On May 22, Jeroen Ermens performed at Muziekgebouw Eindhoven, presenting the results of his Open Culture Tech residency. He created a live experiment where he battles with his Hammond Organ against AI. Let’s look back on the course of his residency and the collaboration with design agency Bureau Moeilijke Dingen.

 

Jeroen Ermens is a musician who bridges the gap between traditional music and innovation through his mastery of the Hammond organ and synthesizers. He began his musical journey at the piano and soon discovered a fascination for the Hammond organ, an instrument with a character and dynamism all of its own. In recent years, he has devoted himself entirely to this instrument, fully embracing its energy and vulnerability. His performances are characterised by an intimate atmosphere, in which he loves to create a musical connection between himself, the band and the audience.

 

 

 

Signal Interference

 

For his residency within Open Culture Tech, Jeroen asked himself ‘What happens when the warm, analogue sound of a Hammond organ shares the stage with artificial intelligence?’ Through his residency, he created the live show Signal Interference, in which he not only takes on a musical battle with AI, but also investigates the possibilities for collaboration between man and machine. Will they clash? Will they merge? Or will they challenge and strengthen each other? That was the starting point of the show.

 

Because of that, Signal Interference is not a classical show or a traditional concert. It is a live experiment, a real-time improvisation, in which a self-developed AI acts as a digital bandmate. As Jeroen brings his organ to life, the AI reacts immediately, like a musical counterpart that helps determine the direction of the performance. 

 

During the show, well known hits were performed with plenty of space for Hammon organ solos, followed by solos generated by the AI and even parts where Jeroen and the AI jam together, resulting in a performance that is never the same twice. In between songs, Jeroen explained how the tech works and took the crowd on the journey of his residency with him. Jeroen even created a brand new song with input from the audience with AI, showing the endless possibilities.

 

The result? A raw, unpredictable and compelling dialogue between soul and algorithm. Between man and machine. Between a professional musician and AI. And the crowd? They loved witnessing the experiment and seeing what an AI can do, but were also secretly relieved that the AI was no match for Jeroen’s amazing sound.

 

 

 

 

Technical set up

 

In order for Jeroen to be able to battle with AI in real-time, the AI of course needed training (as do real professional bands and musicians in order to become as good as they are). To this end, Jeroen worked together with Bureau Moeilijke Dingen for the Open Culture Tech residency. In the months leading up to the live experiment, they provided the algorithm with hours and hours of Hammond organ solos, in order for the AI to learn about the characteristics of the instrument. For every song performed on stage, the AI received no less than one hour of input to draw inspiration from. It learned to recognise rhythms and beats, slick synth lines and grooving piano chops.

 

During the performance, Jeroen and his Hammon organ sat centre stage, accompanied by a drummer, guitarist and a singer. On the right sight of the stage ‘sat’ the AI, visualised via a large screen and coloured lights that indicated what the AI was doing: red lights indicated the AI was listening to Jeroen, green lights indicated the AI was processing the input from the Hamond organ and when the lights turned blue, the AI started to play its newly made solo. 

 

Jeroen developed this project not only as a performer, but also as a pioneer. The entire process, from AI scripts and presets to light and sound synchronisation, was documented and will be shared via the Open Culture Tech platform. This also makes the performance a use case: a blueprint for other creators who wish to experiment with AI on stage.

In this way, Signal Interference contributes not only to artistic renewal, but also to knowledge-sharing and innovation across the broad field of music and the performing arts.

Curious to read more about the technical aspects? We wrote another blog about it!