26 research outputs found

    Real-time emulation of the Clavinet

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    none3siopenLeonardo Gabrielli, Vesa VÀlimÀki, Stefan BilbaoGabrielli, Leonardo; VÀlimÀki, Vesa; Bilbao, Stefa

    A digital waveguide-based approach for Clavinet modeling and synthesis

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    The Clavinet is an electromechanical musical instrument produced in the mid-twentieth century. As is the case for other vintage instruments, it is subject to aging and requires great effort to be maintained or restored. This paper reports analyses conducted on a Hohner Clavinet D6 and proposes a computational model to faithfully reproduce the Clavinet sound in real time, from tone generation to the emulation of the electronic components. The string excitation signal model is physically inspired and represents a cheap solution in terms of both computational resources and especially memory requirements (compared, e.g., to sample playback systems). Pickups and amplifier models have been implemented which enhance the natural character of the sound with respect to previous work. A model has been implemented on a real-time software platform, Pure Data, capable of a 10-voice polyphony with low latency on an embedded device. Finally, subjective listening tests conducted using the current model are compared to previous tests showing slightly improved results

    Beyond key velocity: Continuous sensing for expressive control on the Hammond Organ and Digital keyboards

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    In this thesis we seek to explore the potential for continuous key position to be used as an expressive control in keyboard musical instruments, and how preexisting skills can be adapted to leverage this additional control. Interaction between performer and sound generation on a keyboard instrument is often restricted to a number of discrete events on the keys themselves (notes onsets and offsets), while complementary continuous control is provided via additional interfaces, such as pedals, modulation wheels and knobs. The rich vocabulary of gestures that skilled performers can achieve on the keyboard is therefore often simplified to a single, discrete velocity measurement. A limited number of acoustical and electromechanical keyboard instruments do, however, present affordances of continuous key control, so that the role of the key is not limited to delivering discrete events, but its instantaneous position is, to a certain extent, an element of expressive control. Recent evolutions in sensing technologies allow to leverage continuous key position as an expressive element in the sound generation of digital keyboard musical instruments. We start by exploring the expression available on the keys of the Hammond organ, where nine contacts are closed at different points of the key throw for each key onset and we find that the velocity and the percussiveness of the touch affect the way the contacts close and bounce, producing audible differences in the onset transient of each note. We develop an embedded hardware and software environment for low-latency sound generation controlled by continuous key position, which we use to create two digital keyboard instruments. The first of these emulates the sound of a Hammond and can be controlled with continuous key position, so that it allows for arbitrary mapping between the key position and the nine virtual contacts of the digital sound generator. A study with 10 musicians shows that, when exploring the instrument on their own, the players can appreciate the differences between different settings and tend to develop a personal preference for one of them. In the second instrument, continuous key position is the fundamental means of expression: percussiveness, key position and multi-key gestures control the parameters of a physical model of a flute. In a study with 6 professional musicians playing this instrument we gather insights on the adaptation process, the limitations of the interface and the transferability of traditional keyboard playing techniques

    Copying, copyright and originality; imitation, transformation and popular musicians

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    With copyright becoming ever more important for business and government, this article argues for a more nuanced understanding of the practices and values associated with copying in popular music culture and advocates a more critical approach to notions of originality. Drawing from interviews with working musicians this article challenges the approaches to copying and popular music that pitch corporate notions of piracy against creative sharing by citizens. It explores differing approaches to the circulation of recordings and identifies three distinct types of creative copying: i) learning through imitation, ii) copying as transformation, iii) copying for commercial opportunity. The article then considers how copying is caught between a commercial necessity for familiar musical products that must conform to existing expectations and a copyright legislative rationale requiring original sounds with individual owners. The article highlights how legacies from a long history of human copying as a means of acquiring knowledge and skills leads to a collision of creative musical practices, commercial imperatives and copyright regulation and results in a series of unavoidable tensions around originality and copying that are a central characteristic of cultural production

    How can a contemporary composer use film to enhance music?

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    There is a body of literature on music in film, and some analytical writing on music video, but almost no writing that approaches the subject from the point of view of how the film might support the music. My research question is, therefore, how can moving images help a composer to communicate music to an audience? To resolve this question I first analysed a number of key music/film works and formulated a hypothesis that there are five modes where film can support music. These are by ‱ First Mode: creating an ambience conducive to the appreciation of music ‱ Second Mode: using filmic tools such as editing and camerawork to emphasise musical elements ‱ Third Mode: supplying context about the work and its creation ‱ Fourth Mode: embedding the music in a format that facilitates the music’s appreciation ‱ Fifth Mode: embedding the music into the narrative structure of the film. To explore this hypothesis I created three music/film artworks that utilised the techniques above. These were a video installation, a film that creates a supportive ambience for a set of piano nocturnes, and a feature length music documentary that features a number of music videos. In the conclusion I will state that through these works I have shown that these five modes do indeed enable film to support music

