Really cool work! They composed a simple melodic fragment and had numerous violinists play it with electric violins. They then had them use noise-cancelling headphones and selectively fed them only a couple collabrators' violin playing. They then blocked them from sight of the others, introduced delays, switched whose playing they could hear.<p>The implications here are pretty fascinating. Do humans conform to the average of others' playing, or do they pick one out (it's probably the latter)? Do they attempt to enforce "correctness" onto their own playing, or do they slow down/speed up to prioritize "unison" with others?<p>I know from playing in musical ensembles for years, each musician has their own approach. Some are confident and self-righteous, they really "sing out" and put their intonation and timing into the fore. Other musicians are blenders, they do very well solo but their main goal is to blend in perfectly with their neighbors. Then there are shy people, who try to hide in the background and blend in, and they don't want their voice heard.<p>The actual technical aspects of music are very precise, and yet we have this layer of artistry which is adapting to delays, improperly tuned things, or even improvisatory, stylistic flourishes. I love it! It's an artistic math, it's a mathematical manipulation of artistic objects.