COURSE OUTLINE

Introduction to COMPUTER MUSIC

(timings are tentative)

Fall 2020

August 25

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.

August 27 - September 3

Brief history of Electro-acoustic Music and Computer Music in particular:
Analog electro-acoustic music.

Assignment 1: chart "Chemins de fer" due 9/3
An overview of selected digital synthesis methods.

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

September 8 - 17

Elements of acoustics/psychoacoustics and programming

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
  
  Take home Quiz 1: acoustics - due 9/22
• About computers
  • representation of numbers; integers and floats
  • Operating Systems languages; compilers:
  • representation of sound waves; sampling rate, formats
  • Object-oriented programming and C++
    
  Take home Quiz 2: computers - due 9/29
• UNIX/Linux
  • logins, passwords;
  • directories and files;
  • basic UNIX commands (ls, cat, more, cd, mkdir, rm, rmdir, etc.), sftp, ssh, putty, winscp
  • available editors (gtom, emacs, edit, vi/vim)
  • Audacity

September 22 - 29

SoundMaker

• Brief look at SoundMaker code
  Creative assignment: short piece using SoundMaker due 10/1
• Randomness and determinism
• Using scripts
Assignment 2: short pieces using scripts - due 10/8

October 1 - 6

Computer-assisted (algorithmic) Composition
• stochastic distributions
• Markov chains
• sieves
• other methods used by Xenakis: Group Theory, Game Theory, Random walks, arborescences
• genetic algorithms, cellular automata, AI
• Manifold compositions

Using DISSCO with the interface LASSIE
• DISSCO structure: CMOD, LASS, LASSIE
• unifying synthesis and composition; object-oriented
• tutorial; XQuartz
• LASSIE and DISSCO features
  • parent, children, sibling Events
  • Continuum method; Select and Random
  • envelopes
  • frequency and loudness control
    Assignment 3: short piece using DISSCO - due 11/05
  • spatialization and reverberation
  • embedded functions
  • modifiers
  • sieves and patterns

November 17 - December 8

Final projects: lab
• Work on final projects
  Assignment 4: DISSCO first draft for FINAL project - due 11/24

  BREAK

• Work on final projects
  Assignment 5: final draft - due 12/3
• Refine final projects
Final Project - due 12/11

Final exam: Monday, December 16, 1:30-4:30 am

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