TWENTIETH- - Synapse Music

Timbre and Texture: Electronic 257
processed, and sent back to the piano to be played while the performer plays new material.
Other musicians use pitch-ta-MIDI converters, devices that li sten to an acoustic instrument
and determine the pitch being played, so that MIDI systems can interact with
live acoustic performers. The Voyager series of pieces by George Lewis uses software
of the composer's own design to listen for musical gestures and phrases being played
by a live performer. The software responds to the musical input, sometimes with recognizable
variations of the acoustic material, and sometimes with new material of its own
design.
One of the more important software applications that have fueled the recent boom in
interactive computer music is MaxiMSP, originally developed by Miller Puckette, with additional
development by David Zicarelli. MaxiMSP was originally designed to handle
MIDI information only (as that was all early personal computers could handle), but grew to
handle live audio processing as computers grew more powerful. Named after computer
music pioneer Max Matthews, MaxiMSP is a graphic programming language with a collection
of MIDI and sound processing objects and user interface elements (such as sliders
and knobs). The composer links together simple objects to create complex processing
routines. Originally developed in Paris at IReAM (in English, the Institute for
Music/Acoustic Research and Coordination), the audio processing portion of the program
originally required large mainframe computers in the 1980s. Pierre Boulez's Repons
(1981) for clarinet, chamber ensemble, and live computer processing made use of such a
large system. Later, a special add-in processing card could perform the live audio processing.
Now, the software works without the need for any additional computing hardware on
standard Windows and Macintosh computer systems. Music for Clarinet and ISPW (1992)
by Cort Lippe is another example of this type of live computer processing of acoustic instrumental
performance.
The greatest musical impact of electronics, from electrically amphfied guitars to
computer-based perf9rmance systems, has been in the various areas of commercial music.
The development of electronic instruments for real-time ("live") perfonnance over the past
few decades has been phenomenal, to the point that sales of electronic instruments today
exceed those of acoustic instruments. Although most live electronics are used by popularstyle
commercial groups, there are a number of artists who combine serious experimental
techniques with a popular musical setting. Artists such as Laurie Anderson, Peter Gabriel,
Bjork, and Radiohead (who even quote the music of Paul Lansky) have made significant
forays into experimental electronic music performance.
NOTATION OF ELECTRONIC MUSIC
There is no standard notation for electronic music,3 and in fact most electronic pieces do
not exist in notated fonn at all. A primary purpose of musical notation, after all, is to allow
a composition to be performed, and this purpose is not relevant to most digital audio pieces
that do not involve live performers. There are exceptions, of course, such as Cage's
Williams Mix, in which the score gives instructions for realizing the piece, and Stockhausen
's Electronic Study II (1954), which shows detailed frequency, envelope, and durations