Corpus-Based Transcription as an Approach to the Compositional Control of Timbre

Timbre space is a cognitive model useful to address the problem of structuring timbre in electronic music. The recent concept of corpus-based concatenative sound synthesis is proposed as an approach to timbral control in both real- and deferred-time applications. Using CataRT and related tools in the FTM and Gabor libraries for Max/MSP we describe a technique for real-time analysis of a live signal to pilot corpus-based synthesis, along with examples of compositional realizations in works for instruments, electronics, and sound installation. To extend this technique to computer-assisted composition for acoustic instruments, we develop tools using the Sound Description Interchange Format (SDIF) to export sonic descriptors to OpenMusic where they may be further manipulated and transcribed into an instrumental score. This presents a flexible technique for the compositional organization of noise-based instrumental sounds

Surfing the Waves: Live Audio Mosaicing of an Electric Bass Performance as a Corpus Browsing Interface

In this paper, the authors describe how they use an electric bass as a subtle, expressive and intuitive interface to browse the rich sample bank available to most laptop owners. This is achieved by audio mosaicing of the live bass performance audio, through corpus-based concatenative synthesis (CBCS) techniques, allowing a mapping of the multi-dimensional expressivity of the performance onto foreign audio material, thus recycling the virtuosity acquired on the electric instrument with a trivial learning curve. This design hypothesis is contextualised and assessed within the Sandbox#n series of bass+laptop meta-instruments, and the authors describe technical means of the implementation through the use of the open-source CataRT CBCS system adapted for live mosaicing. They also discuss their encouraging early results and provide a list of further explorations to be made with that rich new interface

Stato dell’arte nella sintesi di texture sonore

The synthesis of sound textures, such as rain, wind, or crowds, is an important application for cinema, multimedia creation, games and installations. However, despite the clearly defined requirements of naturalness and flexibility, no automatic method has yet found widespread use. After clarifying the definition, terminology, and usages of sound texture synthesis, we will give an overview of the many existing methods and approaches, and the few available software implementations, and classify them by the synthesis model they are based on, such as subtractive or additive synthesis, granular synthesis, corpus-based concatenative synthesis, wavelets, or physical modeling. Additionally, an overview is given over analysis methods used for sound texture synthesis, such as segmentation, statistical modeling, timbral analysis, and modeling of transitions

Technology and composition — an autoethnography on the influence of electronics on orchestration practice

This research explores novel methods of orchestration, focusing on the influence of electronics on my own orchestration practice. By drawing upon electronic music composition techniques and timbral-shaping tools, this project addresses the boundaries of orchestration and examines processes that inform orchestration decisions. Through the resulting portfolio, I explore timbral blend, spatialization and acoustics, real-time orchestration, computer-aided/assisted orchestration, and the extension of the timbral palette by rethinking the ideals of spectral composition. These methods aim to create unique sound worlds and audience experiences while situating my distinctive approach in relation to other existing practices. Furthermore, a supporting commentary illuminates the deep pre-compositional research that informs my orchestration practice by identifying the techniques and evaluating their application. To explore such concepts, it is vital to conduct practice-led autoethnographic research. This allows for full, creative exploration and application of site-specific and acoustic/electronic tools. Through recognizing the impact of electronics on my approach to orchestration, I have made exciting discoveries in this field by integrating electronic and non-electronic systems, forming what I regard as my orchestration discourse. The radical overhaul of my orchestration approach has served to highlight just how much more work there is to be made in the realm of human-machine creative collaboration and that sound has many more lessons to teach me. This research marks a ‘checkpoint’ of life-long research as contemporary arts and science work hand in hand. We cannot disregard the fact that the gap between the world of instrumental music and electronic music is still too unexplored in the timbral-based orchestration domain

Noise in and as music

One hundred years after Luigi Russolo’s “The Art of Noises,” this book exposes a cross-section of the current motivations, activities, thoughts, and reflections of composers, performers, and artists who work with noise in all of its many forms. The book’s focus is the practice of noise and its relationship to music, and in particular the role of noise as musical material—as form, as sound, as notation or interface, as a medium for listening, as provocation, as data. Its contributors are first and foremost practitioners, which inevitably turns attention toward how and why noise is made and its potential role in listening and perceiving. Contributors include Peter Ablinger, Sebastian Berweck, Aaron Cassidy, Marko Ciciliani, Nick Collins, Aaron Einbond, Matthias Haenisch, Alec Hall, Martin Iddon, Bryan Jacobs, Phil Julian, Michael Maierhof, Joan Arnau Pàmies, and James Whitehead (JLIAT). The book also features a collection of short responses to a two-question “interview”—“what is noise (music) to you?” and “why do you make it?”—by some of the leading musicians working with noise today. Their work spans a wide range of artistic practice, including instrumental, vocal, and electronic music; improvisation; notated composition; theater; sound installation; DIY; and software development. Interview subjects include Eryck Abecassis, Franck Bedrossian, Antoine Chessex, Ryan Jordan, Alice Kemp (Germseed), George Lewis, Lasse Marhaug, Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje, Diemo Schwarz, Ben Thigpen, Kasper Toeplitz, and Pierre Alexandre Tremblay.Publishe

Noise in and as music

One hundred years after Luigi Russolo’s “The Art of Noises,” this book exposes a cross-section of the current motivations, activities, thoughts, and reflections of composers, performers, and artists who work with noise in all of its many forms. The book’s focus is the practice of noise and its relationship to music, and in particular the role of noise as musical material—as form, as sound, as notation or interface, as a medium for listening, as provocation, as data. Its contributors are first and foremost practitioners, which inevitably turns attention toward how and why noise is made and its potential role in listening and perceiving. Contributors include Peter Ablinger, Sebastian Berweck, Aaron Cassidy, Marko Ciciliani, Nick Collins, Aaron Einbond, Matthias Haenisch, Alec Hall, Martin Iddon, Bryan Jacobs, Phil Julian, Michael Maierhof, Joan Arnau Pàmies, and James Whitehead (JLIAT). The book also features a collection of short responses to a two-question “interview”—“what is noise (music) to you?” and “why do you make it?”—by some of the leading musicians working with noise today. Their work spans a wide range of artistic practice, including instrumental, vocal, and electronic music; improvisation; notated composition; theater; sound installation; DIY; and software development. Interview subjects include Eryck Abecassis, Franck Bedrossian, Antoine Chessex, Ryan Jordan, Alice Kemp (Germseed), George Lewis, Lasse Marhaug, Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje, Diemo Schwarz, Ben Thigpen, Kasper Toeplitz, and Pierre Alexandre Tremblay