About This Issue

The first article of this issue is an in- smooth transformations such as tim- cast as a continuation of the tale of terview with Gerard Pape, director of bral morphs, spatial movement, and three friends that Peter Desain and the Centre de Cre´ation Musicale Ian- progression from micro- to macro- he penned a decade ago in their arti- nis Xenakis (CCMIX) in the suburbs sound. cle ‘‘Tempo Curves Considered of Paris. Besides composing music, On a related note, timbral morphs Harmful.’’ Mr. Pape works as a Lacanian psy- take center stage in the article by The concluding article, by Keiji choanalyst, and he describes here the Kelly Fitz and his co-authors—al- Hirata and Tatsuya Aoyogi, presents interrelation of these two profes- though here the synthesis technique a project in the formal representation sions. The interview touches on is additive synthesis, employed for of musical structure. The authors’ practical matters, such as how his its benefits as a general-purpose anal- system employs correspondences center obtains funding, but focuses ysis, resynthesis, and transformation they found between the time-span on artistic concerns, such as his in- tool. Specifically, the authors use a reduction technique in Fred Lerdahl terest in setting dramatic texts by variety known as the reassigned and Ray Jackendoff’s generative the- playwrights like Antonin Artaud and bandwidth-enhanced model, imple- ory of tonal music, on the one hand, Samuel Beckett. mented in the software package Lo- and properties of the deductive object-oriented database, on the Mr. Pape has also been working ris. Bandwidth enhancement refers other. Although the article is chiefly with Sinan Bokesoy to create a new to the ability to use noise, not just theoretical, the authors also describe /MSP-based compositional envi- sinusoids, as partials. The reassign- sample application programs they ronment called Stochos, which they ment method permits non-uniform implemented that are based on their describe in this issue. This software spacing of time and frequency break- system. facilitates the use of , cha- points, yielding improved resolution Journal always otic, and deterministic processes to and reduced smearing of transients. includes an abundance of material generate events and synthesize tim- The article introduces programming besides feature articles. James bres. The software’s point of depar- interfaces to Loris as well as end-user Dashow, who was interviewed in the ture was the compositional system applications for creating morphs be- previous issue of the Journal, writes Xenakis employed in his composi- tween timbres. a letter to the editor in this issue, de- tion Achorripsis (which Linda Arsen- The final two articles deal with scribing his algorithm for spatializing ault analyzed in Computer Music models of music. The first of these, sound. code is provided. The Journal 26:1). Among other possibili- by Henkjan Honing, discusses math- issue also contains news items of in- ties, the program features cross syn- ematical models of timing—specifi- terest to the computer music com- thesis, granular synthesis, and cally, of the ritardando that munity (which are now being edited dynamic stochastic synthesis a` la Xe- performers often apply to a piece’s by Richard Zvonar); reviews of three nakis’s GENDYN program. The au- concluding notes. Mr. Honing uses a books, numerous CDs, and two soft- thors stress the importance of literary device not often found in ware products; and product an- continuous parameters for effecting these pages: the bulk of his essay is nouncements.

Front cover: This graphic offers a vi- Back cover: The upper image shows est in emulating analog synthesis sual analogue to the humorous audio prototype software for editing hierar- through software. In this case, the morph that changes from a trombone chical analyses of music, following manufacturer has chosen a literal tone to a cat’s meow, as described in the generative theory of tonal music imitation of not only a Moog modu- the article by Kelly Fitz and his col- by Fred Lerdahl and Ray Jackendoff. lar ’s sound, but also its leagues. That morph can be heard in See the article by Keiji Hirata and user interface. (Compare the front a sound example on the forthcoming Tatsuya Aoyagi. The lower image, cover of Computer Music Journal Computer Music Journal DVD (ac- from this issue’s Products of Interest 21:4, Winter 1997.) companying the Winter 2003 issue). section, evinces the continued inter-

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