital music tools often employ linear control mechanisms, lacking nonlinear dynamic processes, which may limit the depth of creative exploration.
  • The no-input mixing desk, as a feedback system, explores complex interactions, unpredictability, and tactility—characteristics that are often difficult to replicate in digital tools.

• Research Importance

  • Musical feedback provides a unique medium that helps musicians understand complex nonlinear interactions.
  • Investigating this interaction can further advance the understanding of HCI, particularly in creative domains.
  • The significance of nonlinear processes extends to other interaction design fields, such as game controllers and visual creation tools.

• Research Motivation and Related Work

  • The no-input mixing desk's inherently unpredictable nature offers an ideal case for discussing creative interaction and agency in musical tools.
  • The study aims to explore why musicians are drawn to uncertainty/nonlinear interactions and how similar principles can be applied to digital music and other domains.
  • The literature review covers various feedback music practices, such as guitar feedback, cello feedback, microphone-speaker coupling, and digital feedback synthesis techniques.

Solution

• Research Methods

  • The author conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 musicians who use no-input mixing desks.
  • The interviews explored why musicians chose the no-input mixing desk, how they dealt with its instability, and their actual interaction experiences during performances.
  • Thematic analysis was used to code and categorize the data, identifying three major themes: the joy of the unknown, immediacy, and similarity to acoustic instruments.

• Innovative Contributions

  • Focused on why uncertainty and complexity in creative interaction are appealing.
  • Proposed feedback as an effective method for tool design and managing complexity.
  • Discussed how feedback helps rethink the agency of musical tools for artists.

• Implementation Steps and Techniques

  • Conducted an in-depth study of the technical configuration of the no-input mixing desk, analyzing how its feedback loops influence adjustment functions (e.g., equalizers and volume knobs).
  • Investigated how nonlinear dynamic characteristics in the feedback process translate into complex yet immediate musical interaction experiences.

Research Results

• Specific Findings

  • The no-input mixing desk attracts musicians because it offers unknown sounds and behaviors, allowing continuous exploration and learning.
  • Emphasis on real-time responsiveness, sensitivity, and tactile feel makes it closer to the performance of acoustic instruments.
  • Comparisons with acoustic instruments demonstrate how digital tools can enhance creative interaction by mimicking nonlinear behaviors.

• Comparison with Existing Solutions and Advantages

  • The no-input mixing desk provides significant advantages over digital audio tools in terms of complexity, unpredictability, and immediacy.
  • Its interaction style is closer to the experience of acoustic instruments, enabling musicians to fully unleash their creativity.
  • It can inspire the development of digital tools with more exploratory and nonlinear control designs.

• Limitations and Future Directions

  • The author notes that while the no-input mixing desk offers a unique interaction method, its reliance on hardware may limit its application in digital tools.
  • Proposed a potential approach to combine low-latency digital feedback systems with nonlinear control characteristics for developing more immediate and tactile digital music tools.
  • In the HCI field, the study calls for further exploration of the potential of feedback and dynamic systems, including the design of digital painting, animation, and game interactions.

Conclusion

Using the no-input mixing desk as a starting point, this paper explores issues of uncertainty, complexity, and agency in creative interaction. Through musicians' experiences and technical analysis, it highlights feedback as both the core of creative interaction and an effective way to expand the design of digital tools. This research is not only significant in the field of music technology but also provides new perspectives and practical potential for HCI and digital design.