DVD Program Notes

Part One: , Curator music, and he plays the . By close friends with Gerald Bennett, custom, he works nights. I, by con- who directed the IRCAM department Curator’s Note trast, am a day person. For the last charged with coordinating all other decade, we have played violin–piano IRCAM departments. Gerald eventu- Computer Suite from Little Boy sonatas together once a week starting ally returned to Switzerland where (1968) by Jean-Claude Risset was the at 8 a.m., which is the only hour he continued to teach at the Zurich first piece that made me feel that all we are both awake. This makes it Conservatory, started the Swiss Com- the work I put into music programs possible to face the computer during puter Group, and had more time to and particularly into MUSIC V was the rest of the day. Bill’s programs fed compose. Rainstick (1993) is a very worth it. The timbres, both the FM scores into the “Samson Box,” exciting piece. When I first heard it, I completely new ones and the more which for a decade gave the Center imagined Gerald high in the Alps with traditional, have a richness and for Computer Research in Music and his microphone and tape recorder in beauty that I had never before heard Acoustics (CCRMA) a monopoly on the middle of a wild mountain storm. in computer music. Most of the fast synthesis. Water Music I (1985) is Later he explained that it was all done timbres depended on the results a luscious FM-reverberated extension in his home studio with the magic of of the seminal research on timbre of a violin note played with juicy and his computer program. In addition to which Jean-Claude did at Bell Labs thrilling dissonances. loving the piece, I love to filter it with during the two periods in the 1960s For me, Phosphones (1970) by my phaser filters as a test bed for the when he worked there as part of Emmanuel Ghent is by far the most effects of the filtering. So far, Gerald his graduate studies in physics. His interesting composition realized on has forgiven me for this sacrilege. timbre research results are now GROOVE, the hybrid digital-analog Since the 1980s, the Radio-Baton available in a very practical form as a real-time music system developed by and Conductor Program have pre- sound catalogue (The Historical CD F. R. Moore and myself in the 1960s. empted my attention as a way of of Digital Sound Synthesis, Wergo GROOVE allowed the composer to making expressive real-time perfor- 2033-2). Songes (1979) is the most perform live music in a studio envi- mances on a computer instrument. interesting and powerful piece ever ronment and thus to add performance I believe the control of time is the created completely with the MUSIC expression. Phosphones supplied the most important expressive factor. V program. It is also the last pure music for a dance performed by the In the Conductor program, the per- MUSIC V piece composed by Jean- Mimi Garrard Dance Company. The former can control time in many Claude Risset. It, too, depended piece required complex and rapid ways: by beating time with a baton as heavily on his timbre research. stroboscopic changes in lighting. in traditional conducting, by writing Frequency modulation (FM) syn- Emmanuel programmed GROOVE a sequence of tempos into the score, thesis, invented by , to make a light control tape which and by what I call the “throttle” plus the advent of special-purpose was perfectly synchronized with the mode—where the position of a baton computer chips, reduced the cost of a music. He seemed able to survive stick varies the tempo as one con- rich computer music system fifty-fold without sleep. He typically worked trols the speed of an automobile with and increased the number of musi- all day at his medical practice in the accelerator pedal. Jon Appleton cians using computer technology New York City and all night on the uses all these modes in Pacific Rim- many thousand–fold. Turenas (1972) GROOVE computer at Bell Labs in bombo (1992) in very imaginative is an early demonstration of the power New Jersey. I feared this regime was a and creative ways. He also makes of FM synthesis. It also demonstrates factor in the break-up of his first mar- a performer’s gesture start a widely other of John’s computer synthesis in- riage so as a wedding present for his varying number of notes from minus novations, including moving apparent second marriage, I gave the computer one note (i.e., ending a single note) positions of sound sources using only to at the Massachusetts to starting a complete page of notes. four loudspeakers, reverberation, and Institute of Technology (MIT). This makes performing Rimbombo doppler frequency shifts. Phone´ (1981) From 1974 to 1982 I worked part- very exciting and expressive. It is the showed the power of FM to synthesize time for the Institut de Recherche et piece I most enjoy playing. human sung speech sounds. Coordination Acoustique/Musique Linda Roberts and I studied a triad William Schottstaedt can do (IRCAM) in Paris as a scientific ad- with frequencies based on the integer anything—he is a super program- visor and as the Scientific Director. ratio 3:5:7. We found this chord had mer, he answers all One of the great benefits of my em- similarities to the traditional major questions, he composes beautiful ployment was meeting and becoming triad based on the integers 4:5:6. In

