Andrew McPherson
@apmcpherson.bsky.social
Professor in Design Engineering and Music, Imperial College London. Researcher, composer, violist, engineer, instrument designer.
Leader of the Augmented Instruments Laboratory instrumentslab.org.
Co-founder and director of Bela.io.
Leader of the Augmented Instruments Laboratory instrumentslab.org.
Co-founder and director of Bela.io.
Just published: the second edition of the Audio Effects textbook by Josh Reiss and me. Featuring new material, including on phase vocoders, spatial audio, and practical topics in audio programming, plus updated code examples. www.routledge.com/Audio-Effect...
Audio Effects: Theory, Implementation and Application
Audio effects are used pervasively in music performance and production, and the creation of new digital audio tools is a significant industry. They are also commonly used in game production, broadcast...
www.routledge.com
January 26, 2026 at 12:48 PM
Just published: the second edition of the Audio Effects textbook by Josh Reiss and me. Featuring new material, including on phase vocoders, spatial audio, and practical topics in audio programming, plus updated code examples. www.routledge.com/Audio-Effect...
Grieving for my home state of Minnesota again tonight, but also proud of the courage of Minnesotans. If only the US “leadership” class had 1% of the decency and moral clarity of ordinary citizens.
January 24, 2026 at 11:09 PM
Grieving for my home state of Minnesota again tonight, but also proud of the courage of Minnesotans. If only the US “leadership” class had 1% of the decency and moral clarity of ordinary citizens.
Reposted by Andrew McPherson
I'm recruiting a PhD student for autumn 2026 on a project on accessibility in musical instrument design, in partnership with disability arts charities OHMI and Drake Music.
Application deadline 15 February 2026. More info and contact details: liss-dtp.ac.uk/project/inst...
Application deadline 15 February 2026. More info and contact details: liss-dtp.ac.uk/project/inst...
Instrument design by and for disabled musicians: the roles of technical discourse and vernacular creativity - LISS DTP
PhD project summary: An estimated 16 million people in the UK live with a disability (DWP statistics 2023), of which 48% have mobility impairments and 25% have impaired dexterity. Traditional […]
liss-dtp.ac.uk
December 19, 2025 at 5:45 PM
I'm recruiting a PhD student for autumn 2026 on a project on accessibility in musical instrument design, in partnership with disability arts charities OHMI and Drake Music.
Application deadline 15 February 2026. More info and contact details: liss-dtp.ac.uk/project/inst...
Application deadline 15 February 2026. More info and contact details: liss-dtp.ac.uk/project/inst...
Where do the following quotes come from? (Hint: not from a NIME paper.)
"The format of the future will be interactive. It should be social."
"There’s not a right or a wrong answer. [Music is] not a problem to solve."
"The format of the future will be interactive. It should be social."
"There’s not a right or a wrong answer. [Music is] not a problem to solve."
January 19, 2026 at 10:54 PM
Where do the following quotes come from? (Hint: not from a NIME paper.)
"The format of the future will be interactive. It should be social."
"There’s not a right or a wrong answer. [Music is] not a problem to solve."
"The format of the future will be interactive. It should be social."
"There’s not a right or a wrong answer. [Music is] not a problem to solve."
I'm recruiting a PhD student for autumn 2026 on a project on accessibility in musical instrument design, in partnership with disability arts charities OHMI and Drake Music.
Application deadline 15 February 2026. More info and contact details: liss-dtp.ac.uk/project/inst...
Application deadline 15 February 2026. More info and contact details: liss-dtp.ac.uk/project/inst...
Instrument design by and for disabled musicians: the roles of technical discourse and vernacular creativity - LISS DTP
PhD project summary: An estimated 16 million people in the UK live with a disability (DWP statistics 2023), of which 48% have mobility impairments and 25% have impaired dexterity. Traditional […]
liss-dtp.ac.uk
December 19, 2025 at 5:45 PM
I'm recruiting a PhD student for autumn 2026 on a project on accessibility in musical instrument design, in partnership with disability arts charities OHMI and Drake Music.
Application deadline 15 February 2026. More info and contact details: liss-dtp.ac.uk/project/inst...
Application deadline 15 February 2026. More info and contact details: liss-dtp.ac.uk/project/inst...
Reposted by Andrew McPherson
I'd appreciate if any audio tech folks could help circulate this exciting call for a fully-funded PhD position working in multichannel audio design for galleries.
