Performative voice synthesis for edutainment in acoustic phonetics and singing: a case study using the "Cantor Digitalis"

A real-time and gesture controlled voice synthesis software is applied to edutainment in the field of voice pedagogy. The main goals are teaching how voice works and what makes the differences between voices in an interactive, real-time and audio-visual perspective. The project is based on ''Cantor Digitalis'', a singing vowel digital instrument, featuring an improved formant synthesizer controlled by a stylus and touch graphic tablet. Demonstrated in various pedagogical situations, this application allows for simple and interactive explanation of difficult and/or abstract voice related phenomena, such as source-filter theory, vocal formants, effect of the vocal tract size, voice categories, voice source parameters, intonation and articulation, etc. This is achieved by systematic and interactive listening and playing with the sound of a virtual voice, related to the hand motions and dynamics on the tablet

Using pitch features for the characterization of intermediate vocal productions

This paper presents some pitch features for the characterization of intermediate vocal productions from the CNRS - Muse ́e de l'Homme sound archives, in the context of the DIADEMS inter- disciplinary project gathering researchers from ethnomusicology and speech signal processing. Different categories — chanting, singing, recitation, storytelling, talking, lament — have been iden- tified and characterized by ethnomusicologists and are confronted by acoustic analysis. A database totalizing 79 utterances from 25 countries spread around the world is used. Among the tested fea- tures, the note duration distribution has proved to be a relevant measure. Categories are mostly characterized by the proportion of 100-ms notes and the duration of the longest note. An eval- uation of these features has been realized through a supervised classification using the different vocal categories. Classification results show that these two features allow a good discrimination between ''speech'', ''chanting'' and ''singing'', but are not suited for discriminating between the ''speech'' subcategories ''recitation'', ''storytelling'' and ''talking''

Plan de manejo de residuos en la institución educativa Antonia Santos de la ciudad de Montería

La Educación Ambiental transversaliza todo el acto educativo del ser humano por lo cual permea nuestra cotidianidad, por lo anterior surge la necesidad de replantear nuestro actuar fundamentándonos en la incorporación de acciones en busca del buen desarrollo de la relación existente entre el hombre, la sociedad y ambiente. Este documento aborda una propuesta centrada en desarrollar el plan de manejo de residuos sólidos de la I.E. Antonia Santos de la ciudad de Montería con el ánimo de mitigar los efectos de estos, a través de estrategias encaminadas hacia la disminución de los residuos institucionales asociados a la producción por consumo, las cuales se implementarán desde la “ruta ecológica ineansista”, la cual pondrá en marcha el plan de evacuación y disposición final y además desarrollará cultura ambiental en los miembros de la comunidad en general