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/comj.2008.32.4.106 by guest on 01 October 2021 particular, a naive listener could hear that the action is in a man’s troubled contaminated with noise: For this if the chord was played out-of-tune. mind. recording, the noise was cleaned up John Pierce extended the chord to The Suite comprises only sounds through digital processing by Sonic 3:5:7:9 and made a scale based on synthesized with Max Mathews’s Solutions. (Jean-Claude Risset) this chord. The tempered version MUSIC V program at Bell Labs. It of the new scale has 13 pitches attempts to roughly sum up the spanning an octave plus a fifth. Keys, movement of the play in three parts. 2. Songes—Jean-Claude Risset modulations, and both dissonant and The first section, “Flight and Count- consonant intervals are possible in down,” follows the pilot’s dream, Songes (1979), for magnetic tape, was the new scale. The new scale has no which takes him through a musically realized at IRCAM with a variant of octave. Composers with a traditional stylized airplane flight, with episodes the MUSIC V software. The original ear-training background tend to of synthetic jazz- or Japanese-like program, designed by Max Mathews, hear Pierce scale intervals as out-of- tunes. The flight is terminated by a was augmented by John Gardner and tune traditional intervals. I found it countdown preceding the release of Jean-Louis Richer so as to enable it to difficult to persuade most composers the bomb. The following section is process digitized sounds as well as to to try the new scale. But Richard the “Fall.” The pilot thinks that Little synthesize sounds. The original ver- Boulanger was willing and eager. I Boy, the bomb to which he identifies sion of Songes is for four-track tape; enjoy Solemn Song for Evening (1989) himself, is falling; in fact, this is a psy- it uses some of the sound material very much. To me, it is new, powerful, chological collapse that never reaches of Mirages, a piece for 16 instru- exciting, and interesting. Although any bottom, which the music suggests ments and tape commissioned by most traditional instruments cannot with continuous sounds that seem the Donaueschingen Festival (1978). produce notes in the new scale, a to glide down indefinitely. The last The elaboration of this sound ma- computer can. Maureen Chowning part is called “Contra-Apotheosis,” terial took advantage of David Wes- (soprano) learned to sing the new like the anti-climactic end of the sel’s programs for mapping timbral scale. play. Here various time fragments are spaces. recalled or evoked in a deliberately The title suggests the dreamlike disintegrated way, as the obsessions character of adventures taking place 1. Computer Suite from Little of the central character and his entire on different stages—adventures of Boy—Jean-Claude Risset world mentally rotate. Thus the jazz sound figures coming from an unreal, band gets mixed up and ends as a gun- imaginary world. The identity of The Computer Suite from Little like beat; the Japanese instruments sonic beings which occasionally Boy was realized in 1968 at Bell turn into sirens; a pandemonium of escape material constraints gets Labs. It is one of the first substantial sounds builds up above a rotating dissolved in the continuity of musical works entirely synthesized glissando, to be quieted down and textures, the flux of motions and by computer, using Max Mathews’s dissolved into memories. evolutions. Yet how can we be MUSIC V program. The Computer The recipes for many types of sure to distinguish illusion and Suite is part of the incidental music sounds used in this piece can be reality, insofar as our experiences composed for the play Little Boy by found in “An Introductory Catalogue all come through our perception, our Pierre Halet (Paris: Editions du Seuil, of Computer Synthesized Sounds” consciousness? Couldn’t our dreams 1968). About half of the music is (Bell Labs Report, 1968), reproduced (“songes”) be dreams of a dream? for a chamber ensemble, including in The Historical CD of Digital At the beginning of the piece, one a soprano, and half of the music is Sound Synthesis (Wergo 2033-2). hears instrumental sounds (0’00” “computer-played.” The theme of the “Fall,” the second section of the to 1’30”). These sounds have been play is the revival of the Hiroshima piece, is portrayed and commented on mixed, tiled with the computer bombing in the form of a nightmare of in Robert Cogan’s book, New Images from motives recorded by instru- Eatherly, the pilot of a reconnaissance of Musical Sound (Harvard: Harvard mentalists (each one of the five plane who later developed guilt University Press, 1984, pp. 108–112). motives, lasting from two to five jeopardizing his mental health. In The Computer Suite from Little seconds, has been recorded separately the play, some elements are historical Boy appears on a Wergo disc (2013-50), by instrumentalists of the Ensem- and realistic, while certain cues in the along with Songes, Sud,andPassages. ble InterContemporain). In addition performance or in the music indicate The sound of the original tape was to mere mixing, the instrumental

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/comj.2008.32.4.106 by guest on 01 October 2021 sounds have been slightly altered, in (2013-50), along with Computer Suite him to head the Computer Depart- particular to introduce spatial effects. from Little Boy, Sud,andPassages. ment (1975–1979). As a composer- The harmonic structures presented Excerpts of Songes were published in in-residence at the Media Lab, MIT at the beginning permeate the whole IRCAM’s first recording, IRCAM—un (1987–1989), Mr. Risset implemented development: The motives, initially portrait,andinComputer Music Jour- the first real-time interaction be- repeated in quasi-obsessional fash- nal (Vol. 7, reproduced on the DVD tween performer and computer with ion, are reflected in the synthetic accompanying Vol. 30/4). acoustic piano sounds. Presently, he tones, first as clouds of high-order Songes is discussed by Lev is Directeur de recherche Emeritus at harmonics (0’20” to 0’50”), later as Koblyakov (“Jean-Claude Risset: the Centre National de la Recherche inharmonic tones (1’35” to 5’40”). Songes, 1979”) in Contemporary Mu- Scientifique, Marseilles, where he The components of these tones can, sic Review 1/1 (1984), pp. 183–185. works on computer music. Among depending upon their temporal en- One can also find an analysis by Marta other distinctions, Mr. Risset has been velopes, fuse into bell-like tones Grabocz in Musicworks 51 (1991), pp. awarded: Golden NICA, Ars Electron- (1’40” or 5’10”) or dissolve into fluid 47–50, a diagram in Musicworks 52 ica, 1987; Grand Prix National de la textures emphasizing different com- (1991) p. 63, and comments by Curtis Musique (), 1990; Gold Medal, ponents at different times (3’30” to Roads in Computer Music Journal 5/3 Centre National de la Recherche 4’50”). The inharmonic tones accu- (1981) p. 16, and by Simon Emmer- Scientifique (France), 1999; Cheva- mulate in the form of nested chords, son in “Acoustic/Electroacoustics: lierdelaLegion´ d’Honneur (France); reproducing between them the fre- The Relationship with Instruments,” Commandeur des Arts et Lettres quency ratios that exist within them Journal of New Music Research 27/1- (France). between their components (5’35” to 2 (1998), pp. 146–164. (Jean-Claude 6’40”). While the beginning of the Risset) piece was confined around medium 3. Turenas—John Chowning frequencies, the accumulation just Max’s Influence mentioned gives rise to a crescendo This computer-generated tape com- filling the frequency space from low Most of my musical works benefited position makes extensive use of two to high. The long coda (6’30” to 9’00”) from the extraordinary tools Max major developments in computer only keeps low and high frequencies. Mathews has developed for music, music pioneered and developed by Long sustained pedals are reminis- and I am deeply indebted to Max. In John Chowning, working at Stanford cent of tonic-dominant relationships; particular Little Boy and Songes were University’s Center for Computer the low tones undulate because they strongly influenced by Max’s work. Research in Music and Acoustics are superposed onto themselves with (CCRMA). The first involves the variable time delays, like echoes Jean-Claude Risset was born in synthesis of moving sound sources from a moving wall. Above these low 1938. He worked for three years in a 360-degree sound-space which pedals, high tones are widely modu- with Max Mathews at Bell Labs to takes into account the effects of lated: their frequencies follow supple develop the musical resources of the Doppler shift. The second was curves defined mathematically and computer sound synthesis: imita- a breakthrough in the synthesis of attempting to merge discontinuous tion of real timbres (brass synthesis, “natural” (as well as almost “su- steps and continuous glides. These 1965); pitch paradoxes, synthesis of pernatural”) timbre in a simple but tones are spatialized using the tech- new timbres and sonic development elegant way, using accurately con- niques developed by John Chowning processes (1967–1969). Mr. Risset trolled frequency modulation. This (the sound source appears to recede has composed many musical works, is the technical background, but the far away when it gets lost in the most of which resort to computer piece is not about that background. reverberation): They seem to travel synthesis in conjunction with in- The title Turenas is an anagram of like imaginary birds. struments or human voice. He has “Natures,” evoking the way sounds Songes, dedicated to Rozenn Ris- published a catalog of computer “tour” through the space, transparent set, was awarded the first prize for synthesized sounds (1969), and has and pure, produced by the most digital music in 1980 and the “Eu- set up computer sound systems at technologically sophisticated means phonie d’or” in 1992 at the Bourges Orsay (1970–1971), the University yet tending to sound perfectly natural, International Com- of Marseille-Luminy (1974), and at as if a dream could come true. (Ivan petition. It appears on a Wergo disc IRCAM, where Pierre Boulez asked Tcherepnin, 1973)

