Quid Manumit – Freeing the Qubit for Art

09/04/2023

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by   Mark Carney, et al.

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This paper describes how to `Free the Qubit' for art, by creating standalone quantum musical effects and instruments. Previously released quantum simulator code for an ARM-based Raspberry Pi Pico embedded microcontroller is utilised here, and several examples are built demonstrating different methods of utilising embedded resources: The first is a Quantum MIDI processor that generates additional notes for accompaniment and unique quantum generated instruments based on the input notes, decoded and passed through a quantum circuit in an embedded simulator. The second is a Quantum Distortion module that changes an instrument's raw sound according to a quantum circuit, which is presented in two forms; a self-contained Quantum Stylophone, and an effect module plugin called 'QubitCrusher' for the Korg Nu:Tekt NTS-1. This paper also discusses future work and directions for quantum instruments, and provides all examples as open source. This is, to the author's knowledge, the first example of embedded Quantum Simulators for Instruments of Music (another QSIM).