People
Members and collaborators
About the lab
The Augmented Instruments Laboratory is jointly affiliated between the Dyson School of Design Engineering at Imperial College London and the Centre for Digital Music (C4DM) at Queen Mary University of London. From 2023 onward, all new PhD students and postdocs will join from Imperial, and the team will work together across institutions.
We regularly recruit new PhD students and postdocs to the lab. Please keep an eye on the Augmented Instruments Lab Twitter feed for announcements, or get in touch directly.
Members
Prof Andrew McPherson
Chair in Design Engineering and Music, Imperial College London (from January 2023)
Professor of Musical Interaction, Queen Mary University of London
Education: S.B. Music, S.B. Electrical Engineering, MIT; M.Eng. Electrical Engineering, MIT; Ph.D. Music Composition, U. Penn. 2009; Postdoc Drexel University MET-lab 2009-2011
Interests: Composition, actuated instruments, viola, piano, embedded audio systems
Dr Jacob Harrison
Postdoctoral Research Assistant
Education: BSc Music Technology, University of York; MSc by Research Electronic Engineering, University of York Audio Lab; PhD in Media and Arts Technology
Interests: Interface and instrument design, accessible music technology
Lia Mice
PhD student (2018-present)
Education: MMus in Creative Practice - Goldsmiths University of London
Interests: large instruments, instruments design, live performance and composition with digital musical instruments
Andrea Guidi
PhD student (2018-present)
Education: BSc Science & Technology of Musical Communication, University of Milan - Milan; MMus Electronic Music & Sound Technology, G.Verdi Conservatory of Music - Milan
Interests: new interfaces for musical expression, interactive art, augmented instruments
Charlotte Nordmoen
PhD student (2018-present)
Education: Ba(Hons) Costume for the Performing Arts, London College of Fashion; MA Material Futures, Central Saint Martins
Interests: materiality, tacit knowledge, embodiment, digital fabrication, craft practice
Courtney Nicole Reed
PhD student (2019-present)
Education: BMus Electronic Production & Design, Berklee College of Music; MSc Computer Science, Queen Mary University of London
Interests: Singing voice and vocal physiology, embodiment, intention and adaptation in performance, biosignals, expressive interfaces
Nicole Suzanne Robson
PhD student (2019-present)
Education: BMus Music, King's College London, MMus Sonic Arts, Goldsmiths University of London
Interests: Sound art, aural architecture, perception, engagement, composition
Adan L. Benito
PhD student (2019-present)
Education: Telecommunications Engineer - MSc Radio Communications (University of Cantabria), MSc Sound and Music Computing (Queen Mary University of London)
Interests: instrument design, guitar making, end-to-end audio transformations, expressive control of sound synthesis, embedded audio
Andrea Martelloni
PhD student (2019-present)
Education: BSc Musical Informatics, University of Milan, MSc Sound and Vibration Studies, University of Southampton
Interests: augmented guitars, augmented percussion, machine learning for real-time DSP, acoustic fingerstyle guitar, obscure jazz
Eevee Zayas
PhD student (2020-present)
Education: BSc Engineering Product Design, London South Bank University
Interests: disability, musical instrument design
Lewis Wolstanholme
PhD student (2020-present)
Education: BMus Music, Goldsmiths University of London & MMus Composition Goldsmiths University of London
Interests: Physical modelling synthesis & deep learning
Teresa Pelinski
PhD student (2021-present)
Education: BSc Physics, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid & MSc Sound and Music Computing, Pompeu Fabra University
Interests: digital lutherie, expressive digital instruments, generative musical systems, deep learning
Franco Caspe
PhD student (2021-present)
Education: Electronic Engineering (UTN FRBB) - MsC Image Processing and Computer Vision (EMJMD IPCV)
Interests: musical expression, augmented instruments, synthesis models, deep learning, real time systems, maker culture, analog photography
Jordie Shier
PhD student (2022-present)
Education: BSc Combined Computer Science and Music, University of Victoria; MSc Interdisciplinary Computer Science and Music, University of Victoria
Interests: Audio synthesis, novel interfaces for synthesizers, deep learning for audio
Alumni
Dr Giacomo Lepri
PhD student (2017-2022)
Thesis: Play-Make-Believe: Discovering the Musical Values Inscribed into Digital Instruments
Digital musical instruments, cultural factors in music technology, research through art and design, sound installtion, electroacoustic composition and improvisation.