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/comj.2008.32.4.106 by guest on 01 October 2021 4. Phone´—John Chowning box of punched cards that contained already understood Max’s work in the Music IV program and BEFAP, synthesizing the singing voice, I The sounds in Phone´ (from the Greek, which was required to compile Music benefited from the proximity of Mr. meaning “sound,” or “voice”) were IV on the IBM 7090. Thus began my Sundberg and with his advice was able produced using a special configura- long association with Max. I had no to synthesize both female and male tion of the FM synthesis technique idea at the time just how much Max sung vowels using FM synthesis. In that allows the composer to simulate and his work would influence my the course of developing the singing a wide range of timbres including a life—a statement that I have heard voice synthesis, I discovered the singing voice and other strongly reso- many times from many people. In importance of micro-modulation in nant sounds. The synthesis programs so many senses, neither of the two causing spectral fusion, an effect that are designed to permit exploration compositions presented here could none of us, including Max and John of and control over the ambiguities have existed without Max. Pierce, had ever heard before. On that can arise in the perception and My research interest was in the my return to Stanford I made use of identification of the sound sources. simulation of moving sound sources these techniques and knowledge to The interpolation between timbres using four discrete channels. On generate the composition Phone´. and extension of “real” timbres into several occasions in the next years registers that could not possibly exist I visited Max at Bell Labs. He intro- John M. Chowning was born in in the “real” world, such as a basso duced me to one of his staff, M. B. Salem, New Jersey, in 1934. Follow- “profondissimo,” and the micro- Gardner, whose experiments in the ing military service and studies at structural control of sound having to large anechoic chamber suggested a Wittenberg University, he studied do with perceptual fusion and seg- path for understanding the relations composition in Paris for three years regation of spectral components, are between the perception of loudness with Nadia Boulanger. In 1964, with important points in this composition. and distance and a strategy for my the help of Max Mathews, then at The composer developed this spatial simulations. On 18 December Bell Labs, and David Poole of Stanford new technique of FM synthesis of 1967, I showed and played for Max, University, he set up a computer the singing voice at IRCAM, Paris, Jean-Claude Risset, and Pierre Ruiz music program using the computer in 1979 and realized the piece at the first FM synthesis examples that system of Stanford’s Artificial In- Stanford in 1980–1981. The work I had generated only a month or two telligence Laboratory. Beginning the was premiered in Paris in February of before. By 1972 I had completed the same year, he began the research 1981. (John Chowning) spatial simulation programming and leading to the first generalized sound had developed FM synthesis into a localization algorithm implemented musically useful form. In the spring in a quad format in 1966. He received Max’s Influence of 1972 I completed Turenas,which the doctorate in composition from used the PDP-10 version of Music in 1966, where I first met Max Mathews in the IV, Leland Smith’s Score program to he studied with Leland Smith. The summer of 1964 at Bell Labs in generate the note list data, my own following year he discovered the FM Murray Hill, New Jersey. In January of subroutines for the spatial controls, algorithm, licensed to Yamaha, that the same year I had read Max’s famous and FM as the synthesis engine. led to the most successful synthesis article “The Digital Computer as a While acting as Scientific Director engines in the history of electronic Musical Instrument” that had been of IRCAM, Max had encouraged instruments. published two months earlier in the the invitation of strong researchers His three early pieces, Turenas journal Science. Fascinated by the in areas of acoustics as well as (1972), Stria (1977), and Phone´ implications of the article, I took composers. In 1979 Gerald Bennet (1981), make use of his localiza- a programming course, began to invited Johan Sundberg, a close friend tion/spatialization and FM synthesis read about acoustics and arranged to of Max and a superb researcher in algorithms in uniquely different meet Max during the summer break the singing voice, to advise in the ways. Computer Music Journal 31(3) following my second year of graduate development of the software that published four papers about Stria studies in music composition. became known as Chant by Xavier including analyses, its history, and At the end of my brief meeting Rodet. By chance, I was invited by Mr. its reconstruction. The following with Max and an extended tour of the Risset to spend an extended period at issue, 31(4), includes a DVD-ROM labs with Joan Miller, Max gave me a IRCAM during the same time. Having containing all of the support material

