Politics of Musical Interfaces: Ideologies and Digital Disenchantment

Abstract
This paper analyzes some of the actual tendencies for musical creation with music controllers laying emphasis on first, the ideologies of interface design through a “maximal versus minimal” dualism; and second, on the actual perception of the inflation of “the digital” which also finds its creative counterpoints in musical practices like controllerism. In the context of a diversity of cultural contexts and socio-political implications within our networked world, specific examples on the artistic use of musical interfaces are analyzed for understanding the profound implications of embracing a particular interface as creative partner. Under the hypothesis that our interfaces are “scripted” with ideologies, we focus our interest on the relevance of understanding their political values as a way of resistance against the actual situation of digital super-abundance and commodification.