    Rock Becomes Jazz: Interpretations of Popular Music by Improvising Artists in the 1960s

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    The advent of rock and roll changed the jazz world’s relationship to itself and its musical public. The popularity of jazz, in decline since the rise of bebop in the mid-1940s, was further eroded by rock and roll’s rise to prominence in the mid-1950s. By the mid-1960s, the jazz world seemed to be faced with a choice: adapt to accommodate the burgeoning new genre or risk fading further into popular irrelevance. Many jazz artists chose to ignore rock, oftentimes viewing it as a simple-minded pursuit dominated by white artists stealing from black musicians. Other artists, though, chose to engage with the new music and bring it into the jazz world by interpreting rock repertoire. In a way, this trend was no different than the time-honored jazz tradition of interpreting contemporary popular songs. Interpreting rock songs and incorporating them into their repertoire was different, though, because of the many prejudices that jazz musicians held toward rock music and the relative simplicity of rock’s musical attributes. This paper is dedicated to the in-depth study of jazz versions of rock music in the 1960s. By examining biographies and interviews, I highlight the various musical, commercial and racial considerations that were present for jazz artists during this era and seek answers to the following questions: How do jazz musicians deal with changing times, and how do their musical choices reflect that? What do these choices and processes say about their musical/artistic worldview and what non-musical considerations influence the decision making process? How do commercial considerations fuel the choices made by jazz musicians? How do these early interpretations of rock music in a jazz context pave the way for future crossover between the two genres? With these queries as a backdrop, I delve deeply into the the musical attributes of each selection, including form, key, tempo, meter, melody and harmony. Through these musical specifics and in conjunction with relevant testimony from the artists and observers, I arrive at conclusions regarding the interpretive methods and their relative commercial and/or artistic success. Overall, there has been relatively little academic analysis devoted to the covering of rock music by jazz musicians, and this paper is intended to fill that void. The influence of rock music on the jazz world has been important in modern jazz, both in the jazz-rock fusion of the 1970s and the massive up swing of rock songs in the jazz repertoire in 2000s. Looking closely at the first attempts at combining jazz and rock provides a clear foundation for these efforts. Additionally, close study of 1960s jazz interpretations of rock music highlights certain musical, commercial and racial considerations that colored the choices made by artists in the 1960s and continue to influence artists’ decision-making processes in the 21st century.unpublishedis peer reviewe

    Controllers as musical instruments, controllerism as musical practice - practices of a new 21st century musical culture

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    This thesis consists of an ethnomusicological approach to the development of Controllers as musical instruments, and conceptualizes Controllerism as a musical practice. I make a case for a revision in organology that includes Controllers, and other instruments of the computer society, by seeking out commonalities and providing comparative analyses between historical instruments and modern Controllers. I then provide definitions of the term Controllerism; by discussing its origins, history, musical logics, strains of musical practice, and current technological explorations. By situating the Controller and Controllerism in a cultural and historical timeline, I have traced informing logics that have led to the development of this new instrument and musical practice. Ethnography has been undertaken with informants from Europe, America and Japan in order to ascertain generalized understandings of the instrument and musical practice; and participatory action research undergone in three separate artist residencies with the intent of determining common perspectives and concerns of international Controllerists. A Portuguese case-study has provided a unique glimpse, by comparison, of this emerging art-form and growing mind-set in modern music.Esta tese Ă© uma aproximação etnomusicolĂłgica ao desenvolvimento dos controladores como instrumentos musicais, e conceitualiza o chamado Controllerism como uma prĂĄtica musical. Defendo a ideia de uma revisĂŁo no campo da organologia que inclua os controladores e outros instrumentos da computer society, procurando pontos em comum e providenciando anĂĄlises comparativas entre instrumentos histĂłricos e controladores modernos. Apresentarei definiçÔes do termo Controllerism; discutindo as suas origens, histĂłria, lĂłgicas musicais, vertentes de prĂĄtica musical, e as atuais exploraçÔes tecnolĂłgicas. Situando o controlador e o Controllerism numa linhagem cultural e histĂłrica, identifico as lĂłgicas que levaram ao desenvolvimento deste novo instrumento e desta nova prĂĄtica musical. Para tal, elaborei uma etnografia com informantes da Europa, AmĂ©rica e JapĂŁo com o objetivo de compreender noçÔes comuns sobre o instrumento e a prĂĄtica musical; fiz tambĂ©m pesquisa participativa em trĂȘs residĂȘncias artĂ­sticas, com a intenção de determinar perspetivas e preocupaçÔes comuns entre Controllerists internacionais. Finalmente, atravĂ©s de um estudo de caso em Portugal, providencio uma visĂŁo Ășnica, comparativamente falando, desta forma de arte emergente e estilo de vida na mĂșsica moderna
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