DVD Program Notes 109

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/comj.2008.32.4.106 by guest on 01 October 2021 and a four-channel reconstruction regularly, working our way through work has been produced by Arnold of Stria. After more than 20 years much of that literature. Eventually Eagle and Mimi Garrard. of hearing problems, Mr. Chowning we branched out to the trio literature, Both music and lighting were was finally able to compose again setting traps for unwary cellists and composed by Emmanuel Ghent at beginning in 2004, when he began anyone else who happened to be carry- Bell Labs using the GROOVE system work on Voices, for solo soprano and ing a musical instrument. We’ve been as designed by Max Mathews and F. interactive computer using Max/MSP. playing every week for 20 years now, Richard Moore. The GROOVE pro- Mr. Chowning was elected to the and it has been a real pleasure. I’m gram in essence placed the computer, American Academy of Arts and Sci- pleased that Max likes Water Music! andinturnitsuser,inreal-timecon- ences in 1988. He was awarded the trol of functions of time. In particular, Honorary Doctor of Music by Witten- William Schottstaedt grew up in these functions were translated into berg University in 1990. The French Oklahoma, got various degrees in time-varying voltages and pulses Ministere` de la Culture awarded him music from Stanford University, that were then applied to an analog the Diplomeˆ d’Officier dans l’Ordre worked for a few years in the com- computer and a variety of sound des Arts et Lettres in 1995, and puter industry, then joined the staff synthesizing and processing equip- he was given the Doctorat Honoris of CCRMA, and rusted in place. ment. The system afforded the com- Causa in 2002 by the Universitede´ poser a vast flexibility: He or she could la Mediterran´ ee.´ He taught computer compose in conventional manner if sound synthesis and composition at 6. Phosphones—Emmanuel so desired, using specific pitches and Stanford’s Department of Music and Ghent (Mimi Garrard, rhythmic designs, or, more interest- was founder and director of the Cen- choreographer; dancers: ingly, write algorithmic programs to ter for Computer Research in Music Laurie Bulman, Michelle engage the computer in an interactive and Acoustics (CCRMA), one of the compositional process. Being a real- Knudsen, Ramona leading centers for computer music time system, the composers could not and related research. Ganssloser, Joanna Kotze, only affect the music, and indeed the Erin Dudley, Sara Grudman, compositional process itself as it un- Ulrika Hagelin, and Danielle 5. Water Music I—William folded, but also could “slow down, or Tinsley) Schottstaedt stop time” in order to facilitate edit- ing. A variety of switches, buttons, Phosphones is really two pieces, both knobs, a 3-D wand, and a piano-type The first movement of Water Music of which were commissioned by the keyboard served the composers as in- was written in 1985 using the Sam- Mimi Garrard Dance Company and put devices. The power of the system son Box and the FM-violin. It uses composed in 1970–1971. One, a piece was greatly enhanced by the visual several tunings, including 48-tone of computer-generated music, has display of each of the time functions and 13-tone. The original version was had a performance life of its own; the as they were translated into sound. included in the Dinosaur Music CD other is a composition of computer- A unique feature of Phosphones is (Wergo CD 2016-50). In the version generated theatrical lighting. In full the fact that the sound sources for the included here, which comes from performance, the music and lighting piece were almost entirely confined to CLM/Scheme, I reduced the amount are synchronized with each other a specialized group of circuits called of reverberation and made a few mi- and with the dancers’ movements “resons,” designed by Max Mathews nor changes. (William Schottstaedt) as choreographed by Mimi Garrard. for use in his electronic violin. When The realization of this “polyphony of suitably tuned and adjusted for the Max’s Influence music and lighting” in relation to the appropriate degree of damped ringing, dance is extremely dramatic. As the they produced the remarkable array Shortly after I wrote Water Music,the placement, intensity, and color of the of percussive sounds that characterize old Artificial Intelligence Lab at Stan- lighting are precisely programmed, the piece. ford was demolished, and CCRMA and change with great rapidity in It was while composing the mu- moved to the Knoll. The Knoll had relation to the music, a subtlety of sic for Phosphones that Emmanuel a good piano, and it didn’t take Max interaction results which had not Ghent realized the potential of the andmeverylongtonoticeit.We been possible before. A documentary GROOVE system as a means of com- were soon playing violin sonatas film of Phosphones as an integrated posing a score of theatrical lighting.

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/comj.2008.32.4.106 by guest on 01 October 2021 Another set of time functions, com- Hex an Ellipsis for Trumpet and 12 Jersey to discuss the acoustics of posed contrapuntally in relation to Instruments are among the works in the future “Espace´ de Projection” the original musical time functions, this medium. In the 1970s a Guggen- with Manfred Schroeder, then at Bell were translated into digital signals heim Fellowship enabled Mr. Ghent Labs. Mr. Schroeder immediately which in turn were used to control to immerse himself in the GROOVE understood that neither IRCAM nor an array of theatrical dimmers. James real-time computer music system at I had a clear idea of what we wanted. Seawright designed and built several Bell Labs. In addition to many com- He began to worry about taking generations of special equipment that puter music as well as instrumental responsibility for such a half-baked made this possible. In the earliest ver- compositions created with this sys- project and was uncertain about how sion of the lighting system, perforated tem, he modified it to make possible to continue our discussion. So he paper tape was used as the recording the composition of a type of theatrical did what many have done when medium for the lighting signals. Soon lighting that had the versatility usu- uncertain about how to continue: He this gave way to magnetic tape, in ally associated with music. His collab- called Max Mathews. Max showed which two tracks were used for the oration with the Mimi Garrard Dance up almost immediately, asked a audio, and one for the digital lighting Company resulted in many per- few questions, listened, asked again, signals. In the late 1970s a grant from formances of music/lighting/dance and after a few hours all three of the National Endowment for the Arts throughout the country. Mr. Ghent us had a clear idea of some of the (NEA) made it possible to build a received numerous commissions as decisions that needed to be taken. self-contained computer system that well as grants from the NEA and New Max hadn’t offered any solutions, but offered the great advantage of permit- York State Arts Council. His music is his thoughtful questioning and careful ting immediate visual feedback by published by Oxford University Press listening awakened and teased to the being able to compose the lighting and Persimmon Press, and has been surface ideas I did not know were in the theatrical studio. The most recorded on different labels. mine. I had never before, nor have I recent version of the lighting system since, experienced such exquisite and is a cousin of the GROOVE sys- 7. Rainstick—Gerald Bennett efficient teaching. tem, and can be used in connection I subsequently visited Max several with any IBM-type microcomputer. The rainstick is a ritual instrument times at Bell Labs and left each time (Emmanuel Ghent) of the Indians of Central and South deeply inspired by the happy com- [Editor’s Note: the video presented America used to conjure rain. In this plexity of the relationship between on this disc is a live recording from piece, the rainstick is used to conjure music and technology. As Scientific a performance by the Mimi Garrard many different things, both real and Advisor for IRCAM from about 1978, Dance Company (19 May 2000, imaginary (but not rain). One of the where he regularly performed the Riverside Church Theater, New piece’s principal ideas is the passage kind of pedagogical wonder I had York), celebrating 35 years of the from continuity to discontinuity. Of experienced in New Jersey, Max’s Company. The video was produced course, this movement can reflect influence in defining the axes of re- by Nuria Ollive Belles. Mimi Garrard and express both a structural and an search in IRCAM’s early days cannot and Karen Weiss kindly let us emotional trajectory. be over-estimated. I worked with reproduce this material. Thanks also Rainstick was commissioned Max and John Pierce on a project con- to Valerie Ghent and Judy Klein.] by the then Groupe de Musique cerning harmonicity (related to what Experimentale´ de Bourges (today would later be called the “Bohlen- Emmanuel Ghent (1925–2003) stud- Institut International de Musique Pierce scale”; see IRCAM Report No. ied with Ralph Shapey in New York Electroacoustique´ de Bourges) and 28, 1980). The results of the work after receiving his early music train- was realized in its studios as well seemed inconclusive at the time, ing in Canada. He was much in- as in those of the Swiss Center for but the discussions with Max about fluenced by Edgard Varese.` During Computer Music in Zurich. (Gerald the relationship between the partial the 1960s he was well known for Bennett) structure of individual tones and his multi-tempo instrumental work consonant or dissonant aggregates of involving at times wide spatial separa- Max’s Influence these tones had a profound effect on tion of performers, and for the coordi- my own thinking about harmonic nation system that made this possible. I first met Max Mathews in October structure in . Dithyrambos for Brass Quintet and 1973, when IRCAM sent me to New Without these discussions, Rainstick

