Video of the performance here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on54rcQTMd0
Performers: RHEA (robotic piano), Winfried Ritsch: constructor of the robotic piano, PD programmer.
Computer p  was composed for the Robotic Piano Workshop leaded by Peter Ablinger and Winfried Ritsch at the University of Huddersfield in October 2015. One of the aims of the piece is to "de-pianify" the piano (to make it sound as something else) by using flows of sound that gradually appear and disappear, going from niente to piano and again to niente. This somewhat utopic behavior (given the mechanical/percussive nature of the instrument) points nonetheless to its uniqueness as compared to previous keyboard instruments: being able to produce different amplitudes by touch velocity, especially piano (a 'computed' piano here).  
Considering machineness, the situation of having a machine (a piano) controlled by another one (the great RHEA), suggested strongly the idea to control them by means of a program (a virtual-machine), one that randomly outputs durations and change-rate of events in realtime from previously defined thresholds. This three-level machinery made me think of the listener as a machine-like entity, capable of artificial emotion by these artificial means.

Computer p (random version 25/10/15, 20:08)

Pablo Vergara