It's part of an ARC funded project 'From Noise to Signal: Improving Sonic Experiences in the Gallery'
www.unsw.edu.au/research/hdr...
It's part of an ARC funded project 'From Noise to Signal: Improving Sonic Experiences in the Gallery'
www.unsw.edu.au/research/hdr...
November 25, 2025 at 10:28 PM
I'd appreciate if any audio tech folks could help circulate this exciting call for a fully-funded PhD position working in multichannel audio design for galleries.
It's part of an ARC funded project 'From Noise to Signal: Improving Sonic Experiences in the Gallery'
www.unsw.edu.au/research/hdr...
It's part of an ARC funded project 'From Noise to Signal: Improving Sonic Experiences in the Gallery'
www.unsw.edu.au/research/hdr...
Do you teach in the area of sound or music interaction? Giacomo Lepri (University of Genoa) wants to hear from you! Take this survey and enter to win a Bela Gem Stereo: sondaggi.unige.it/index.php/39...
NIME Edu Academic
Before you decide whether to participate, it is important you understand the purpose of the study and what participation would involve. This page is intended to provide you with clear and complete information so that you may make a free and informed choice.
sondaggi.unige.it
November 25, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Do you teach in the area of sound or music interaction? Giacomo Lepri (University of Genoa) wants to hear from you! Take this survey and enter to win a Bela Gem Stereo: sondaggi.unige.it/index.php/39...
Bonkers that the University of Nottingham is planning to suspend its undergrad music courses. Cancelling music anywhere is a travesty, and Nottingham has such an impressive and standout department. A pointless self-own by short-sighted management. Sign the petition here! c.org/FTjbxY2vp7
We Can Make an Impact.
Stop the suspension of undergraduate music courses at The University of Nottingham
c.org
November 18, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Bonkers that the University of Nottingham is planning to suspend its undergrad music courses. Cancelling music anywhere is a travesty, and Nottingham has such an impressive and standout department. A pointless self-own by short-sighted management. Sign the petition here! c.org/FTjbxY2vp7
This is grotesque: the Trump regime wants to give 9 universities, including my alma mater MIT, a leg up on federal funding in exchange for their servitude. I have to hope MIT and the others have the integrity to tell them where to shove it. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...
Trump Offered Universities an Invitation for a Deal. Some See a Trap.
www.nytimes.com
October 3, 2025 at 4:27 PM
This is grotesque: the Trump regime wants to give 9 universities, including my alma mater MIT, a leg up on federal funding in exchange for their servitude. I have to hope MIT and the others have the integrity to tell them where to shove it. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...
Why, for the love of all things good and holy, do so many journals still require submissions in Microsoft Word format?
September 21, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Why, for the love of all things good and holy, do so many journals still require submissions in Microsoft Word format?
Reposted by Andrew McPherson
Great to have the opportunity to present a paper by @francisco-bernardo.bsky.social, myself, and @apmcpherson.bsky.social at DAFx 2025: "Impedance Synthesis for Hybrid Analog-Digital Audio effects". The work, led by Francisco, integrates digital systems into analog circuits bidirectionally.
September 6, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Great to have the opportunity to present a paper by @francisco-bernardo.bsky.social, myself, and @apmcpherson.bsky.social at DAFx 2025: "Impedance Synthesis for Hybrid Analog-Digital Audio effects". The work, led by Francisco, integrates digital systems into analog circuits bidirectionally.
Reposted by Andrew McPherson
AI music promised freedom from hard-coded rules that were needed in pre-ML approaches to music generation. No theory, no grammar, no bias — just pure music learned directly from data. Our new @tismir.bsky.social article tears down that myth.
transactions.ismir.net/articles/10....
transactions.ismir.net/articles/10....
Reductive, Exclusionary, Normalising: The Limits of Generative AI Music | Transactions of the International Society for Music Information Retrieval
transactions.ismir.net
September 6, 2025 at 7:51 AM
AI music promised freedom from hard-coded rules that were needed in pre-ML approaches to music generation. No theory, no grammar, no bias — just pure music learned directly from data. Our new @tismir.bsky.social article tears down that myth.
transactions.ismir.net/articles/10....
transactions.ismir.net/articles/10....
Looking forward to giving a keynote talk today at DAFX 2025 in Ancona. It's going to be ... different. Introducing my new conspiracy theory (ask at your own risk!).