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/comj.2008.32.4.106 by guest on 01 October 2021 would never have been written. Much in Muttenz, Switzerland, outside graduate program in electroacoustic later, I was happy and proud that the Basel. music at the same institution. In the Swiss Center for Computer Music summer of 2008 he taught his last and then the Institute for Computer 8. Pacific Rimbombo—Jon seminar at Dartmouth. He continues Music and Sound Technology in Appleton (Max Mathews, to teach at the Theremin Center at Zurich were able to provide rich and Radio Baton) the Conservatory of Music flexible software for the Radio Baton. each year. He has previously taught During these 35 years of work and at Stanford University (CCRMA), In 1991 I spent time at CCRMA in play together, a deep and abiding (Mita) in , and, Stanford where Max was developing friendship has evolved which is one in Fall 2008, at the University of the Radio Baton. I agreed to compose of the great joys of my life. California, Santa Cruz. Mr. Apple- a work for the instrument and Max ton has been awarded Guggenheim, taught me the language necessary Gerald Bennett was born in 1942 in Fulbright, National Endowment for to control it. The piece, called Pa- New Jersey. He graduated magna cum the Arts, and American-Scandinavian cific Rimbombo, remains in Max’s laude from Harvard College in 1964. Foundation fellowships. He has also repertoire and indeed I think his per- From 1967 until 1976 he taught at been a fellow at the Rockefeller Foun- formance of it is spectacular. [Editor’s the Basel (Switzerland) Conservatory, dation’s Bellagio Study Center, the Note: The recording of it by Max from 1969 until 1976 he was Director Camargo Foundation, France, and the being presented here has been newly of the Basel Conservatory. From Dibner Institute for the History of produced for this occasion.] 1976 until 1981 he was Department Science at MIT. It should be noted that I was Head at IRCAM, Paris. In 1981 uneducated in mathematics and he took a position as professor of sciences but so curious that I taught music theory and composition at 9. Solemn Song for Evening— myself to understand some of the the Hochschule fur¨ Musik in Zurich Richard Boulanger (Maureen basics. It was—and is—due to Max’s (Switzerland). In 1983 he was one of Chowning, soprano; Richard extraordinary ability as a teacher the founders, and from 1986 until Boulanger, Radio Baton) that I was able to learn as much as I 1992 Secretary, of the International did. Max believes that he can explain Confederation of Electroacoustic Solemn Song for Evening, for voice even quite complicated hardware and Music (ICEM), member organization and “conducted” MIDI , is software questions to novices. I am of the International Music Council a setting of the three poems from proof that he has this ability. Perhaps of the UNESCO. In 1985 he founded, Feierliche Abendmusik by Hermann even more important is his skill in with Bruno Spoerri, the Swiss Center Hesse. The poems, entitled “Allegro,” sensing an individual’s competence for Computer Music. Since 1993 he “Andante,” and “Adagio,” explore in order to push them forward to a has been member of the International themes of confusion, consolation, and greater understanding. Thus Pacific Academy of Electroacoustic Music revelation. The text was translated Rimbombo, Duobatoni,andPrecita of Bourges. In 2005 Mr. Bennett by Marge Mathews, and is set in both Eyes on Max, the works I have com- founded and directed the Institute German and English. The German is posed to date using this wonderful for Computer Music and Sound sung, and the English is spoken while musical instrument. (Jon Appleton) Technology at the Hochschule fur¨ being subjected to both real-time Musik und Theater, Zurich (today Jon Appleton is a composer and au- signal processing and software-based the Zurich University of the Arts). thor. He was born in Hollywood, Cal- transformations. All harmonic and He retired from his teaching and ifornia, in 1939 and was educated at melodic material in Solemn Song administrative obligations at the , the University of Ore- results from the unique 13-tone equal- Zurich University of the Art in gon, and . He is a tempered scale in which the piece was October of 2007. His compositions founding member of both the Interna- composed. The scale, referred to in are published by Edition Modern and tional Confederation of Electroacous- the literature as the Bohlen-Pierce Mnemosyne,´ recordings are published tic Music (CIME) and the Society for Scale, contains no equal-tempered by Wergo and Jecklin, and his writings Electro-Acoustic Music in the United octave; Each chromatic semitone is are published by Gallimard, Oxford States (SEAMUS). In 1967 he founded based on the 13th root of 3. University Press, Eulenburg, The the Bregman Electronic Music Studio Solemn Song for Evening is ded- MIT Press, and others. He lives at and in 1991 a icated to Marjorie Mathews whose

