Discussion Group on Gesture Research in Music

			Virtual Musical Instruments

		So, what is a Virtual Musical Instrument (VMI)?

Here are three different definitions:

	1		Axel Mulder's 1994 article "Virtual Musical Instruments: Accessing the Sound Synthesis Universe as a Performer", considers a VMI as an instrument capable of mapping any type of physical gesture or mouvement to any class of sounds.

	2		Vesa Välimäki and Taio Takala's 1996 article "Virtual Musical Instruments - Natural sound using physical models" (Organised Sound 1(2): 75-86), considers a VMI from a sound synthesis perspective, mainly physical modelling techniques.

	3		Philippe Depalle et al. 1997 article "Intruments Virtuels: Les vertues du possible" (Résonance 12, Sept. 97: 5-8, IRCAM) and also Joseph Butch Rovan et. al "Instrumental Gestural Mapping Strategies as Expressivity Determinants in Computer Music Performance", consider a VMI as one in which the gestural interface is independent from the sound synthesis unit (mainly based on A. Mulder's and R. Vertegaal's previous work).

Apart from these definitions, other very interesting articles/reports on virtual instruments include:

Tod Machover's "Hyperinstruments - a progress report 1987 - 1991" (tech. rep., Massachusetts Institut of Technology, 1992); ""Classic" hyperinstruments - 1986-1992 - a composer's approach to the evolution of intelligent musical instruments" and "The Brain Opera and active music", among other articles, show his group's research on hyperinstruments and creative expression.
Claude Cadoz's work on instrumental gesture and force feedback devices has been presented in a number of articles, including: "Instrumental gesture and musical composition" (ICMC'88, pp 1 - 12); "Le geste canal de communication homme-machine. La communication «instrumentale»" (Sciences Informatiques, 13(1): 31-61, 1994); and "A modular feedback keyboard design" (CMJ, 14(2): 47-51, 1990).
Axel Mulder's research on gestural capture and his detailed home-page and bibliography about the subject. Check out his latest paper "Empty-handed Gesture Analysis in Max/FTS", presented at the KANSEI workshop on Musical Emotion.
Suggest other examples here...