LIMITER: A Gamified Interface for Harnessing Just Intonation Systems

TL;DR

LIMITER is a gamified digital instrument designed to simplify the use of microtonal and just intonation sounds, making these complex musical systems more accessible and expressive through an intuitive interface.

Contribution

The paper introduces LIMITER, a novel gamified interface that facilitates easier exploration and performance of microtonal and just intonation sounds in Western music.

Findings

Preliminary evaluation suggests increased creativity in users.

Interface effectively simplifies complex microtonal concepts.

User engagement improves with gamified controls.

Abstract

This paper introduces LIMITER, a gamified digital musical instrument for harnessing and performing microtonal and justly intonated sounds. While microtonality in Western music remains a niche and esoteric system that can be difficult both to conceptualize and to perform with, LIMITER presents a novel, easy to pickup interface that utilizes color, geometric transformations, and game-like controls to create a simpler inlet into utilizing these sounds as a means of expression. We report on the background of the development of LIMITER, as well as explain the underlying musical and engineering systems that enable its function. Additionally, we offer a discussion and preliminary evaluation of the creativity-enhancing effects of the interface.