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/comj.2008.32.4.106 by guest on 01 October 2021 voice is at the very heart of the work. started teaching at The Berklee Col- along the great and many gifts that (Richard Boulanger) lege of Music and traveled to Bell Max Mathews has shared with me. Labs on weekends to work with him there. I stayed in his home on these Richard Boulanger (a.k.a. Dr. B.) Max’s Influence weekends and I spent every minute was born in 1956 and holds a Ph.D. in there absorbing all the information I Computer Music from the University Over the past 50 years, the work, could about programming, software of California at San Diego (awarded ideas, and writings of Max Mathews, synthesis, electronics, mathematics, 1985). There he worked at the Center as well as all his wonderful inventions and the history of computer music. for Music Experiment’s Computer and instruments, have been such a I also learned much about teaching Audio Research Lab (CARL). Since significant inspiration to me and to from his wonderful wife Marjorie. then, he has continued his computer so many other electroacoustic com- Max and I have spent the past 25 music research at Bell Labs, CCRMA, posers, computer music researchers, years performing, touring, lecturing, MIT Media Lab, Interval Research, and electronic musicians. I have spent and collaborating, and have shared Analog Devices, IBM, and One the past 25 years of my life trying to some wonderful times dining, sailing, Laptop Per Child (OLPC). He has realize some small part of the awe- stargazing, swimming, walking, bik- collaborated, performed, lectured, and some potential and implications of ing, talking, and working (armed with published extensively with the father his inspiring work by creating original our bottomless cups of strong black of computer music—Max Mathews music for all of his systems and soft- coffee), at Bell Labs, at CCRMA, at (Radio Baton), the father of Csound ware: Three Chapters from the Book Interval Research, and in Bourges, Barry Vercoe (Extended Csound and of Dreams (for his Electronic Violin), Moscow, Tokyo, Berlin, and Cracow, currently on the OLPC $100 laptop Shadows (for his Electronic Violin and and of course at Berklee College in project), Csound5 developer and guru Radio Drum), Virtual Encounters (for Boston. Over the years, Max intro- John ffitch, and Electronica superstar chamber ensemble and Radio Baton), duced me to his amazingly brilliant BT (Brian Transeau). Mr. Boulanger Three Symphonic States (for orches- and wonderful friends and into their has premiered his original interactive tra and Radio Baton), Radio Sonata, circles of students and ideas: Jon Ap- computer music compositions at the Radio Etude, Grainstorm, IKnowof pleton, John Chowning, Jean-Claude Kennedy Center and has appeared No Geometry,andConducting with Risset, John Pierce, and especially onstage performing his Radio-Baton Friends at C (all for solo Radio Baton his nurturing and absolutely brilliant and MIDI PowerGlove concerto with and Csound), A Dark Wind (for bass wife Marjorie. I learned so much from the Cracow and Moscow Symphony clarinet, Radio Baton, and Max/MSP) all of them and was so honored to . His music is recorded on from Temporal Silence (for clarinet, be in their homes, their studios, and the NEUMA, Centaur, and Stanford dancer and Radio Baton), Stardust their presence. With pride and humil- labels. and Dark Matter (for Radio Baton, ity, I got to introduce Max Mathews For the past 22 years, Mr. Boulanger MSP, and Jitter), and Solemn Song and these incredible colleagues of his has been teaching computer music for Evening (for soprano and Radio to my students at Berklee College as composition, sound design, perfor- Baton), to name a few. In addition to well. (In fact, one of these students, mance, and programming at The these compositions, I have tried to Tobias Enhus, actually got the Math- Berklee College of Music. There, he follow in Max Mathews’s footsteps ews Radio Baton featured in the final is a Professor of Music Synthesis, and by writing/editing The Csound Book, scene of the Disney film Raise Your he has been awarded both the Faculty asortofsequeltohisTechnology of Voice. That was pretty cool!) Working of the Year and President’s Awards. Computer Music,forTheMITPress. with Max Mathews, learning from Mr. Boulanger has published articles We first met in 1979 when I was Max Mathews, and just spending time on computer music education and doing a summer course on Csound at in his lab, in his home, in his presence, composition in major popular and MIT with his collaborator and friend, has filled me with so many wonderful academic electronic music and music Barry Vercoe. We got to know each memories, such joy and inspiration, technology magazines, and has lec- other better over the five years that I and so many incredible and funny sto- tured and performed worldwide, most was at UCSD doing my Ph.D. there ries. Hopefully someday I can share recently in Seoul, Korea, and Athens, with F. Richard Moore, another of his them with you; but until then, I hope Greece (SYNCH Festival). For The collaborators and friends. But Max that in some way my music and my MIT Press, Mr. Boulanger has au- and I really became friends when I teaching tells them and serves to pass thored and edited The Csound Book:

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/comj.2008.32.4.106 by guest on 01 October 2021 Perspectives in Software Synthesis, by Perry Cook and Ge Wang. extend or shorten the length Sound Design, Signal Processing and This piece is an experiment of the piece by keeping tabs Programming, and is currently work- in human-controlled, but on players who are winning ing on another major textbook for the machine-synchronized, or losing too much. same publisher entitled The Audio percussion ensemble perfor- 3. The PLOrk Drones by Programming Book (scheduled for re- mance. Various percussive Dan Trueman. This piece lease in early 2009). For the past two sounds are temporally posi- is a quasi-improvisation years, Mr. Boulanger has been spend- tioned by PLOrk members, based on Risset drones. ing his spare time working at OLPC and the piece gradually The PLOrkestra improvises developing music activities and ap- transitions from tuned bell elements within a group tex- plications and collecting, processing, timbres to drums as the ture, based on text-message and editing samples using CSound on texture and density grows. suggestions and parameter the OLPC XO (for more on this work Actual drums and bells shifts from the conductor. go to wiki.laptop.org/go/Csound). compliment the machine 4. CliX by Ge Wang. In this Mr. Boulanger’s international and controlled percussion sounds. piece, human operators humanitarian outreach is through 2. On The Floor by Scott Small- type to make sounds, while cSounds.com. wood. This is a piece whose their machines synthesize, sound is a side effect of the synchronize, and spatialize Part Two: Video and Sound process of turning the ensem- the audio. Every key on ble into a group of individual the computer keyboard Examples gamers. The first in a series of (upper/lower-case letters, pieces to explore gaming and numbers, symbols) is mapped This section of the disc features video individual representations to a distinct pitch (using and sound examples to accompany of similar sounds, this piece ASCII representation) and articles appearing in Volume 32 of recreates the soundscape of when pressed, emits a click- the Journal. Where examples contain a casino. Written entirely in ing sound that is synchro- more than one element in succession, ChucK, each instrument is nized in time to a common each individual element has been a virtual slot machine. Each pulse. A (human) conductor encoded as a separate chapter, so one player begins with a certain coordinates frequency range, may navigate forward and backward number of credits, and simply texture, movement, and through the examples using the Next plays the game until he or she timing. and Previous Chapter buttons on is out of money. The program any DVD player or remote control. emulates the sound of a slot Alternatively, the examples will machine, but after a threshold automatically play in sequence with 2. Sound Examples to is reached, the sound world Accompany the Article “The a short pause between each. changes, becoming more Generation of abstract. So, as players begin to lose money, the Natural-Synthetic Spectra by 1. Video Examples to soundscape changes from Means of Adaptive Frequency Accompany the Article being a specific place to being Modulation” by Victor “Composing for Laptop a sonic abstraction of that Lazzarini, Joseph Timoney, Orchestra” by Scott space. Strategies exist for and Thomas Lysaght Smallwood, Dan Trueman, staying in the game longer by (Volume 32, Number 2) Perry R. Cook, and Ge Wang betting more or fewer credits. (Volume 32, Number 1) If more credits are bet each 1. Flute tone, carrier-to- round, the odds are slightly modulator ratio c:m = 1, 1. More Specific Gamelon lower, but the payoff can be with the index of modu- Djembe Fusion: much more. The conductor lation I = 0 initially, then Chuck/Audicle Soft- has the ability to monitor increasing to I = 1.5. This is ware Composition for 15 the group, and to affect the a good example of the tonal percussive PLOrkists and one odds of any specific player. In changes that the technique printer-controlled conductor this way, the conductor may can provide.

