The Kyma Language for Sound Design, Version 4.5

quantizeTo: 0.5
maxSpacing: 1.
You specify the total duration in beats of the result, the smallest distance between beats (with the quantizeTo:
argument) and the longest time between beats (the maxSpacing: argument).
Alternatively, you can choose the starting beats with one random number generator and the events using
another, for example:
(EventCollection events: anArray)
randomizeTimesUsing: (Random newForKymaWithSeed: 561)
pickingEventsUsing: (OneOverF newForKymaWithSeed: 17661)
totalBeats: 16
quantizeTo: 0.333
maxSpacing: 1.
Manipulating Event Collections
All event collections can be manipulated in various ways:
anEventCollection dim: aScale.
anEventCollection trsp: aTransposition.
anEventCollection inv: aPitch.
anEventCollection retrograde.
dim: applies a scale to the duration of each event in the collection, trsp: transposes each event in the
collection the given number of half-steps, inv: inverts each event in the collection about the given pitch,
and retrograde reverses the time order of the event in the collection.
Finally, to actually output the events for the MIDIVoice to play, use:
anEventCollection playOnVoice: self bpm: 160.
Scripts and FileInterpreters
Script
Scripts and the FileInterpreters are Kyma Sound classes that enable you to construct Sounds algorithmically.
Both Scripts and the FileInterpreters take inputs that can include both Sounds and lifted Sounds. In
a Script, you can combine and manipulate the inputs using Smalltalk. TextFileInterpreters and MIDIFile-
Interpreters let you use Smalltalk code to interpret data from text files and MIDI files.
A Script Sound lets you refer to its inputs by name, assigning them start times and parameter values. In
this respect, you could think of the inputs as “instruments” and the start time and parameter value assignments
as the “score” (similar in some respects to the instruments and score of a Music–N language).
Unlike Music–N, however, a Script lets you use Smalltalk as part of the score. The script is not just an
event list; it is a Smalltalk program. So you can think of the Script as being more than a score; it is a tool
for constructing complex Sounds algorithmically.
In Kyma’s version of a “score,” not only can you supply start times and other parameters to an instrument,
you can also change the instrument itself from the script.
TextFileInterpreter
Using a TextFileInterpreter Sound you can read and interpret text files. One application of the TextFileInterpreter
is to use a score file from a Music–N language (like Csound) to control Kyma Sounds as its
instruments. A TextFileInterpreter, however, is not limited to reading Music–N scores. In fact, you can
use it to map any data to the parameters of a Sound. This capability makes a TextFileInterpreter useful for
data sonification and generating signals for psychoacoustic experiments.
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