About This Issue Natasha Barrett’s composition Little music community. MIDI is only the versus-frequency representation Animals appeared on the compact most prominent example of such a that is similar to a sonogram. The disc Computer Music Journal Sound standard. In an attempt to reverse second editor operates on models of Anthology Volume 22, which was this trend, the MIT Media Lab has coupled springs; the author explains included with the Winter 1998 is- contributed to the MPEG-4 standard that these are not true physical sue. Her article in the present issue by integrating into it a sound-syn- models, but intuitive models de- explains the compositional thinking thesis language derived from that signed for sound synthesis. The that underlies this piece. The com- well-known workhorse, Csound. third editor, known as Sound Pota- poser explores several topics famil- Eric Scheirer and Barry Vercoe’s ar- toes, manipulates trajectories that iar in acousmatic circles, while ticle in this issue describes this new can be applied to the movement of revealing her own approaches. Of language, called SAOL. The authors nodes in a coupled-spring network. primary concern, for example, is the assert that the inclusion of SAOL in These feature articles are followed relationship between musical and an international standard will lead by an extensive set of reviews, col- extramusical or allusive contexts, to “an explosion of opportunities for lected and edited by James Harley. and how these relationships unfold musicians and technologists.” The event reviews include two com- over time during and after listening. The guitar has been a popular sub- mentaries on the 1998 International A markedly different approach to ject of research in physical-model- Computer Music Conference in composing is to employ algorithmic ing synthesis, as evidenced by Michigan. A new category appears composition software to generate several articles in Computer Music in this issue’s Reviews section: pitches and rhythms. The article by Journal over the years (most re- films. Steven M. Martin’s documen- Kenneth McAlpine, Eduardo cently, Volume 22, Number 3). In tary film on Leon Theremin is Miranda, and Stuart Hoggar consti- the present issue, Giuseppe evaluated, as is a movie about elec- tutes a basic tutorial on stochastic Cuzzocoli and Vincenzo Lombardo tronic dance music. In addition, our algorithms and cellular automata, discuss a physical model of the clas- reviewers have contributed their as- combined with a presentation of the sical guitar that incorporates a sessments of six books (including authors’ own composition program, model of the performer’s finger Curtis Roads’s Computer Music Tu- CAMUS 3D. (both flesh and nail) as it interacts torial) and six compact discs. On numerous occasions, industry with the string. The concluding section, Products has adopted models for producing Our final article describes Vincent of Interest, announces the availabil- musical sound that are technically Lesbros’s trio of software applica- ity of numerous software and hard- inferior to those already in use for tions for editing and synthesizing ware packages, as well as some many years among the computer sound. The first editor uses a time- publications and recordings. Front cover: A composite illustra- Back cover: A vertiginous view of tion of two contrasting approaches Michelangelo Lupone contemplat- to composition. An excerpt from the ing his Wave Guides installation at graphic score of Natasha Barrett’s the Corpi Del Suono festival, dis- Little Animals appears among vari- cussed in the News section of this ous squares generated by Camus issue. 3D’s Game of Life and Demon Cy- clic Space algorithms. About This Issue 1 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/014892699559661 by guest on 27 September 2021.