migsi (2015)

Minimally Invasive Gesture Sensing Interface for Trumpet

Developed in collaboration with Sarah Belle Reid, MIGSI (Minimally Invasive Gesture Sensing Interface) is an open source device for electronically augmenting the trumpet. The interface attaches to any B-flat or C trumpet and requires no permanent modifications to the host-instrument. It was designed first and foremost with accessibility in mind and seeks to strike a balance between minimal design and robust control. 

MIGSI uses sensor technology to capture gestural data such as valve displacement, hand tension, and instrument position, to offer extended control and expressivity to trumpet players. This data is transmitted wirelessly from MIGSI to the receiving computer, where it can be used in any number of ways: as an improvisational counterpart, for real-time effects processing, for control over computer generated visuals, and so on. 

This project builds upon the deep history of hyperinstrument and augmented trumpet design, including EROSS, the Cook/Morrill trumpet, Electrumpet, Mutantrumpet, and the Meta-trumpet.

MIGSI is compatible with software programs that receive serial data such as Max/MSP, Pure Data, ChucK, SuperCollider, Processing, etc. Originally, MIGSI was primarily used with Max/MSP or with an application that makes MIGSI compatible with any program that accepts Open Sound Control (OSC). Beginning in 2018, after a couple of years of use, we developed the MIGSI 2 Application, which provided MIGSI with a much more robust set of sound-making tools, audio processing tools, and general connectivity options, making it simple to use with MIDI, OSC, and control voltage to/from modular synthesizers.

MISGI’s hardware was developed by Sarah Belle Reid and myself at California Institute of the Arts, under the guidance of Dr. Ajay Kapur and Colin Honigman. Reid & I have continued to develop MIGSI’s software in the following years, independently of any institution.

MIGSI and the MIGSI 2 Application can be heard extensively on Sarah Belle Reid’s debut album Underneath & Sonder, which I co-produced and mixed.

For details regarding design considerations and hardware implementation see the MIGSI website, our contribution to the 2016 conference of New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME), as well as our 2019 publication about mapping strategies and temporal perception in MIGSI’s later software implementation. See this page for further discussion of the MIGSI 2 Application.