Les instruments chanteurs

Résumé Les instruments chanteurs sont nés de la rencontre entre synthèse vocale et nouvelles interfaces pour l'interaction humain-machine. La voix n'est pas un instrument de musique, car il n'y a pas d'objet externe mis en jeu par les membres ou par le souffle. La synthèse numérique permet pour la première fois une coupure entre le sujet et sa voix, en construisant des instruments chanteurs manipulés par les mains, les pieds, ou par toutes sortes d'interfaces humain-machine. Cependant, les possibilités de contrôle des instruments chanteurs sont encore limitées à certains aspects, car une transposition des gestes internes du chant effectués par l'appareil vocal en gestes externes des membres ne va pas de soi. Certains gestes sont analogues, d'autres sont médiatisés par un espace perceptif. Les travaux menés sur trois instruments chanteurs sont présentés : le contrôle de l'intonation par un stylet sur une tablette graphique et des gestes d'écriture ; le contrôle des voyelles et de la qualité vocale sur une surface ; le contrôle bimanuel de l'articulation consonantique ; le contrôle syllabique du rythme. Les modèles de synthèse sous-jacents utilisent soit la simulation du modèle source-filtre, soit la modification d'échantillons préenregistrés et étiquetés. Le contrôle des instruments chanteurs est multimodal, impliquant l'ou\"\ie ainsi que la vue, le toucher, et la kinesthésie. Cette combinaison sensorielle et motrice permet dans certains cas de rendre les instruments chanteurs plus justes et précis que la voix, la vue privilégiant les aspects mélodiques et l'audition les aspects rythmiques. Miroir de la voix, l'instrument chanteur autorise toutes sortes de spéculations : musicales bien sûr, avec le Chorus Digitalis, chœur de voix de synthèse, mais aussi pour l'analyse des pratiques vocales, pour l'éducation ou la rééducation, en renforçant l'apprentissage de gestes vocaux par des traces visuelles, des gestes manuels ou corporels. Le statut symbolique de la voix est également affecté par la possibilité de contrôler et de produire le son vocal en dehors du corps : corps augmenté, mise en scène de l'expression vocale, double de la voix, jeu de la voix d'un ou d'une autre. Abstract Singing instruments are the result of the encounter between voice synthesis and new interfaces for human-computer interaction. Voice is not a musical instrument, since it does not involve an external object stimulated by limbs or breathe. In contrast, digital synthesis allows for the first time to separate the subject from its voice, by building singing instruments manipulated by hands, feet, or any human-computer interface. However, possibilities for singing instruments control are still limited to some aspects, as the transposition from internal singing gestures realised by the vocal apparatus to external gestures is not trivial. Some gestures are analogous, while others are transposed in perceptive spaces. Related work realised on three singing instruments is introduced: the intonation control by a stylus on a graphic tablet and writing gestures; the vocalic and voice quality controls on a surface; the bi-manual control of onsonantal articulation; the rhythmic control of syllables. The underlying voice production models use either the simulation of a source-filter model, or the modification of pre-recorded and labelled samples. The control of singing instruments is multi-modal, involving hearing, sight, touch, and kinaesthesia. In some extent, this sensorimotor combination allows the singing instrument to be more accurate and precise than natural voice: the sight favouring melodic aspects while hearing being more related to rhythmic aspects. Mirror of voice, the singing instrument allows any kind of speculation: indubitably musical with Chorus Digitalis, a choir of synthesised voices, but also for the analysis of vocal practices, for education or re-education by strengthening the learning of vocal gestures through uses of visual traces, and manual and corporal gestures. Finally, the symbolic status of voice is also affected by the possibility to produce a vocal sound from outside the body: augmented body, staging of vocal expression, voice double, play of someone else's voice

Plan de manejo de residuos en la Institución Educativa Antonia Santos de la ciudad de Montería

La Educación Ambiental transversaliza todo el acto educativo del ser humano por lo cual permea nuestra cotidianidad, por lo anterior surge la necesidad de replantear nuestro actuar fundamentándonos en la incorporación de acciones en busca del buen desarrollo de la relación existente entre el hombre, la sociedad y ambiente. Este documento aborda una propuesta centrada en desarrollar el plan de manejo de residuos sólidos de la I.E. Antonia Santos de la ciudad de Montería con el ánimo de mitigar los efectos de estos, a través de estrategias encaminadas hacia la disminución de los residuos institucionales asociados a la producción por consumo, las cuales se implementarán desde la “ruta ecológica ineansista”, la cual pondrá en marcha el plan de evacuación y disposición final y además desarrollará cultura ambiental en los miembros de la comunidad en general.Environmental Education cuts across all education al acts of the human being which permeate sour daily lives for the above is the need to think our basing in the incorporating actions for the good development of the relationship between man,society and ambient. This document addresses a proposal that focuses on developing the Plan of Solid Waste Management of the IE Antonia Santos city of Monteria, with the aim of mitigating the effects of these, throughstrategiesaimedtowardsdecreasingwasteInstitutionalPartners the production by consumption, which are implemented from the "ineansista ecological route" which up the Evacuation Plan and Disposal of Y: Further develop environmental culture among community members in general

OrJo et la Méta-Mallette 4.0

Cet article décrit le projet de recherche OrJo 2009-2012 (Orchestre de Joysticks) qui associe quatre structures, PUCE MUSE, le LAM (UPMC), le LIMSI (CNRS, associé à l’UPMC et à l'Université Paris-Sud), et 3Dlized, autour de quatre grands objectifs : 1. réaliser quatre versions du logiciel plateforme pour s'adapter aux différents usages, 2. proposer une collection d’instruments virtuels sonores et visuels, 3. améliorer la représentation graphique des instruments virtuels, 4. pratiquer, échanger, et conserver un répertoire sur la Méta-Librairie. Ce projet interroge plusieurs usages nouveaux comme la pratique en orchestre d'instruments virtuels, l'échange et la transmission de partitions interactives pour ces orchestres, l'apport du relief pour la musique visuelle. Il évoque aussi les développements d'instruments virtuels comme les instruments de synthèse vocale du LIMSI et les instruments par modèles physiques, modèles topologiques et modèles statistiques de l'équipe Lutheries acoustique musique (LAM). Cet article est aussi une invitation à utiliser la plateforme Meta-Mallette [12] via son SDK (libre) et le site d'echanges Meta-Librairie

