Diegetic Music - Game Sound Technology and Player Interaction: Concepts and Developments - page 71

mously, the user controls expressive parameters
like accentuation, tempo, and timbre. In Chapel's
case the music generation is based on fractal func-
tions which can be edited by the user to create
ever new melodic and polyphonic structures. El-
dridge (2002) applies self-regulating homeostatic
networks. Perturbation of the network causes
musical activity—a possible way to interact with
the system. The musical toy Electroplankton for
Nintendo DS offers several game modes (called
plankton types) that build up a musical domain
with complex structures, for example, a melodic
progression graph (plankton type Luminaria) and
a melodic interpreter of graphical curves (plank-
ton type Tracy). These can be freely created and
modified by the user.
A highly interactive approach that incorpo-
rates precomposed material is the Morph Table
presented by Brown, Wooller, & Kate (2007).
Music consists of several tracks. Each track is
represented by a physical cube that can be placed
on the tabletop: this activates its playback. For
each track, there are two different prototype riffs
represented by the horizontal extremes of the
tabletop (left and right border). Depending on
the relative position of the cube in-between, the
two riffs are recombined by the music morphing
techniques which Wooller & Brown (2005) devel-
oped. The vertical positioning of the cube controls
other effects. The tabletop interface further allows
collaborative interaction with multiple users.
This anticipates a promising future perspective
for music video games. Music making has always
been a collaborative activity that incorporates a
social component, encourages community aware-
ness, interaction between musicians, and mutual
inspiration. What shall be the role of music games
in this context? Do they set the stage for the per-
formers or function as performers themselves?
In contrast to conventional media players, which
are only capable of playing back prefabricated
pieces, music video games will offer a lot more.
They will be a platform for the user to experiment
with and on which to realize his ideas. And they

will be—they already are—an easy introduction
to music for everyone, even non-musicians, who
playfully learn musical principles to good and
lasting effect.

INtErActING WItH MUsIc:
A cONcLUsION

Music as a diegetic occurrence in interactive
media cannot be considered apart from interac-
tivity. But music being the object of interaction
is a challenging idea. It is worth taking up this
challenge. The growing popularity of music video
games over the last few years encourages further
exploration of the boundaries of interactivity and
to surmount them.
Music does not have to be static. It can vary in
its expressivity regarding the way it is performed.
Users can interact with virtual performers. These
do not have to play fixed compositions. Let them
ornament their melodies, vary or even improvise
on them. Why not just generate new music in real-
time while the game is played? Let the players exert
an influence on this. Or enable them to playfully
arrange or create their own music. Few of these
possibilities are applied in practice up to now.
Music is a living art that should be more than
simply reproduced, it should be experienced anew
each time. It is a temporal art and its transience is
an inherent component. This chapter has shown
how to raise music in interactive media above the
status of its mere reproduction. As a domain of
interactivity, it invites the users to explore, create,
and to have new musical experiences.

rEFErENcEs

AM3D (2009). AM3D [Computer software].
AM3D A/S (Developer). Aalborg, Denmark.