Music Information Processing (also known as Music Information Research; MIR) involves the use of information processing methodologies to understand and model music, and to develop products and services for creation, distribution and interaction with music and music-related information. MIR has reached a state of maturity where there are standard methods for most music information processing tasks, but as these have been developed and tested on small datasets, the methods tend to be neither robust to different musical styles or use contexts, nor scalable to industrial scale datasets. To address this need, and to train a new generation of researchers who are aware of, and can tackle, these challenges, we bring together leading MIR groups and a wide range of industrial and cultural stakeholders to create a multidisciplinary, transnational and cross-sectoral European Training Network for MIR researchers, in order to contribute to Europe's leading role in this field of scientific innovation, and accelerate the impact of innovation on European products and industry. The researchers will develop breadth in the fields that make up MIR and in transferable skills, whilst gaining deep knowledge and skills in their own area of speciality. They will learn to perform collaborative research, and to think entrepreneurially and exploit their research in new ways that benefit European industry and society. The proposed work is structured along three research frontiers identified as requiring intensive attention and integration (data-driven, knowledge-driven, and user-driven approaches), and will be guided by and grounded in real application needs by a unique set of industrial and cultural stakeholders in the consortium, which range from consumer electronics companies and big players in media entertainment to innovative SMEs, cultural institutions, and even a famous opera house, thus encompassing a very wide spectrum of the digital music world.

RAPID-MIX brings together 3 leading research institutions with 4 dynamic creative industries SMEs and 1 leading wearable technology SME in a technology transfer consortium to bring to market innovative interface products for music, gaming, and e-Health applications. RAPID-MIX uses an intensely user-centric development process to gauge industry pull and end-user desire for new modes of interaction that integrate physiological human sensing, gesture and body language, and smart information analysis and adaptation. Physiological biosignals (EEG, EMG) are used in multimodal hardware configurations with motion sensors and haptic actuators. Advanced machine learning software adapts to expressive human variation, allowing fluid interaction and personalized experience. An iterative, rapid development cycle of hardware prototyping, software development, and application integration accelerates the availability of advanced interface technologies to industry partners. An equally user-centric evaluation phase assures market validation and end-user relevance and usability, feeding back to subsequent design cycles and informing ultimate market deployment. The RAPID-MIX consortium leverages contemporary dissemination channels such as crowd funding, industry trade shows, and contributions to the DIY community to raise awareness across the professional and consumer landscapes of novel interface technologies. Project output is encapsulated in an Open Source RAPID-API exposing application level access to software libraries, hardware designs, and middleware layers. This will enable creative partner SMEs to build a new range of products called Multimodal Interactive eXpressive systems (MIX). It also allows broader industries such as quantified self, and DIY communities, to use the API in their own products in cost effective ways. This assures the legacy of RAPID-MIX and marks its contribution to European competitiveness in rapidly evolving markets for embodied interaction technologies.