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/comj.2008.32.4.106 by guest on 01 October 2021 2. Flute melody (ca.36 secs piece was composed around 58.3 Hz), which is the tone of long), c:m = 1. The first the time the original research the second example (“Resid- iteration with I = 0isthere into AdFM was conducted, ual Signal Extraction”) in the to show the original melody. so it seemed an ideal test-bed article. The residual signal This is followed by two iter- for some of the possibilities is obtained by filtering the ations, with I increasing to 3 enabled by this method. The original tone once with the at the end. This demonstrates piece was originally written Inverse Comb Filter (ICF), and the use of the technique as a for the Berlin Technical Uni- the harmonics 1–5 are sepa- straight audio effect with no versity’s Wavefield Synthesis rated by filtering the original adjustment (except for chang- System (one of the four in- tone once with a Harmonic ing the index of modulation). vited works for the launch of Extraction Filter (HEF). In Quite noticeable on fast the system), but later a ver- this example, the residual passages are the artifacts gen- sion encoded in Ambisonics signal is first played and then erated by the glide action of was also produced. This par- it is followed by harmonics the pitch tracker, which add ticular section highlights the 1–5. All the sounds are sep- an analog -like use of AdFM to transform the arated by a short pause. The character to the sound. natural woodwind tones into original recording is taken 3. Clarinet tone, c:m = 1, with I synthetically sounding ones. from the McGill University = 0 initially, then increasing 7. Flute melody, c:m = 1, with Master Samples Database to I = 1.5. This example I = 4∼8 dynamically varying (www.music.mcgill.ca/ re- illustrates a gradual tonal according to the measured sources/mums/html/). Note: change to the odd-harmonic input amplitude. This is the Each of the ten examples is dominant sound of the same melody of example 2, played twice. clarinet, with the introduc- but now using the heterodyne 2. This example is otherwise tion of even components method, which allows for the same as the previous by the Adaptive Frequency higher values of the index one, except that the residual Modulation (AdFM) process. of modulation to be used. signal and the harmonics 4. Piano tone followed by AdFM It also imparts a different were obtained by filtering piano with c:m = 1:1.41, tonal quality to the result. the original tone twice with I = 0.5. This one shows For this example, we have the ICF and HEF structures, how to create inharmonic used amplitude estimation respectively. bell-like sounds of a (mostly) to control the index of 3. This example extracts the harmonic-spectra input. modulation producing an first eight harmonics from The piano sound becomes adaptive dynamic timbral a beating kantele tone G#4 bell-like with the use of a change, following the contour (f0 = 413 Hz) with the HEF. c:m ratiodesignedtoadd of the original phrasing. The kantele tone is the inharmonic components to same as the one used in the the original spectrum. third example (“Extraction 5. Voice recording of “This is 3. Sound Examples to of a Beating Harmonic”) of AdFM synthesis,” followed Accompany the Article the article. The signal is = by AdFM voice with c:m “Canceling and Selecting filtered once. The original 2:1, I = 0.5. This example tone is played first and then Partials from Musical Tones demonstrates the use of a 2:1 the beating harmonics 1–8 ratio to generate an octave Using Fractional-Delay are played. All tones are change in the original sound Filters” by Heidi-Maria separated by a short pause. with the introduction of a Lehtonen, Vesa Valim¨ aki,¨ 4. This example separates the component at half the orig- and Timo I. Laakso odd and even harmonics inal fundamental frequency. (Volume 32, Number 2) from the clarinet tone C5 (f0 6. Excerpt from Streams by = 524 Hz). First, the even Victor Lazzarini, showing 1. This example separates single harmonics are canceled by the use of AdFM to treat a harmonics from the bowed filtering once with an ICF woodwind quartet input. This double-bass tone A#1 (f0 = having a delay corresponding

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/comj.2008.32.4.106 by guest on 01 October 2021 to the frequency of the second to Example 5, where the 5. Sound Examples to harmonic, i.e., 2f0. Then, the odd and even partials are Accompany the Article “A odd harmonics are obtained summed while gradually Parametric Piano by subtracting the even fading the odd harmonics, Synthesizer” by Jukka harmonics from the original causing the fundamental to Rauhala, Mikael Laurson, tone; see Fig. 6 in the article. rise by an octave. The original Vesa Valim¨ aki,¨ Heidi-Maria In this example, the odd and recording is from the McGill even partials are separated by University Master Samples Lehtonen, and Vesa Norilo a short pause. The original Database. (Volume 32, Number 4) recording is from the McGill 9. This example separates the University Master Samples odd and even harmonics 1. The first sound example Database. from the bowed double-bass contains three versions of 5. This example separates the tone G2 used in the previous a synthetic piano tone cor- odd and even harmonics from example. This is another responding to key #3 (f0 = the clarinet tone C5 used cross-fading example similar 30.87 Hz), which have been in the previous example. In to Example 6 where the even produced with ripple filters this example, the odd and harmonics dominate at the having 0, 1, and 5 feedforward even harmonics are summed beginning and fade toward paths, respectively. The case while gradually fading the the end of the tone, while the without extra feedfoward odd harmonics. This causes odd partials are inaudible in paths (0) refers to the con- the perceived fundamental the beginning but dominate ventional one-pole loop filter. frequency of the tone to rise in the end. The tones are separated with a by an octave. 10. This example separates the 0.5-sec pause. After the three 6. This example separates the odd and even harmonics long tones, the tails (from 3 odd and even harmonics from from the bowed double-bass to 6 seconds) of the tones are the clarinet tone C5 used in tone G2 used in the previous repeated in order to better the previous example. This is example. This example is demonstrate how the number a cross-fading example where similar to the cross-fading of feedforward paths affects the even harmonics dominate Example 7 in which the odd the decay process and the at the beginning and fade harmonics dominate at the timbre. All sounds have been toward the end of the tone, beginning and fade toward synthesized with a digital while the odd partials are the end of the tone, while the waveguide model discussed in inaudible in the beginning even partials are inaudible in the article. The string model but dominate in the end. the beginning but dominate includes, in addition to the 7. This example separates the in the end. ripple filter, a dispersion filter odd and even harmonics from consisting of a cascade of four the clarinet tone C5 used in 4. Video Example to second-order all-pass filters. the previous example. This is Accompany the Article The excitation signal is pro- another cross-fading example duced with additive synthe- “Virtual Slide Guitar” by Jyri where the odd harmonics sis, and the hammer knock is dominate at the beginning Pakarinen, Tapio Puputti, modeled with filtered noise. and fade toward the end of and Vesa Valim¨ aki¨ The beating effect is not the tone, while the even (Volume 32, Number 3) included in these examples. partials are inaudible in the 2. The same as the previous ex- beginning but dominate in The virtual slide guitar (presented ample except that it is for the the end. in CMJ 32:3) is a physics-based piano key #4 (f0 = 32.70 Hz). 8. This example separates the slide guitar synthesizer with ges- 3. The same as the previous ex- odd and even harmonics tural control. This video illus- ample except that it is for the from the bowed double-bass trates the system and shows piano key #7 (f0 = 38.89 Hz). tone G2 (f0 = 97.7 Hz). this novel musical instrument in 4. This example demonstrates This example is similar action. how the inharmonicity