Cantor Digitalis: chironomic parametric synthesis of singing

Cantor Digitalis is a performative singing synthesizer that is composed of two main parts: a chironomic control interface and a parametric voice synthesizer. The control interface is based on a pen/touch graphic tablet equipped with a template representing vocalic and melodic spaces. Hand and pen positions, pen pressure, and a graphical user interface are assigned to specific vocal controls. This interface allows for real-time accurate control over high-level singing synthesis parameters. The sound generation system is based on a parametric synthesizer that features a spectral voice source model, a vocal tract model consisting of parallel filters for vocalic formants and cascaded with anti-resonance for the spectral effect of hypo-pharynx cavities, and rules for parameter settings and source/filter dependencies between fundamental frequency, vocal effort, and formants. Because Cantor Digitalis is a parametric system, every aspect of voice quality can be controlled (e.g., vocal tract size, aperiodicities in the voice source, vowels, and so forth). It offers several presets for different voice types. Cantor Digitalis has been played on stage in several public concerts, and it has also been proven to be useful as a tool for voice pedagogy. The aim of this article is to provide a comprehensive technical overview of Cantor Digitalis

Molecular transformation and degradation of refractory dissolved organic matter in the Atlantic and Southern Ocean

More than 90% of the global ocean dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is refractory, has an average age of 4,000–6,000 years and a lifespan from months to millennia. The fraction of dissolved organic matter (DOM) that is resistant to degradation is a long-term buffer in the global carbon cycle but its chemical composition, structure, and biochemical formation and degradation mechanisms are still unresolved. We have compiled the most comprehensive molecular data set of 197 Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) analyses from solid-phase extracted marine DOM covering two major oceans, the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean and the East Atlantic Ocean (ranging from 50° N to 70° S). Molecular trends and radiocarbon dating of 34 DOM samples (comprising Δ14C values from -229 to -495‰) were combined to model an integrated degradation rate for bulk DOC resulting in a predicted age of >24 ka for the most persistent DOM fraction. First order kinetic degradation rates for 1,557 mass peaks indicate that numerous DOM molecules cycle on timescales much longer than the turnover of the bulk DOC pool (estimated residence times of >100 ka) and the range of validity of radiocarbon dating. Changes in elemental composition were determined by assigning molecular formulae to the detected mass peaks. The combination of residence times with molecular information enabled modelling of the average elemental composition of the slowest degrading fraction of the DOM pool. In our dataset, a group of 361 molecular formulae represented the most stable composition in the oceanic environment (“island of stability”). These most persistent compounds encompass only a narrow range of the elemental ratios H/C (average of 1.17 ± 0.13), and O/C (average of 0.52 ± 0.10) and molecular masses (360 ± 28 and 497 ± 51 Da). In the Weddell Sea DOC concentrations in the surface waters were low (46.3 ± 3.3 μM) while the organic radiocarbon was significantly more depleted than that of the East Atlantic, indicating average surface water DOM ages of 4,920 ± 180 a. These results are in accordance with a highly degraded DOM in the Weddell Sea surface water as also shown by the molecular degradation index IDEG obtained from FT-ICR MS data. Further, we identified 339 molecular formulae which probably contribute to an increased DOC concentration in the Southern Ocean and potentially reflect an accumulation or enhanced sequestration of refractory DOC in the Weddell Sea. These results will contribute to a better understanding of the persistent nature of marine DOM and its role as an oceanic carbon buffer in a changing climate

Contrôle par le geste d'une voix chantée de synthèse

Comment faire vivre une voix de synthèse ? De la fabrication d’un instrument de synthèse de voix chantée à sa pratique en concert, à travers un dialogue (dé)concertant entre un facteur de voix et un joueur de tablette. Illustration par l’interprétation d’un raga d’Inde du Nord, en duo tablas-tablette