Windy

For composers (and others), I am curious what kinds of things you might have done to further develop goals, build skills, and prepare for applying to a doctoral program, instead of doing a master's, whether by choice or for financial or other reasons.

Bard has some financial aid so maybe look into making that affordable. That looks like a perfect program for you. Brown's MEME program is techie but might suit you: look up the faculty and projects. Princeton's PhD in composition is multi-disciplinary in many ways and your music background and directions might fit. I would even look into Harvard, UCSD, Northwestern... Seems like you could focus on music (another direction might be Berklee, or UC Thornton?) and maybe do art on the side, though I understand you don't want to keep them separate. I like Cat's ideas but understand that is what you have been doing.