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/comj.2008.32.4.106 by guest on 01 October 2021 coefficient value can be the piano synthesizer as a Mountain View, California, modified in real time. Note MIDI file. We have added USA. C2 is played with our physics- reverberation to the original based piano synthesizer in dry signal to simulate room real time by using a MIDI acoustics. Part Four: Additional Materials keyboard. The inharmonicity 7. The second musical example coefficient value is changed is an excerpt from Une feteˆ The 2008 DVD includes a DVD-ROM gradually from 0.000181 to a` Trianon composed by Henri section. To access the material con- 0.0091 causing a strong bell- Roubier. It is played by the pi- tained there, the reader will need like characteristic in the last ano synthesizer implemented to place the DVD into a suitable few tones. The inharmonicity in PWGLSynth. As in the disc drive on a computer. The ma- caused by dispersion has been previous example, the control terials contained here will require a implemented in the piano information has been fed to Web browser with appropriate audio synthesizer using the tunable the piano synthesizer as a support to access the index pages allpass filters proposed MIDI file, and we have added that contains information on and by Rauhala and Valim¨ aki¨ reverberation to the original links to the included sound exam- (2006b). (See the article’s list dry signal to simulate room ples and supporting images. A text of references.) acoustics. editor will also be required in order 5. This sound example demon- to open the document of the fourth strates the sympathetic entry. resonance simulation method with the so-called “silent Part Three: Video Content chord” case, where two notes Featuring Max Mathews are first played silently (E4 1. Sound Examples to and G4), and then a loud stac- 1. Keynote Speech, 2006 Inter- Accompany the Article cato note is played (C2). If the national Computer Music “Numerical Methods for sympathetic resonances are Conference, 9 November Simulation of Guitar simulated correctly, the loud 2006, Tulane University, Distortion Circuits” by staccato note should transfer New Orleans, Louisiana, energy to the other strings USA. David T. Yeh, Jonathan S. as well. The first tone is pro- 2. Panel Discussion, “The Abel, Andrei Vladimirescu, duced with the digital wave- Founders of Computer and Julius O. Smith guide model excluding the Music,” 29 November 2007, (Volume 32, Number 2) sympathetic resonance sim- Tulane University, New ulation, and the latter tone Orleans, Louisiana, USA. These examples compare the is produced with the sympa- Moderator: Jon Appleton; results of solving the diode clipper thetic resonance simulation Panelists: Max Mathews, ordinary differential equation (ODE) algorithm proposed in the John Chowning, Maureen using various numerical methods article. Chowning, F. Richard Moore, or approximating it by a static 6. Our first musical example is Julius O. Smith. nonlinearity. Sound examples and an excerpt from Prelude No. 3. Pre-concert talk by Max spectrograms are given for both the 21 in B-flat major from the Mathews, 29 April 2007, output of the diode clipper ODE only first book of Das Wohltem- Computer History Museum, and the output of the entire Boss perierte Klavier by Johann Mountain View, California, DS-1 signal path as described in the Sebastian Bach. It is played USA. article. Three kinds of excitation are by the physics-based piano 4. Performance of Precita used: A logarithmic sine sweep in synthesizer implemented in Eyes on Max (2007) by Jon frequencyfrom20Hzto20kHz,a PWGLSynth, as described Appleton. Max Mathews, power chord, and a single-note riff. in the article. To produce violin; Jon Appleton, Radio An HTML index page is provided this example, the control Baton. 29 April 2007, with more details regarding the sound information has been fed to Computer History Museum, files.

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/comj.2008.32.4.106 by guest on 01 October 2021 2. Sound Examples to not necessarily correct. The rendering applied to a female voice speaking the Accompany the Article into notation also assumed that the words “everything is at least double.” “Automatic Transcription of time signature is always 4/4. The In the third group is another female Melody, Bass Line, and input files come from the “popular” voice saying “is that you,” from the Chords in Polyphonic Music” and “genre” collections in the Real Max/MSP software distribution, after World Computing (RWC) database, subsequent digital filtering. A fourth by Matti P. Ryynanen¨ and a copyright-cleared database for mu- group of stimuli is based on a “wave” Anssi P. Klapuri (Volume 32, sic research. See the HTML index of noise sounds, while another is Number 3) file. based on noise alone with stable for- mants superimposed. The final group Ten examples are presented of the 3. Sound Examples to presents processed piano phrases. For automatic transcription method de- Accompany the Article further information, see the section scribed in the article. Each example “When Is Noise Speech? A titled “Stimuli” in the article, and the consists of seven files: (1) the input Survey in Sonic Ambiguity” HTML index file on the DVD-ROM audio to be transcribed, (2) audio of portion of the disc. the transcribed output as played by by Freya Bailes and Roger a MIDI synthesizer, (3) stereo audio Dean (Volume 33, Number 1, containing #1 in the left channel and forthcoming) #2 in the right, (4, 5, and 6) separate 4. Text and Translation for audio files of the bass line, melody, These sounds, used in the psycho- Solemn Song for Evening by and chords, respectively, and (7) the logical experiments described in Richard Boulanger transcribed output, rendered using the article, present various types of the Lilypond music notation soft- “NoiseSpeech.” In the first group, a The text file RBoulanger.rtf con- ware. For each example, #1–6 are modification of a processing patch tains the original German poems by .MP3 files and #7 is a .GIF file. The by Atau Tanaka (provided with the Hermann Hesse and their English score images give some idea of the Max/MSP programming platform) translations by Marjorie Mathews. A transcriptions, but the timings were was applied to drum sounds. In the recording of Solemn Song for Evening not quantized and the rhythms are second group, the same patch was is included in Part One of this disc.

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/comj.2008.32.4.106 by guest on 01 October 2021