Sketching sonic interactions by imitation-driven sound synthesis

Sketching is at the core of every design activity. In visual design, pencil and paper are the preferred tools to produce sketches for their simplicity and immediacy. Analogue tools for sonic sketching do not exist yet, although voice and gesture are embodied abilities commonly exploited to communicate sound concepts. The EU project SkAT-VG aims to support vocal sketching with computeraided technologies that can be easily accessed, understood and controlled through vocal and gestural imitations. This imitation-driven sound synthesis approach is meant to overcome the ephemerality and timbral limitations of human voice and gesture, allowing to produce more refined sonic sketches and to think about sound in a more designerly way. This paper presents two main outcomes of the project: The Sound Design Toolkit, a palette of basic sound synthesis models grounded on ecological perception and physical description of sound-producing phenomena, and SkAT-Studio, a visual framework based on sound design workflows organized in stages of input, analysis, mapping, synthesis, and output. The integration of these two software packages provides an environment in which sound designers can go from concepts, through exploration and mocking-up, to prototyping in sonic interaction design, taking advantage of all the possibilities of- fered by vocal and gestural imitations in every step of the process

Experimental Approaches to the Composition of Interactive Video Game Music

This project explores experimental approaches and strategies to the composition of interactive music for the medium of video games. Whilst music in video games has not enjoyed the technological progress that other aspects of the software have received, budgets expand and incomes from releases grow. Music is now arguably less interactive than it was in the 1990’s, and whilst graphics occupy large amounts of resources and development time, audio does not garner the same attention. This portfolio develops strategies and audio engines, creating music using the techniques of aleatoric composition, real-time remixing of existing work, and generative synthesisers. The project created music for three ‘open-form’ games : an example of the racing genre (Kart Racing Pro); an arena-based first-person shooter (Counter-Strike : Source); and a real-time strategy title (0 A.D.). These games represent a cross-section of ‘sandbox’- type games on the market, as well as all being examples of games with open-ended or open-source code

Phase transitions and He-synthesis driven winds in neutrino cooled accretion disks: prospects for late flares in short gamma-ray bursts

We consider the long term evolution of debris following the tidal disruption of compact stars in the context of short gamma ray bursts (SGRBs). The initial encounter impulsively creates a hot, dense, neutrino-cooled disk capable of powering the prompt emission. After a long delay, we find that powerful winds are launched from the surface of the disk, driven by the recombination of free nucleons into alpha particles. The associated energy release depletes the mass supply and eventually shuts off activity of the central engine. As a result, the luminosity and mass accretion rate deviate from the earlier self-similar behavior expected for an isolated ring with efficient cooling. This then enables a secondary episode of delayed activity to become prominent as an observable signature, when material in the tidal tails produced by the initial encounter returns to the vicinity of the central object. The time scale of the new accretion event can reach tens of seconds to minutes, depending on the details of the system. The associated energies and time scales are consistent with those occurring in X-ray flares.Comment: Revised version, accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

Physically informed car engine sound synthesis for virtual and augmented environments

The richness of crossmodal feedback in car driving makes it an engaging, complex, yet “natural” activity. Audition plays an important role, as the engine sound, perceived in the cabin, conveys relevant cues about the vehicle motion. In this paper, we introduce a procedural and physically informed model for synthetic combustion engine sound, as an effective, flexible and computationally efficient alternative to sample-based and analysis/resynthesis approaches. The sound model, currently being developed as Max/MSP external, has been integrated in GeneCars, a driving simulator environment for industrial sound design, and SkAT Studio, a demonstration framework for the rapid creation of audio processing workflows

CoRoT and Kepler results: Solar-like oscillators

The space-borne observatories CoRoT (Convection Rotation and planetary Transits) and Kepler have provided photometric time series data of unprecedented precision for large numbers of stars. These data have revolutionized the fields of transiting exoplanets and asteroseismology. In this review some important asteroseismic results obtained using data from the CoRoT and Kepler space missions concerning stars that show solar-like oscillations are discussed. These results comprise, among others, measurements of the location of the base of the convection zone and helium second-ionization zone in main-sequence stars, the presence (or not) of core-helium burning in red-giant stars, as well as differential rotation in these stars.Comment: Invited review for Advances in Space Researc

Bleed of VideoGame FPS Techniques and Sound Design Elements into Contemporary Scores- Case Study: Gravity (2013)

We will explore the approach of Sound and Music in Gravity, how it has borrowed elements from the FPS VideoGame world, and how the Sound Design is deeply woven into the film, critically boosting the impact of the story. It is no coincidence that Gravity’s Music Composer Steven Price, specialized in Sound Design work before diving deep into Music Composition for Film, and it is perhaps this, what sets Gravity aside; regarding Music as Sound, and taking that notion to the nth power.https://remix.berklee.edu/graduate-studies-scoring/1011/thumbnail.jp