We present an overview and initial results from a project bringing together orchestra conducting, e-textile material studies, costume tailoring, low power computing and machine learning (ML). We describe a wearable interactive system comprising of textile sensors embedded into a suit, low-power transmission and gesture recognition using creative computing tools. We introduce first observations made during the semi-participatory approach, which placed the conductor's movements and personal performative expressiveness at the centre for technical and conceptual development. The project is a two-month collaboration between the Verworner-Krause Kammerorchester (VKKO), technical and design researchers, currently still running. Preliminary analyses of the data recorded while the conductor is wearing the prototype demonstrate that the developed system can be used to robustly decode a large number of conducting and performative movements. In particular the user interface of the ML system is designed such that the training of the algorithms can be intuitively controlled by the conductor, in sync with the MIDI clock. CCS CONCEPTS• Human-centered computing → Interactive systems and tools.

This paper presents preliminary results from a study of pleated electronic textile (e-textile) sensors, focusing on prototyping and measuring electrical resistance of three knitted sensors. This work is part of a larger research project, investigating the interaction between body and e-textiles with a three-dimensional structure for creative performance applications. First, electrical properties of the pleated textile sensors were determined. Sensors were measured in a purpose-built low-cost recording device, which was set up to record electrical resistance, taken from the fabric while it was folded and unfolded. Different modes of connecting the samples to the microcontroller were also tested. Each sensor was tested three times with three different stretch lengths. The results show that one of the most significant factors to use knitted pleats as an input is the combination of yarns combined with the tension of the knitting machine.