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Introduction to Acoustics

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17.10 Composition<br />

The his<strong>to</strong>ry of computer languages for music dates back<br />

well in<strong>to</strong> the 1950s. Beginning with Max Mathew’s Music<br />

I, many features of these languages have remained<br />

constant, such as the notion of unit genera<strong>to</strong>rs as discussed<br />

before, and the idea of instruments within an<br />

orchestra, controlled by a score. Early popular languages<br />

include Music V (a direct descendent of Music I) [17.5],<br />

Csound, CMix, and CMusic (written in C) [17.43].<br />

More recent languages developed in the last decade<br />

include SuperCollider [17.44], Jsyn (in Java) [17.45],<br />

STK in C ++ [17.46], Aura [17.47], Nyquist [17.48],<br />

and ChucK [17.49].<br />

One class of languages that has advanced education<br />

and participation in computer music are graphical<br />

systems such as MAX/MSP [17.50] andPureData<br />

(PD) [17.51]. These software systems allow novice (and<br />

expert) users <strong>to</strong> construct patches by dragging unit genera<strong>to</strong>r<br />

icons around on the desk<strong>to</strong>p, connecting them<br />

with virtual patch cords (Fig. 17.47).<br />

17.11 Controllers and Performance Systems<br />

Music performance is structured real-time control of<br />

sound, <strong>to</strong> achieve an aesthetic goal (hopefully for both<br />

the performers and audience). So one obvious application<br />

area for real-time computer sound synthesis and<br />

processing is in creating new forms of musical expression.<br />

Exciting developments in the last few years have<br />

emerged in the area of new controllers and systems for<br />

using parametric sound in real-time music performance,<br />

or in interactive installation art.<br />

Figure 17.48 shows three recent real-time music<br />

performance systems, all using parametric digital<br />

sound synthesis and a variety of sensors mounted on<br />

Fig. 17.48 Cook’s DigitalDoo, Trueman’s BoSSA, Bahn’s ‘r!g’<br />

Computer Music 17.11 Controllers and Performance Systems 737<br />

Fig. 17.47 A simple MAX/MSP patch connects a microphone<br />

through a 1/2 s (22050 samples at 44.1 k sample<br />

rate) delay <strong>to</strong> the speaker output<br />

the instruments and players. The author’s DigitalDoo<br />

is a sensor/speaker enhanced/augmented didgeridoo.<br />

Dan Trueman’s bowed sensor speaker array (BoSSA)<br />

resulted from work in modeling, refining, and redefining<br />

the violin player’s interface [17.52]. Curtis Bahn’s<br />

‘r!g’ consists of a sensor enhanced upright (stick)<br />

bass, pedal boards, and other controllers. All three of<br />

these new instruments use spherical speakers <strong>to</strong> allow<br />

flexible control of the sound radiation in<strong>to</strong> the performance<br />

space [17.53]. These instruments have been used<br />

with computers <strong>to</strong> control percussion sounds, animal<br />

noises, string models, flute models, and a large va-<br />

Part E 17.11

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