NIME 2026 wrap-up

NIME 2026 in London has wrapped up, and it was a big week for the ANU Sound, Music and Creative Computing Lab (SMCClab). We went into the conference with a full program of workshops, papers, posters, and a concert performance, and it was amazing to see it all come together.

The week kicked off with the Future NIME Leaders Workshop, a new initiative to bring together NIMErs who want to contribute to the community beyond submitting and reviewing papers.

Charles presented Opening the Design Space: Two Years of Performance with Intelligent Musical Instruments, reflecting on two years of playing intelligent musical instruments built with the IMPSYpi platform. A point of discussion was how we can learn to perform with intelligent instruments and how our performances practices can interweave with changing AI models as well as instrument designs.

Pia van Gelder presented her literature review Histories of the Schmitt Trigger in Handmade Electronic Instruments for Making Sound in the Arts in the poster sessions, and Hongzhe Zhu’s A Web Interface for Real-Time Interaction with Machine Learning in Musical Performance (with Charles) featured in the poster program as well.

As always, the concert performances are a highlight at NIME. Yichen Wang and Charles performed 回溯: Co-constructing a Dual Feedback Apparatus at the Friday night concert, a duet built around two AI-driven feedback musical instruments, with the two performers facing each other across their instruments. This was so exciting to perform live for the NIME audience after our many performances in Canberra throughout 2025 and 2026.

Thanks to everyone who came along to our sessions and performances, and to the NIME 2026 organisers for a great conference. If you want to try the work Charles has been talking about, IMPSY is now available as an AUv3 MIDI effect and a web application. With these new ways to use IMPSY, it’s easier than ever to get hands-on with real-time, small-data AI in musical interaction.