Saying hi to everyone, long time no see.
I wanted to know if any music and computing and similar research topics have been undertaken in the past or currently by anyone over here towards their doctoral course work and thesis, and Renoise users obviously.
Yes @encryptedmind , am currently completing a phd in computer science with a focus on generative music applications, would be happy to talk!
(www.seas.upenn.edu/~halleyy)
Welcome back! Where have you been?
Thanks to @slujr for forwarding your contact @lightning. As one might expect it is a brilliant and intellectually diverse community we have here in these forums and it has grown and matured over the years, something that indeed humbles me a lot and I thankful that this place exists. 
Thank you for sharing your resume, let me go through it in depth.
I am currently in the process of getting enrolled in a PhD program in MIR/AI as a research focus option. I am still looking into other equally important topics before I settle for one for my proposal/thesis, it’s an intensive process especially with the topic selection and literature review. I would be very interested to know more about the whole experience and thought process during preparations and proposal writing from the perspective of someone such as yourself doing it at the moment, the insights to be gained are valuable indeed. I would also like to know your personal motivations and how you selected your Alma Mater. It would be also fun and informative to know about the dorm room experience and student facilities, for instance how you manage your sleep schedule and noise in the hallway or rooms. I got lots of questions but I can start with these for the time being.
@lightning I also read another post where you mention your extensive experience with MuseScore, I love MuseScore too. Maybe you could take a workshop and highlight some of your methods and work flow. What are the other tools you are currently using for both music and the thesis work? Generative music can become quite math heavy and algorithmic, so I would imagine you might be using the usual roster of tools such as MATLAB or Octave and C/C++ or Java etc. It would be great to know more about your research work as well. One’s thesis supervisor is a very important decision so maybe you could also mention how you chose your supervisor. Are you using established academic software tools such as Csound, PD, Faust etc as well? How much of Fourier transform/dsp related math do you envision for your current work?
Thanks for sharing your knowhow in advance!
Hi @lilith, thank you for the mention 
I was in EU and Middle East for the past 6 years working the corporate grind and business travel, I work in Cybersec. Even in that time I always kept music as the most important avocation besides my commercial vocation constantly keeping it up-and- running and investing in it (time, money, gear, teachers) while simultaneously diversifying my focus areas, so much so that Jazz Guitar has become my main language now. I also took time to satiate
my deep interest in academic music software and I have been using Csound daily after work for more than a year. Now I am using it for everything, including signal processing and instrument prototyping and such. All this got me thinking about doing a thesis on some ideas I have with music theory and MIR stuff.
I originally intended to go for a Masters in Music and Computing and was eyeing on all the topics that are being taught while I was still in Dubai last year. I think for the time and money involved I decided that if I went straight to a doctoral program I can still do an added Masters (or two) during the process saving me more in the long run. Also the masters course is not necessarily going to be that much of an impact since most are just for a year and cover the stuff that we kinda already know or can become proficient in given our long term existing experience and commitment to further our knowledge on our own as well. I was also thinking about going for a malware research PhD (maybe later) as it ties directly with my professional expertise with many problems to be considered for research and would be a great deal more convenient as well but music is just too relevant, interesting and significant of a domain to pass up for anything else, especially if someone is as music crazy like I am and with the current AI revolution as well, it bears good due attention. I got to know recently from sources that my authored book (Windows Malware Analysis Essentials, Packt 2015) is currently being used in nearly ~15 universities for their graduate masters courses including the University of Hong Kong which happens to be the largest and oldest over there, so that got me the idea to address my masters requirements for an entry qualifier for a music PhD program (many consider work experience and music skills or portfolio as well in lieu of a masters, especially if your proposal is up to spec). My decade plus long career and authorship as experience and contribution attest to my masters level experience in computing and in a niche like malware research, and this goes towards my admissions advantage because I never actually paid for my masters (which I never did nor I intend to!) but I still happen to qualify by virtue of my vocation. I have been studying Jazz guitar for the past few years now so I thought it is now the perfect time to combine all my talents in one place. The PhD has to be funded obviously, no one spends their own cash for such a long period of study, so that will affect my university choice also, as well as TA options and star faculty and established supervisor. I still prefer Europe so it will be my first choice while also considering USA as well for institutions like Stanford or MIT for their music programs.
I consider my music pursuits as the RnD division which has investments from the higher percentage proceeds of my other commercial pursuits (like the historical AT&T Bell Labs…) which I am going to operationalize now by going the academic direction for genuine benefits down the line. The other thing that is so cool about computer music academia is that how math and engineering oriented the core is. It’s a total mental workout and a solid boost for your ego IF you can successfully complete the challenge. The comprehensive exams in the program is where candidates get weeded out and many realize that this deal might not be their cup of tea rafter all. I want to see where I go with this and how far
Good to be back over here, I missed you guys a lot actually (keep it a secret…). I know I was a bit heady back then when I first joined the forums, I have tempered with a bit of experience, so my manners have improved significantly as my patience and empathy.
@lilith And how about yourself? How was your time spent?
I just got a funny quip while having tea time snacks, it is that I would be moving from the ‘I need money club’ to joining the ‘I need knowledge club’ wrt my academic ambitions/preparations versus usual professional work. Now I wonder about the kernel of truth about the popular notion that PhD students live in poverty. 
@encryptedmind messaged you, I prefer talking over phone/Zoom to typing everything out, but would be happy t discuss!
Sorry for answering so late. I had some troubles with my job, but after some struggle I have a permanent position now in research (mass spectrometry) in the same institute, but I’m now back in the group where I did my PhD.
Music wise I switched between Renoise, Reaper, Bitwig and SunVox all running on MX Linux. SunVox blew my mind when I found it. It’s really special and although it doesn’t offer VST support you can do a lot with it.
Last tracks I did in Renoise again, my first love 
Really nice, another PhD! This forum is rife with very brainy (intelligent and dedicated) folks no kidding, which makes me so happy you know Would you be available to share your experiences and how you thought over your PhD process and thesis, I imagine it was a super cool journey to do so.
Sunvox is nice, I never used it in my own compositions as I usually prefer Caustic for its sound and work flow and nowadays Csound for everything but playing with it its patch modular system is actually very well thought out and intuitive, just like using Pd but in a small canvas. Its screen partitioning control is also smart and unique. Because of the way it is designed, a stylus on touchscreen would be actually the best way to work with Sunvox. It is powerful no doubt. Renoise is the best as always, at the end of the day it’s the main weapon of choice for me as a consolidation platform and framework along with many other tools.
Vividtracker on iOS is a nice Protracker 2 clone with some added features. It’s nice to have on your iPhone
“Would you be available to share your experiences and how you thought over your PhD process and thesis, I imagine it was a super cool journey to do so.”
I studied chemistry and it’s quite normal to make a PhD in chemistry, so it was normal for me . It was 15 years ago…
Wow, you must be a natural genius I would imagine doing a doctoral thesis must need lot of preparations, and what about the comprehensive exams…I am humbled just thinking about it! Still, maybe you could write a blog about your earlier life as a doctoral student, challenges along the way, people who you remember, your supervisor, your own thoughts during your journey, and tips and advice to new people like myself