BLURRING THE LINES: AN INTEGRATED COMPOSITIONAL MODEL FOR DIGITAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENT DESIGN

CIM14 9th Conference on Interdisciplinary Musicolog

Modular composition environment: A tool for improvisation of conventional electronic music.

This production thesis sets out to create a tool for live improvisation of music that allows musicians to create and modulate musical patterns in real-time and reduces the need for pre-recorded or pre-sequenced material. It starts by defining the scope of *conventional electronic music* and then explores the shortcomings of current tools in relation to the divergency of music making. The project is based on the author's previous experiences in the live improvisation of conventional electronic music, and thus it starts by surveying the currently existing tools. After that, it focuses on the iterative design process of modular environment, taking the modular synthesizer as a conceptual starting point. These processes led to the development of composition devices which are expressed through a hardware user interface, in a modular environment. This project finds that the shortcomings in divergency of current music improvisation tools come from the fact that musical modulations in an improvisation tool are inherently limited by the available procedures of any given system. While composition tools such as modular synthesizers lack this limitation they do not have the discrete musical abstractions required for conventional electronic music. The production project thus focuses on the design of a modular environment that could permit re-purposing of procedures that process discrete musical events. The outcome of this project is a new performance environment that can be used to generate more diverse improvisations of conventional electronic music

Vocal Synthetics: Designing for an Adaptable Singing Synthesizer

Technological music tools such as digital audio workstations and electronic music instruments have enabled musicians without formal training to create music that is heard by millions of people. The automation by software and hardware can create compelling productions without limitations from performance ability. However, the automation of vocals is particularly difficult because beyond pitch and timbre, the vocalization of language requires additional parameters for control. As the production of a vocal synthesizer and its vocal palettes is complex, the current market sees these difficulties represented through products that have limited voices and do not adapt to vocal trends. This project demonstrates a tool that allows producers to use a simple typing interface for the input of words, allowing the output to be integrated and controlled by modern digital audio workstations. Using a machine learning solution, the tool is not dependent on large stores of audio data once a model is trained and since it contains a simple method to create new voices, it can keep up with evolving musical trends and vocal styles. The aim is to bring the human voice into the realm of digital music production enabling a music maker to include a large range of vocal styles within their production tool set. This paper outlines the design and development of the tool and culminates in a piece of music that illustrates the value of applying design thinking research strategies to an artistic and technical challenge

A new user interface for musical timbre design

This thesis characterises and addresses problems and issues associated with the design of intuitive user interfaces for timbral control. The usability of a range of synthesis methods and representative implementations of these methods is assessed, and three interface architectures - fixed architecture, architecture specification and direct specification - are identified. The characteristics of each of these architectures, as well as problems of usability inherent to each of them are discussed; it is argued that none of them provide intuitive tools for the manipulation and control of timbre. The study examines the nature of timbre and the notion of timbre space; different kinds of timbre space are considered and criteria are proposed for the selection of suitable timbre spaces as vehicles for synthesis. A number of listening tests, designed to demonstrate the feasibility of subsequent work, were devised and carried out; the results of these tests provide evidence that, where Euclidean distances between sounds located in a given timbre space are reflected in perceptual distances, the ability of subjects to detect relative distances in different parts of the space varies with the perceptual granularity of the space. Three contrasting timbre spaces conforming to the proposed criteria for use in synthesis are constructed; the purpose of these spaces is to provide an environment for a novel user interaction approach for timbral design which incorporates a search strategy based on weighted centroid localization. Two prototypes which exemplify the proposed approach in alternative ways are designed, implemented and tested with potential users in order to validate the approach; a third contrasting prototype which represents a simple contrasting alternative is tested for purposes of comparison. The results of these tests are evaluated and discussed, and areas of further work identified

A Survey of AI Music Generation Tools and Models

In this work, we provide a comprehensive survey of AI music generation tools, including both research projects and commercialized applications. To conduct our analysis, we classified music generation approaches into three categories: parameter-based, text-based, and visual-based classes. Our survey highlights the diverse possibilities and functional features of these tools, which cater to a wide range of users, from regular listeners to professional musicians. We observed that each tool has its own set of advantages and limitations. As a result, we have compiled a comprehensive list of these factors that should be considered during the tool selection process. Moreover, our survey offers critical insights into the underlying mechanisms and challenges of AI music generation

Algorithmic Compositional Methods and their Role in Genesis: A Multi-Functional Real-Time Computer Music System

