┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ THEORY BASE │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ • Posthumanism (Hayles) │
│ • Cyborg Theory (Haraway) │
│ • Actor-Network Theory (Latour, Born) │
│ • Ethno-organology / Digital Lutherie (Magnusson) │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ METHODOLOGICAL CORE │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ • Digital lutherie & system design │
│ • Algorithmic/ML-based generation │
│ • Data-driven mappings (direct, indirect, adaptive) │
│ • Real-time interaction & autonomy │
│ • Coding as compositional practice │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ CREATIVE PRACTICE │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ • Custom digital instruments │
│ • Generative systems & co-creative agents │
│ • Adaptive serialist mapping techniques │
│ • Gesture → sound case studies │
│ • Melodic/Prosodic contour synthesis │
│ • Compositions, performances, live coding │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
POSTHUMANISM (Hayles)
• Distributed agency
• Human as informational node
│
▼
Method: Autonomous systems, ML agents, generative mappings
CYBORG THEORY (Haraway)
• Hybrid identities
• Blurred human/machine boundaries
│
▼
Method: Hybrid interaction models, human–machine co-improvisation
ACTOR-NETWORK THEORY (Latour, Born)
• Symmetrical agency
• Networks produce creativity
│
▼
Method: Treat software, data, sensors, performer, code as equal actors
ETHNO-ORGANOLGY (Magnusson)
• Instruments shape musical thought
• Technology as aesthetic driver
│
▼
Method: Bespoke digital lutherie, Pure Data environments, custom engines
┌─────────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────────────┐
│ ANTHROPOCENTRIC │ → → → → → → │ CYBORG-CENTRIC │
└─────────────────────┘ └──────────────────────────┘
│ │
▼ ▼
Human controls tool Machine as co-creator
Traditional authorship Autonomous generative systems
Instrument virtuosity ML-influenced musical behaviour
Human intention ↔ Algorithmic behaviour ↔ Designed mappings
┌───────────────────────────┐
│ HUMAN AGENT │
│ Composer / Designer │
│ Curator / Improviser │
└───────────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌───────────────────────────┐ ◀───────────────▶ ┌───────────────────────────┐
│ MAPPINGS │ │ MACHINE AGENT │
│ • Serialist / adaptive │ │ • ML models │
│ • Data-driven / gestural │ │ • Algorithms & behaviours │
│ • Direct / indirect │ │ • Autonomous processes │
└───────────────────────────┘ └───────────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌───────────────────────────┐
│ SONIC OUTPUT │
│ Hybrid, fluid, co-authored│
│ Expressive & emergent │
└───────────────────────────┘
┌───────────────────────────┐
│ RAW DATA │
│ Gesture, motion capture │
│ ML latent space, triggers │
│ Algorithmic behaviours │
└───────────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌───────────────────────────┐
│ DATA PROCESSING │
│ Parsing, segmentation │
│ Filtering, smoothing │
│ Feature extraction │
└───────────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌───────────────────────────┐
│ MAPPING STAGE │
│ • Direct mappings │
│ • Data translation │
│ • Adaptive serialism │
│ • Generative constraints │
└───────────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌───────────────────────────┐
│ SYNTHESIS / DSP │
│ Pure Data engines │
│ Custom instruments │
│ Real-time interaction │
└───────────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌───────────────────────────┐
│ FINAL OUTPUT │
│ Melodic contour │
│ Prosodic phrasing │
│ Hybrid expressive results │
└───────────────────────────┘
┌────────────────────────────┐
│ MACHINE OUTPUT │
│ Statistical / local-coherent│
│ Lacks long-term structure │
└────────────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ LISTENABILITY GAP │
│ Weak contour, limited nuance │
│ Complex but fatiguing output │
└──────────────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ HUMAN CURATION & SYSTEM TUNING │
│ • Mapping design │
│ • Adaptive serialist techniques │
│ • Phrasing & prosodic modelling │
│ • Selection & refinement │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ FINAL COMPOSITION │
│ Hybrid musical expressivity │
│ Co-authored human–machine │
│ Improved contour & flow │
└──────────────────────────────┘
┌───────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────┐
│ THEORY │ METHOD │ OUTPUT │
├───────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Hayles / Posthumanism │ Distributed-system design │ Autonomous behaviours in instruments │
│ │ Generative agents │ Hybrid textures, emergent structure │
├───────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Haraway / Cyborg │ Human–machine hybrid models │ Co-creative pieces, interactive works│
│ │ Real-time co-improvisation │ │
├───────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Latour / Born (ANT) │ Equal treatment of code, data │ Multi-agent aesthetic, networked │
│ │ sensors, performer │ processes audible in output │
├───────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Magnusson / Organology │ Custom instrument building │ Bespoke PD instruments / environments│
│ │ Mapping-focused lutherie │ Unique sonic vocabulary │
├───────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
│ ML Literature (Huang, │ Adaptive serialist techniques │ Improved phrasing, contour, flow │
│ Brion, Dhariwal etc.) │ Long-term structure handling │ Hybrid, expressive generative music │
└───────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────┘
December 2025 Simon Kilshaw.