The Double Bass as Algorithmic Improvisation System: Redefining the Role of a Traditional Instrument Through Embodied Synergy with Embedded Electronics
What if you could manipulate sound by sound itself?
The double bass has a rich tradition as a solo and improvisational voice, yet its sonic palette remains bounded by its acoustic nature. This research explores how embedded electronics and algorithmic processing can expand that palette from within, transforming the double bass into an expressive improvisation system, while remaining rooted in the improvisational tradition.
The system analyses the bass sound in real time — pitch, volume, timbre, tempo, density, sustain — and uses this data to transform the signal according to compositional rules. The bass is the only sound source. There is no synthesis, no external input. Only the instrument, listening to itself and manipulating its own sound according to its own output.
The relationship between performer and technology is central. The software is not a tool the musician operates — it functions as a cognitive extension of the player, an extra-cognitive node that is inseparable from the instrument and the body. Instrument, software, rules and performance form a single, embodied whole. The toolset is the composition. Each performance determines its own outcome.
Results
Artistically, the output is a public performance series at Dropa House. Six musicians have been contacted, each representing a unique sonic challenge, to test the system's adaptability. An expert board will assess the system based on specific criteria (e.g. interaction intuitiveness, perceived unity of the AMI, musical expressivity, impact on improvisational vocabulary, etc.). An artistic portfolio of live recordings will document the results, presented on my YouTube channel, with performances also live-streamed. I will also present my work at the ARTICULATE festival in 2026.
Academically, research findings will be published in peer-reviewed journals (e.g., the Journal of New Music Research, the Computer Music Journal, or FORUM+) and presented at international conferences (NIME, ICMC, SMC). Internal presentations will occur at the Convergence seminar and ARTICULATE festival at Royal Conservatoire Antwerp.
Technical documentation and open-source release of the system architecture, algorithmic tools (Max/MSP/RNBO), and hardware implementation will be made publicly available on GitHub. This provides reproducible resources and theoretical context for researchers and students exploring augmented instruments and hybrid improvisation practices. The project includes pedagogical outreach through workshops on descriptors, sound manipulation, and live composition algorithms for students of live electronics, composition, and double bass during NextDoors and ARTICULATE.