Dr Jack Armitage
PhD student (2016-2022)
Thesis: Subtlety and detail in digital musical instrument design
Musical instruments, composition systems, cognitive science, (post) human-computer interaction
Dr Giulio Moro
PhD student (2015-2019, co-supervised with Mark Sandler), Research Assistant (2017, 2019-2020)
Thesis: Beyond key velocity: continuous sensing for expressive control on the Hammond organ and digital keyboards
Touch on keyboard instruments, low latency audio and sensors, embedded devices, why-do-people-think-analog-is-better.
Dr Robert Jack
PhD student (2014-18), Postdoctoral Research Assistant 2019-20
Thesis: Tangibility and Richness in the Design of Digital Musical Instruments
Touch and musical instrument design, cross-modal perception, non-visual interfaces, sensorimotor feedback, haptics, percussion, strings and live electronics.
Dr Astrid Bin
PhD student (2014-2017)
Thesis: The Show Must Go Wrong: Towards an understanding of audience perception of error in digital musical instrument performance
Astrid was a PhD student in the Augmented Instruments Lab from 2014-17, where her research focused on the audience perception of error in DMI performance. After a postdoc in the Center for Music Technology and Expressive Machinery Lab at Georgia Tech she is now a Music Technology Researcher at Ableton in Berlin.
Dr Liam Donovan
PhD student (2013-18); RAEng Enterprise Fellow 2018-19
Thesis: Travelling Wave Control of Stringed Musical Instruments
Liam was a PhD student in the Augmented Instruments Lab from 2013-18, where he developed new techniques for vibration control of stringed musical instruments. During his PhD and a subsequent fellowship, he also contributed to the Bela low-latency audio platform.
Dr Chris Heinrichs
PhD student (2012-17)
Thesis: Human Expressivity in the Control and Integration of Computationally Generated Audio
Chris was a PhD student at the Augmented Instruments Lab from 2012-2017. His research focused on procedural audio and digital foley. He is now working as a sound designer in Malta.
Dr Laurel Pardue
PhD student (2012-16), Postdoctoral Research Assistant
Thesis: Violin Augmentation Techniques for Learning Assistance
Interface & instrument design, prototyping, expressive performance, instrument learning, violin, viola, Balinese gamelan.
Dr Duncan Menzies
PhD student (2011-15)
Thesis: Technological support for Highland piping tuition and practice
Duncan was a PhD student at the Augmented Instruments Lab between 2011-2015. During this time he developed a digital bagpipe chanter hardware and software system to assist in the process of teaching and learning the Great Highland Bagpipe.
Dr Fabio Morreale
Postdoctoral Research Assistant (2015-2018)
Fabio was a postdoctoral research assistant focusing on musical interface design and evaluation within the scopes of generative art and philosophy of technology. Fabio is currently Lecturer and Coordinator of Music Technology at the School of Music of the University of Auckland.
Dr Kurijn Buys
Postdoctoral Research Assistant (2016-2018)
Kurijn was a postdoctoral research assistant focusing on acoustic/electronic/digital instrument development, in particular he developed techniques for violin performace analysis based on sound source separation through electrodynamic pickups.
Dr Victor Zappi
Postdoctoral Researcher (2013-14)
Victor was a postdoc on the Hackable Instruments project, 2013-14. He went on to a Marie Curie Fellowship at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (Genova) and the University of British Columbia, and is now Assistant Professor at Northeastern University (Boston, USA). Victor is the co-creator of the D-Box hackable instrument.
Collaborators
Bela
The OHMI Trust
Ableton AG
BeagleBoard.org
Drake Music
Creative Technologies, Kiel
TouchKeys
