Exploratory and Creative Properties of Physical-Modeling-based Musical Instruments: Developing a framework for the development of physical modeling based digital musical instruments, which encourage exploration and creativity

Digital musical instruments are developed to enable musicians to find new ways of expressing themselves. The development and evaluation of these instruments can be approached from many different perspectives depending on which capabilities one wants the musicians to have.
This thesis attempts to approach development and evaluation of these instruments with the notion that instruments today are able to facilitate the creative process that is so crucial for creating music. The fundamental question pursued throughout the thesis is how creative work processes of composers of electronic music can be supported and even challenged by the instruments they use. What is it that makes one musical instrument more creatively inspiring than another, and how do we evaluate how well it succeeds?
In order to present answers to these questions, the thesis focusses on the sound synthesis technique of physical modeling. I investigate how various control elements such as explorability, mapping, intuitiveness, perceived causality, physicality, unpre- dictability, accuracy, connectivity, freedom and constraints can affect the overall cre- ative potential of a physical modeling based musical instrument.
Initially, an interface for creative and exploratory control of physical models is developed leading to the formulation of a framework, that is explored throughout the thesis. This is followed by an investigation into the work process of composers of electronic music with special focus on creativity. Several instruments are then developed in order to concretize and improve the aforementioned framework. Finally, the thesis implements two methods for evaluating musical instruments with a focus on creativity. Both methods emphasize the importance of musical context.