From Musicomputation

Introduction

The students spent their last few days on final projects: programs that produced music. The students focused on different aspects of what they learned in the class: algorithmic music, user interfaces, graphics, using sound files, generating sine waves, combining words, rhythm, etc. Thus the resulting work varies in the attention paid to each of these aspects.

To fully appreciate these pieces, we suggest downloading and installing processing and the minim libraries and then downloading the file FinalMusicomp.zip and unpacking it into the "examples" directory of processing. Alternatively, you can run these programs as java applets by clicking the links below. However, running these programs from processing seems to work more consistently then running the java applets on this website. This is probably due to a variety of factors including: the complexity of the programs, the size of some of the accompanying audio files and/or some quirks of the processing program that creates the java applets.

To install processing and minim, follow the InstallationInstructions link. Once you have successfully installed processing and minim, you can play the pieces as follows:

1. Start processing
2. Click on the file tab
3. Select one of the choices from: examples/Final Projects/
4. Click on the Run tab (the triangular symbol under the file tab).
5. Follow the individual instructions below

The Final Projects

daniel_piano_wave -- Daniel's program plays a piece in which a synthesized Triangle Wave accompanies a piano piece. The user can alter the pitch of the Triangle Wave using the up and down arrow keys. Daniel

Jeremy_AltDrums -- Jeremy combined a number of different musical snippets to produce a programmed musical effect. Each snippet is a clip of a different instrument (snare, base, etc.). Associated with each snippet is a bit string (1s and 0s) that determines the order in which that snippet is turned on and off. In combination, these bitstrings create a piece that is more than the sum of its parts. In principle, a user could change these bitstrings to produce other pieces using the same snippets. Jeremy

Isabelle_beaty -- Isabelle's program combines two random elements. Members of a set of musical snippets are played in random order while an image consisting of several geometric shapes is displayed. When a new snippet begins, the choice of colors filling each shape also changes in a random manner. Isabelle

JennyHayeonMay_Sun -- Jenny, Hayeon and May's collaborative program recites poetry with a beat. Moving the mouse over different regions of the window that comes up will result in different poems. These students recorded many nouns, verbs and adjectives in their own voices, each word carrying a musical intonation. The program combines these words into sequences based on the position of the mouse. Beats of a bongo are played in combination to produce a drammatic effect. Jenny Hayeon + May

joe_ComplexSynthLoop_With_Interface -- Joe's program presents the user with a selection grid. If the user clicks on a cell in the grid, the program uses the row and columns of this grid to select combinations of two musical snippets to play simultaneously. The initial selection is chosen randomly. Joe

inf_josh -- Joshua's program plays a sine wave that changes its frequency 50 times per minute according to a mathematic progression known as Per Norgard's infinity series. There is no user interface. However, a computer-savvy user can change modes by changing variables. For example, there are two boolean variables which are currently set to false, but can be set to true. When dronebool is set to true, a stable tone (currently middle C) accompanies the other sine wave. When modbool is set to true, the infinity series is modified by applying modulus (currently mod 6) to the midi value and adding a constant (currently 60). Josh

Michael_Organ -- Michael's program presents the user with a window to fill with text. Most (36) keys are set to turn organ-like sounds on and off. Each organ-like sound consists of the same note, repeated over 5 consecutive octaves. The spacebar silences all the sounds and ENTER clears the text from the input window. In this way, the program simulates an electric organ that the user can play. Michael

taeHun_metronome -- TaeHun's program presents the user with a graphical image of a metronome. The beat is indicated by a ball moving back and forth and a sound A ball moves back and forth while a beeping. The user can change the tempo using the up and down arrow keys. The tempo is displayed in beats per second. There is also a toggle (f) which the user can use to put the metronome in a different mode where a sinewave is played (for tuning an instrument). In this mode, the pitch can be adjusted with the up and down arrows. The pitch is displayed in hertz. Other commands: 'S' makes it beep on twice per beat. Tae Hun

Tiange -- Tiange's program displays several vertical bars in a downward repeating motion. The keys: a, s, d, e, f, g, z, x, c, v, b each activate a different continuous loop of music. The music associated with a, s, d, e, f, g are mutually exclusive, e.g., "a" turns off "g", whereas the others cooccur -- this makes musical sense as each one of these clips are of a rhythmic nature. In contrast, the music associated with z, x, c, v and b are more of a melodic nature. As a loop is turned on or off, a corresponding graphical line moves in rhythm with it. The key "0" turns off all the loops (and the corresponding lines stop moving). The effect is an environment in which the user decides which loops should play together at a given time. Tiange