{"id":15077868,"date":"2026-03-26T20:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T00:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/seeing-sounds\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T05:46:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T09:46:41","slug":"seeing-sounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/seeing-sounds\/","title":{"rendered":"Seeing sounds"},"content":{"rendered":"

As one of the first students in MIT\u2019s new Music Technology and Computation Graduate Program,<\/a> Mariano Salcedo \u201925 is researching the intersection between artificial intelligence and music visuals.<\/p>\n

Specifically, his graduate research focuses on neural cellular automata (NCA), which merges classical cellular automata with machine learning techniques to grow images that can regenerate.<\/p>\n

When paired with a stimulus like music, these images can \u201cshow\u201d sounds in action.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis approach enables anyone to create music-driven visuals while leveraging the expressive and sometimes unpredictable dynamics of self-organized systems,\u201d Salcedo says. Through the web interface Salcedo has designed, users can adjust the relationship between the music\u2019s energy and the NCA system to create unique visual performances using any music audio stream.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want the visuals to complement and elevate the listening experience,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Last year Salcedo, the Alex Rigopulos (1992) Fellow in Music Technology and Computation, earned a BS in artificial intelligence and decision making<\/a> from MIT, where he explored signal processing in machine learning and how a classical understanding of signals can inform how we understand AI. Now he\u2019s one of five master\u2019s students in the Music Technology and Computation Graduate Program\u2019s inaugural cohort.<\/p>\n

The program, directed by professor of the practice in music technology Eran Egozy<\/a> \u201993, MNG \u201995, is a collaboration between MIT Music and Theater Arts<\/a> in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences<\/a>, and the School of Engineering<\/a>. It invites practitioners to study, discover, and develop new computational approaches to music. It also includes a speaker series that exposes students and the broader MIT community to music industry professionals, artists, technologists, and other researchers.<\/p>\n

Rigopulos \u201992, SM \u201994, is a video game designer, musician, and former CEO of Harmonix Music Systems<\/a>, a company he co-founded with Egozy in 1995. Harmonix is now a part of Epic Games, where Rigopulos is the director of game development for music.<\/p>\n

\u201cMIT is where I was first able to pursue my passion for music technology decades ago, and that experience was the springboard for a long and fulfilling career,\u201d says Rigopulos. \u201cSo, when MIT launched an advanced degree program in music technology, I was thrilled to fund a fellowship to help propel this exciting new program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Egozy is enthusiastic about Salcedo\u2019s work and his commitment to further exploring its possibilities. \u201cHe is a beautiful example of a multidisciplinary researcher who thinks deeply about how to best use technology to enhance and expand human creativity,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Salcedo has been selected to deliver the student address at the 2026 Advanced Degree Ceremony for the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. \u201cIt\u2019s an honor and it\u2019s daunting,\u201d he says. \u201cIt feels like a huge responsibility,\u201d though one he\u2019s eager to embrace. His selection also pleases Egozy. \u201cI am super excited that Maraino was chosen to deliver this year\u2019s keynote,\u201d he enthuses.<\/p>\n

Changing gears<\/strong><\/p>\n

Growing up in Mexico and Texas, Mariano Salcedo couldn\u2019t readily indulge his passion for creating music. \u201cThere are no bands in Mexican public schools,\u201d he says. While some families could pay for instruments and lessons, others like Salcedo\u2019s were less fortunate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always loved music,\u201d he continues. \u201cI was a listener.\u201d<\/p>\n

Salcedo began his MIT journey as a mechanical engineering student, applying to MIT through the Questbridge<\/a> program. \u201cI heard if you like engineering and science that attending MIT would be a great choice,\u201d he recalls. \u201cNerds are welcomed and embraced.\u201d While he dutifully worked toward completing his MechE curriculum, music and technology came calling after a chance encounter with an LLM.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was introduced to an LLM chatbot and was blown away,\u201d he recalls. \u201cThis was something that was speaking to me. I was both awed and frightened.\u201d After his encounter with the chatbot, Salcedo switched his major from mechanical engineering to artificial intelligence and decision making.<\/p>\n

\u201cI basically started over after being two thirds of the way through the MechE curriculum,\u201d he says. He learned about the possibilities available with AI but also confronted some of the challenges bedeviling researchers and developers including its potential power, ensuring its responsible use, human bias, limited access for people from underrepresented groups, and a lack of diversity among developers. He decided he might be able to change that picture.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought one more person in the field could make a difference,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

While completing his undergraduate studies, Salcedo\u2019s love of music resurfaced. \u201cI began DJ\u2019ing at MIT and was hooked,\u201d he says. While he hadn\u2019t learned to play a traditional instrument, he discovered he could create engaging soundscapes with technology. \u201cI bought a digital audio work station to help me make music,\u201d he continues.<\/p>\n

Egozy and Salcedo met in 2024 while Salcedo completed an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program<\/a> rotation as a game developer in Egozy\u2019s lab. \u201cHe was incredibly curious and has grown tremendously over a very short time period,\u201d Egozy says. Egozy became an informal, though important, mentor to Salcedo. \u201cHe brings great energy and thoughtfulness to his work, and to supporting others in the [music technology and computation graduate] program,\u201d Egozy notes.<\/p>\n