Algorithmic procedures have been applied in computer music systems to generate compositional products using conventional musical formalism, extensions of such musical formalism and extra-musical disciplines such as mathematical models. This research investigates the applicability of such algorithmic methodologies for real-time musical composition, culminating in Genesis, a multi-functional real-time computer music system written for Mac OS X in the SuperCollider object-oriented programming language, and contained in the accompanying DVD. Through an extensive graphical user interface, Genesis offers musicians the opportunity to explore the application of the sonic features of real-time sound-objects to designated generative processes via different models of interaction such as unsupervised musical composition by Genesis and networked control of external Genesis instances. As a result of the applied interactive, generative and analytical methods, Genesis forms a unique compositional process, with a compositional product that reflects the character of its interactions between the sonic features of real-time sound-objects and its selected algorithmic procedures. Within this thesis, the technologies involved in algorithmic methodologies used for compositional processes, and the concepts that define their constructs are described, with consequent detailing of their selection and application in Genesis, with audio examples of algorithmic compositional methods demonstrated on the accompanying DVD. To demonstrate the real-time compositional abilities of Genesis, free explorations with instrumentalists, along with studio recordings of the compositional processes available in Genesis are presented in audiovisual examples contained in the accompanying DVD. The evaluation of the Genesis system’s capability to form a real-time compositional process, thereby maintaining real-time interaction between the sonic features of real-time sound objects and its selected algorithmic compositional methods, focuses on existing evaluation techniques founded in HCI and the qualitative issues such evaluation methods present. In terms of the compositional products generated by Genesis, the challenges in quantifying and qualifying its compositional outputs are identified, demonstrating the intricacies of assessing generative methods of compositional processes, and their impact on a resulting compositional product. The thesis concludes by considering further advances and applications of Genesis, and inviting further dissemination of the Genesis system and promotion of research into evaluative methods of generative techniques, with the hope that this may provide additional insight into the relative success of products generated by real-time algorithmic compositional processes

Towards a Better Understanding of Emotion Communication in Music: An Interactive Production Approach.

It has been well established that composers and performers are able to encode certain emotional expressions in music, which in turn are decoded by listeners, and in general, successfully recognised. There is still much to discover, however, as to how musical cues combine to shape different emotions in the music, since previous literature has tended to focus on a limited number of cues and emotional expressions. The work in this thesis aims to investigate how combinations of tempo, articulation, pitch, dynamics, brightness, mode, and later, instrumentation, are used to shape sadness, joy, calmness, anger, fear, power, and surprise in Western tonal music. In addition, new tools for music and emotion research are presented with the aim of providing an efficient production approach to explore a large cue-emotion space in a relatively short time. To this end, a new interactive interface called EmoteControl was created which allows users to alter musical pieces in real-time through the available cues. Moreover, musical pieces were specifically composed to be used as stimuli. Empirical experiments were then carried out with the interface to determine how participants shaped different emotions in the pieces using the available cues. Specific cue combinations for the different emotions were produced. Findings revealed that overall, mode and tempo were the strongest contributors to the conveyed emotion whilst brightness was the least effective cue. However, the importance of the cues varied depending on the intended emotion. Finally, a comparative evaluation of production and traditional approaches was carried out which showed that similar results may be obtained with both. However, the production approach allowed for a larger cue-emotion space to be navigated in a shorter time. In sum, the production approach allowed participants to directly show us how they think emotional expressions should sound, and how they are shaped in music

Adapting and applying central Javanese gamelan music theory in electroacoustic composition and performance

This thesis represents an investigation of composition and performance processes from gamelan music (particularly the traditional form karawitan), and the potential for their application in the medium of electroacoustic music. The research was developed through a mixture of theory and practice in a feedback relationship; the written thesis accompanies a portfolio of compositions and arrangements of traditional pieces, alongside software developed in Max/MSP to emulate and expand upon selected aspects of gamelan performance practice. The thesis is divided into two parts. Part I establishes the theoretical foundations for the thesis, introducing key concepts from ethnomusicology, gamelan music, and theory developed for electroacoustic music. Central to the thesis is a notion of “idiom” involving constraints, affordances, and individual expression. While the choice of instruments does not always influence musical style, karawitan presents examples of established instrumental roles in relation to a central framework. In the absence of a unified electroacoustic theory, Schaeffer’s musique concrète provides a starting point for discussion. Further ideas are developed using an adaptation of Simon Emmerson’s language grid (1986) to identify situations in which musical information is imposed from elsewhere, developed directly from the sound materials, or a combination thereof. This leads to the proposal of a set of strategies for composition and analysis of new works. Three areas are discussed through a set of case studies: the development of syntax and idiomatic discourse, idiomatic references and their interpretation, and the use of cues to establish discourse. Part II examines the compositions developed during the research. A description of the overall composition framework and technical considerations is presented, in which abstract algorithmic-oriented approaches are compared with a more concrete approach to sound. A general commentary leads into the description and analysis of works in the portfolio based on the methods exposed in the body of the thesis

Rediscovering The Interpersonal: Models Of Networked Communication In New Media Performance

This paper examines the themes of human perception and participation within the contemporary paradigm and relates the hallmarks of the major paradigm shift which occurred in the mid-20th century from a structural view of the world to a systems view. In this context, the author’s creative practice is described, outlining a methodology for working with the communication networks and interpersonal feedback loops that help to define our relationships to each other and to media since that paradigm shift. This research is framed within a larger field of inquiry into the impact of contemporary New Media Art as we experience it. This thesis proposes generative/cybernetic/systems art as the most appropriate media to model the processes of cultural identity production and networked communication. It reviews brief definitions of the systems paradigm and some key principles of cybernetic theory, with emphasis on generative, indeterminate processes. These definitions provide context for a brief review of precedents for the use of these models in the arts, (especially in process art, experimental video, interactive art, algorithmic composition, and sound art) since the mid-20th century, in direct correlation to the paradigm shift into systems thinking. Research outcomes reported here describe a recent body of generative art performances that have evolved from this intermedial, research-based creative practice, and discuss its use of algorithms, electronic media, and performance to provide audiences with access to an intuitive model of the interpersonal in a networked world