September 5, 2025 at 7:29 AM
Looking forward to giving a keynote talk today at DAFX 2025 in Ancona. It's going to be ... different. Introducing my new conspiracy theory (ask at your own risk!).
The Dyson School of Design Engineering at Imperial College London is hiring a full-time electronics technician. Come join a wonderfully eclectic group of staff and students, and help us support great facilities and build cool stuff! Applications close 12 September: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOF152/t...
Technician at Imperial College London
Apply for the Technician role on jobs.ac.uk, the top job board for academic positions in higher education. View details and apply now.
www.jobs.ac.uk
August 13, 2025 at 10:48 PM
The Dyson School of Design Engineering at Imperial College London is hiring a full-time electronics technician. Come join a wonderfully eclectic group of staff and students, and help us support great facilities and build cool stuff! Applications close 12 September: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOF152/t...
Reposted by Andrew McPherson
Out now! GLOW for Magnetic Resonator Piano, chamber ensemble and electronics - delighted to be featured on @nmcrecordings.bsky.social
nmcrecs.lnk.to/Glow
@apmcpherson.bsky.social @cmcireland.bsky.social
nmcrecs.lnk.to/Glow
@apmcpherson.bsky.social @cmcireland.bsky.social
Xenia Pestova Bennett, Hard Rain Soloistensemble - Glow
Listen to Glow by Xenia Pestova Bennett, Hard Rain Soloistensemble.
nmcrecs.lnk.to
August 1, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Out now! GLOW for Magnetic Resonator Piano, chamber ensemble and electronics - delighted to be featured on @nmcrecordings.bsky.social
nmcrecs.lnk.to/Glow
@apmcpherson.bsky.social @cmcireland.bsky.social
nmcrecs.lnk.to/Glow
@apmcpherson.bsky.social @cmcireland.bsky.social
We're approaching the last 24 hours of the Bela Gem campaign. Check out all the campaign updates on technical details and stories from the Bela community. The campaign offers the lowest pricing and the earliest delivery, so this is the time to sign up! www.crowdsupply.com/bela/bela-ge...
Bela Gem Stereo and Multi
A high-performance audio and sensor system for the PocketBeagle 2
www.crowdsupply.com
July 30, 2025 at 4:39 PM
We're approaching the last 24 hours of the Bela Gem campaign. Check out all the campaign updates on technical details and stories from the Bela community. The campaign offers the lowest pricing and the earliest delivery, so this is the time to sign up! www.crowdsupply.com/bela/bela-ge...
Reposted by Andrew McPherson
New release alert! My new piece GLOW featuring @apmcpherson.bsky.social Magnetic Resonator Piano + Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble comes out this Friday on @nmcrecordings.bsky.social @prsfoundation.bsky.social pre-save link here nmcrecs.lnk.to/Glow
July 29, 2025 at 12:57 PM
New release alert! My new piece GLOW featuring @apmcpherson.bsky.social Magnetic Resonator Piano + Hard Rain SoloistEnsemble comes out this Friday on @nmcrecordings.bsky.social @prsfoundation.bsky.social pre-save link here nmcrecs.lnk.to/Glow
Bela Gem Multi just got more capable! Our latest Crowd Supply update describes the new features on DC-coupled audio inputs and PDM microphone support: www.crowdsupply.com/bela/bela-ge...
I/O & Parallel Processing
With this update we bring you some exciting news of extra features we have unlocked on Bela Gem Multi. The Multi has always supported DC-coupled audio outputs on eight of its ten channels. With our la...
www.crowdsupply.com
July 23, 2025 at 8:50 AM
Bela Gem Multi just got more capable! Our latest Crowd Supply update describes the new features on DC-coupled audio inputs and PDM microphone support: www.crowdsupply.com/bela/bela-ge...
New on the Bela Gem campaign: a look at running AI models on Bela, featuring Augmented Instruments Lab PhD student @tpelinski.bsky.social who explains her pybela package for exchanging data between Bela and python notebooks: www.crowdsupply.com/bela/bela-ge...
Prototyping With Neural Networks
There's growing excitement around running neural networks on embedded systems. As software libraries become more sophisticated and embedded computers more powerful, real-time machine learning on small...
www.crowdsupply.com
July 18, 2025 at 3:20 PM
New on the Bela Gem campaign: a look at running AI models on Bela, featuring Augmented Instruments Lab PhD student @tpelinski.bsky.social who explains her pybela package for exchanging data between Bela and python notebooks: www.crowdsupply.com/bela/bela-ge...