Salcedo also took a class with Egozy, 21M.385\/21M.585\/6.4450 (Interactive Music Systems), which further fed his appetite for the creativity he craved while also allowing him to indulge his fascination with music\u2019s possibilities. By taking advantage of courses in the HASS curriculum, he further developed his understanding of music theory and related technologies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI took a class with professor Leslie Tilley, 21M.240 (Critically Thinking in Music), which helped establish a valuable framework for understanding music making,\u201d he says, \u201cwhile a class like 6.3000 (Signal Processing) helped me connect intuition with science.\u201d<\/p>\n

Working across disciplines<\/strong><\/p>\n

While Salcedo is passionate about his music and his research, he\u2019s also invested in building relationships with his fellow students. He\u2019s a member of the fraternity Sigma Nu, where he says he \u201cfound a home and community.\u201d He also took a MISTI<\/a> trip to Chile in summer 2023, where he conducted music technology research. Salcedo praises the culture of camaraderie at MIT and is grateful for its influence on his work as a scholar. \u201cMIT has taught me how to learn,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Professors encouraged him to present his research and findings. He presented his work \u2014 Artificial Dancing Intelligence: Neural Cellular Automata for Visual Performance of Music<\/a> \u2014 at the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence<\/a> conference in Singapore in January 2026.<\/p>\n

Salcedo believes his research can potentially move beyond music visualization. \u201cWhat if we could improve the ways we model self-organized systems?\u201d he asks. \u201cThat is, systems like multicellular organisms, flocks of birds, or societies that interact locally but exhibit interesting behaviors.\u201d Any system, Salcedo says, where the whole is more than the sum of its parts.<\/p>\n

Developing the technology used to design his application can potentially help answer important ethical questions regarding AI\u2019s continued expansion and growth. The path to his work\u2019s development is both daunting and lonely, but those challenges feed his work ethic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s intimidating to pursue this path when the academy is currently focused on LLMs,\u201d he says. \u201cBut it\u2019s also important to explain and explore the base technology before digging into more nuanced work, which can help audiences understand it better.\u201d Knowing that he has the support of his professors helps Salcedo maintain excitement for his ideas. \u201cThey only ask that we ground our interests in research,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

His investigations are impacting his work as a musician. \u201cMy music has gotten more interesting because of the classes I\u2019m taking,\u201d he says. He\u2019s also interested in understanding whose music the academy and the world hears, exploring biases toward Western music in the canon and exploring how to reduce biases related to which kinds of music are valued.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe work we do as technologists is far less subjective than we\u2019re led to believe,\u201d he believes.<\/p>\n

Salcedo is especially grateful for the support he\u2019s received during his time at MIT. \u201cProgram faculty encourage a variety of pursuits,\u201d he says, \u201cand ask us to advance our individual aims rather than focusing on theirs.\u201d During his time in the graduate program, he notes with enthusiasm how often he\u2019s been challenged to pursue his ideas.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Salcedo wants people to experience the joy he feels working at the intersection of the humanities and the sciences. Music and technology impact nearly everyone. Inviting audiences into his laboratory as participants in the creative and research processes offers the same kind of satisfaction he gets from crafting a great beat or solving for a thorny technical challenge. Helping audiences understand his work\u2019s value fuels his drive to succeed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want users to feel movement and explore sounds and their impact more fully,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Source: News Boston \u2013 MIT<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mariano Salcedo \u201925, a master\u2019s student in the new Music Technology and Computation Graduate Program, is designing an AI to visualize and express music and other sounds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15080777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[199],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15077868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/15077868-output_-1_0.jpg",1920,1072,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/15077868-output_-1_0-300x168.jpg",300,168,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/15077868-output_-1_0-620x346.jpg",620,346,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/15077868-output_-1_0-768x429.jpg",768,429,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/15077868-output_-1_0-940x525.jpg",940,525,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/15077868-output_-1_0-1536x858.jpg",1536,858,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/15077868-output_-1_0.jpg",1920,1072,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/15077868-output_-1_0-998x665.jpg",998,665,true],"ignition_item":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/15077868-output_-1_0-670x446.jpg",670,446,true],"ignition_item_lg":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/15077868-output_-1_0-1340x894.jpg",1340,894,true],"ignition_article_media":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/15077868-output_-1_0-510x510.jpg",510,510,true],"ignition_minicart_item":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/15077868-output_-1_0-160x160.jpg",160,160,true],"profile_24":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/15077868-output_-1_0.jpg",24,13,false],"profile_48":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/15077868-output_-1_0.jpg",48,27,false],"profile_96":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/15077868-output_-1_0.jpg",96,54,false],"profile_150":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/15077868-output_-1_0.jpg",150,84,false],"profile_300":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/15077868-output_-1_0.jpg",300,168,false]},"author_info":{"display_name":"news.iNthacity","author_link":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/author\/atombo\/"},"category_info":"Travel<\/a>","tag_info":"Travel","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15077868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15077868"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15077868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15080776,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15077868\/revisions\/15080776"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15080777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15077868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15077868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15077868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}