Associate Researcher
Ph.D. Researcher (alumni)
Biography:
Ivan Franco started is research path by 1995 at GASA, an environmental research group dedicated to VR and computer simulations. During this time he also cultivated his passion for music, playing drums in several rock bands. From the combination of these two interests he began a self-taught exploration of computer music. Frustrated with the lack of physical engagement, he turned to HCI studies to rethink physical interfaces in media art performances, later pursuing his Master in Digital Arts at Pompeu Fabra University, where he developed his own electronic music instruments and presented work at relevant electronic art festivals.
In 2002 he was invited to join YDreams to manage the company’s Research and Development lab, where he would further explore is knowledge in the areas of user interface design and ubiquitous computing. During this time YDreams became one of the most notorious award-winning Portuguese tech companies, featured in Wired, CNBC and The Economist. He won several awards and has been an invited speaker in many universities, corporate events and media festivals. He has recently completed his PhD in Music Technology at IDMIL / McGill University.
Research Statement:
My research is related to the design of new Digital Music Instruments, particularly new architectures using embedded computing.
I am responsible for the development of Prynth, a hardware and software framework using the Raspberry Pi single-board computer and Supercollider (for more information click the link below).
Research Areas:
Projects
Publications:
- Franco, I., Wanderley, M. M. (2016). The Mitt: Case Study in the Design of a Self-contained Digital Music Instrument. In Proceedings of the 12th International Symposium on Computer Music Multidisciplinary Research. São Paulo, Brazil.
- Lamontagne, V., Martinucci, M., Salter, C., Hattwick, I., Franco, I., Giordano, M., Egloff, D., Wanderley, M. (2015). The Ilinx Garment: Whole-body Tactile Experience in a Multisensorial Art Installation. In 21st International Symposium on Electronic Art. Vancouver, Canada.
- Franco, I., Wanderley, M. M. (2015). Practical Evaluation of Synthesis Performance on the BeagleBone Black. In Proceedings of the 2015 International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME2015). Baton Rouge, LA, USA.
- Giordano, M., Hattwick, I., Franco, I., Egloff, D., Lamontagne, V., TeZ, T., Salter and Marcelo Wanderley, C. (2015). Design and Implementation of a Whole-Body Haptic Suit for Ilinx, a Multisensory Art Installation. In Proceedings of the SMC Conference. Maynooth, Ireland.
- Hattwick, I., Franco, I., Giordano, M., Egloff, D., Lamontagne, V., Arawjo, I., Martinucci, M., Salter, C., Wanderley, M. M. (2015). Composition Techniques for the Ilinx Vibrotactile Garment. In Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference. Denton, TX, USA.
- Franco, I. (2005). The AirStick: A Free-gesture Controller Using Infrared Sensing. In Proceedings of the 2006 International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME 2006) (pp. 248–249). Vancouver, Canada.
- Hattwick, I., Franco, I., Wanderley, M. M. (2017). The Vibropixels: A Scalable Wireless Tactile Display System. In Proc. of the International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCII). Vancouver, BC, Canada.
- Franco, I., Wanderley, M. M. (2017). Prynth: A Framework for Self-contained Digital Music Instruments. In Bridging People and Sound. CMMR 2016. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 10525 (pp. 357-370). Aramaki, M., Kronland-Martinet, R., Ystad, S. (Eds.). Springer.São Paulo, Brazil.
- Tom, A., Venkatesan, H., Franco, I., Wanderley, M. M. (2019). Rebuilding and Reinterpreting a Digital Musical Instrument – The Sponge. In Proceedings of the 2019 International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME 2019). Porto Alegre, Brazil.
- Franco, I. (2019). A framework for embedded digital musical instruments. In McGill University. Montreal, Canada.
- Calegario, F., Tragtenberg, J., Wang, J., Franco, I., Meneses, E. A. L., Wanderley, M. M. (2020). Open Source DMIs: towards a replication certification for online shared projects of digital musical instruments. In Proc. of the International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCII) (pp. 14). Copenhagen, Denmark.
- Calegario, F., Wanderley, M., Tragtenberg, J., Wang, J., Sullivan, J., Meneses, E., Franco, I., Kirkegaard, M., Bredholt, M., Rohs, J. (2020). Probatio 1.0: collaborative development of a toolkit for functional DMI prototypes. In Proceedings of the 2020 International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME 2020) (pp. 6). Birmingham, UK.