Update from the Bela Gem campaign: interviews with members of Studio Olafur Eliasson, who used Bela for sound in their latest installation, and with Halldór Úlfarsson, creator of the amazing halldorophone feedback instrument. Those and more projects here: www.crowdsupply.com/bela/bela-ge...
What People Are Building with Bela Right Now
Bela Gem is now officially funded and will be coming to you all soon! One of the best ways to understand what Bela Gem is capable of is to see how people are using it in the real world. This week, we...
www.crowdsupply.com
July 15, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Update from the Bela Gem campaign: interviews with members of Studio Olafur Eliasson, who used Bela for sound in their latest installation, and with Halldór Úlfarsson, creator of the amazing halldorophone feedback instrument. Those and more projects here: www.crowdsupply.com/bela/bela-ge...
Bela Gem (the ultra-low latency embedded audio platform) is 99.8% funded on Crowd Supply. Literally the next backer will take us over the line! Keep an eye on the campaign for a bunch of great updates over the next couple weeks: www.crowdsupply.com/bela/bela-ge...
Bela Gem Stereo and Multi
A high-performance audio and sensor system for the PocketBeagle 2
www.crowdsupply.com
July 14, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Bela Gem (the ultra-low latency embedded audio platform) is 99.8% funded on Crowd Supply. Literally the next backer will take us over the line! Keep an eye on the campaign for a bunch of great updates over the next couple weeks: www.crowdsupply.com/bela/bela-ge...
The latest from the Bela Gem campaign: profiles of Bela co-founder Robert Jack and instrument maker Rafaele Andrade whose 16-string cello "Knurl" runs SuperCollider on Bela: www.crowdsupply.com/bela/bela-ge...
Inside Bela: Meet the Team and the Community
To offer some insight into both the development of Bela Gem and its myriad applications, we have put together a series of personal interviews with both the founders of Bela as well as a few select art...
www.crowdsupply.com
July 12, 2025 at 9:25 PM
The latest from the Bela Gem campaign: profiles of Bela co-founder Robert Jack and instrument maker Rafaele Andrade whose 16-string cello "Knurl" runs SuperCollider on Bela: www.crowdsupply.com/bela/bela-ge...
A detailed look at the physical construction of the new Bela Gem: www.crowdsupply.com/bela/bela-ge.... Campaign running on Crowd Supply through 30 July.
A Detailed Look at Bela Gem Physical Construction
In this update (the first of many to come) we will take a detailed look at the Bela Gem hardware and the assembly of each product.
www.crowdsupply.com
July 8, 2025 at 6:53 PM
A detailed look at the physical construction of the new Bela Gem: www.crowdsupply.com/bela/bela-ge.... Campaign running on Crowd Supply through 30 July.
Just launched! Bela Gem is our new family of ultra-low-latency embedded audio boards based on PocketBeagle 2, with a quad-core 1.4GHz processor, 24/96 audio, 16-bit analog inputs. Comes in stereo and 10-channel versions. www.crowdsupply.com/bela/bela-ge...
Bela Gem Stereo and Multi
A high-performance audio and sensor system for the PocketBeagle 2
www.crowdsupply.com
July 2, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Just launched! Bela Gem is our new family of ultra-low-latency embedded audio boards based on PocketBeagle 2, with a quad-core 1.4GHz processor, 24/96 audio, 16-bit analog inputs. Comes in stereo and 10-channel versions. www.crowdsupply.com/bela/bela-ge...
Bela Gem is launching soon on Crowd Supply. This is the biggest overhaul of Bela since 2016, with a quad-core 1.4GHz processor, up to 10 channels in/out of 24bit/96kHz audio, and a brand new browser-based IDE. Subscribe to be the first to know when it launches: www.crowdsupply.com/bela/bela-ge...
Bela Gem Stereo and Multi
A high-performance audio and sensor system for the PocketBeagle 2
www.crowdsupply.com
June 30, 2025 at 9:39 AM
Bela Gem is launching soon on Crowd Supply. This is the biggest overhaul of Bela since 2016, with a quad-core 1.4GHz processor, up to 10 channels in/out of 24bit/96kHz audio, and a brand new browser-based IDE. Subscribe to be the first to know when it launches: www.crowdsupply.com/bela/bela-ge...