COURSE OUTLINE

Introduction to COMPUTER MUSIC

(timings are tentative)

Spring 2013

January 15

Ways in which computers are used in music:
sound analysis/synthesis, composition, notation, recording, etc.
How do we hear sounds ? Making a CD; ADC & DAC.
Computer Music centers, organizations, venues.

Brief history of Electro-acoustic Music and Computer Music in particular;
Analog electro-acoustic music.
An overview of digital synthesis methods.

• Vocoder
• LPC
• FM
• subtractive
• granular
• physical modeling, etc.

Using SoundMaker
Software commands.
Introducing elements of acoustics/psychoacoustics and programming as needed for the understanding of the software.
• UNIX/Linux
  • logins, passwords;
  • directories and files;
  • basic UNIX commands (ls, cat, more, cd, mkdir, rm, rmdir, etc.), sftp, and ssh (telnet)
  • available editors (vi/vim, emacs, nano, jot, etc.)
  • mxv, sweep, audacity, ecasound, xcdroast, etc.
• About computers:
  • representation of numbers; integers and floats
  • Operating Systems languages; compilers:
  • representation of sound waves; sampling rate, formats
• Object-oriented programming and C++
  
  
• Acoustics and Psychoacoustics
  • Sound waves, sound parameters; sampling rate, the Nyquist criterion
    
  • Overtones and partials; wave shapes; Fourier analysis, additive synthesis.
    
  • Tuning and scales
    
  • Beats, critical band, consonance and dissonance; difference tones
    
  • Rameau's harmony
    
  • Helmholtz and the perception of timbre.
    
  • Power and loudness; Fletcher-Munson curves; dB, phons, and sones
    
• Randomness and determinism
• Using scripts

  Two creative assignments: short pieces using SounMaker

Computer-assisted Composition:
• stochastic distributions
• Markov chains
• sieves
• genetic algorithms
• AI techniques and expert systems
• other tools
• Manifold compositions

Using DISSCO and the LASSIE interface
Brief review of Computer-assisted Composition methods
• stochastic distributions
• Markov chains
• sieves
• other methods used by Xenakis: Group Theory, Game Theory, Random walks, arborescences
• cellular automata and genetic algorithms; AI
• Manifold compositions
• LASSIE and DISSCO features
  • a critical look at the MusicN paradigm.
  • unifying synthesis and composition; the object-oriented approach
  • envelopes
  • frequency and loudness control
  • modifiers; sieves and patterns
  • spatialization and reverberation

Creative assignments: two short piece using LASSIE/DISSCO

Lab: working with LASSIE/DISSCO; Final projects

Draft of FINAL composition project due 4/25

Discussion of final projects

Final exam: 7:00-10:00 pm, Thursday, May 9

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