Ever-shifting roles in building, composing and performing with digital musical instruments

Abstract

It is widely accepted that computational technologies shape the relationship of musicians, instrument builders and composers with music, affecting various socio-cultural realisms in music. In this article, I discuss in what ways music-making still emerges as a social construct, even as a result of the mutual cooperation with human musicians and AI-powered autonomous instruments. I argue that building, making, and performing with a digital musical instrument has undergone a gradual socio-technological change that has affected art, science, technology, culture and communities in general. I support my investigation through the current performance and composition practice of the autonomous AI-terity musical instrument.