MUSC 4121 – syllabus spring 2008

ADVANCED TOPICS IN MUSIC TECHNOLOGY: SYNTHESIS, DSP, AND ALOGORITHMIC COMPOSITION USING THE SUPERCOLLIDER LANGUAGE

Class Sessions: 4:00 – 5:15 T, Th room N1B46 (CAML I)

Instructor: John Drumheller

Phone: (303)735-0272

Email: drumhell@stripe.colorado.edu

Web: http://stripe.Colorado.EDU/~drumhell/home.html

Texts: The following texts will be on reserve in the music library:

Dodge, Charles. Computer Music: Synthesis, Composition and Performance. New York, Schirmer, 1997.

Roads, Curtis. The Computer Music Tutorial . Cambridge, Masss.:MIT Press, 1994.

The following text is available on line: www.dspguide.com

Smith, Steven. The Scientists and Engineers guide to Digital Signal Processing. California Technical Publishing, 1997.

Materials: Notebook, music manuscript paper, USB Flash Drive, several blank CDRs, headphones with 1/8" and 1/4" adapter.

“The contemporary electronic music system has no predefined structure, but is initially a collection of possibilities – a set of variables or parameters such as pitch, loudness, space, timbre, etc., that exist in an undedicated state.”

-Alan Strange

There are two primary objectives in this course. The first is to instill a philosophy of exploration where the student is always asking, “What happens if I do this?” Exploration and invention are crucial tools in the development of innovative software instruments and exciting compositions. The second objective is to become competent in the areas of music technology that are concerned with digital synthesis, digital signal processing, and algorithmic composition. The environment that will be used to explore these areas will be the SuperCollider 3 language, a powerful object-oriented programming language. SC3 will be used to create synthesis instruments, control interfaces, and compositions. Coursework will consist of daily assignments, larger scale projects, and a final project that will demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the concepts and tools learned over the semester. There will also be several quizzes throughout the term.

Attendance: Due to the sensitive nature of the equipment, class attendance is vital to your understanding of how to operate the equipment safely. Each new technique covered in class brings about a new set of problems and procedures. You will be responsible for equipment damaged by negligence or ignorance because you missed instructions that were missed in class.

GRADING:

Daily Assignments 20%

Quizzes 20%

Projects 30%

Final Project 30%

Course Schedule:

Week 1 (1/15, 17) – Analog synthesis review – MOOG patching, parametric design and voltage control

Week 2 (1/22, 24) – Intro to SC2 – writing sound to a file, keyword assignments, mouse X and Y, linear and exponential values

Week 3 (1/29, 1/31) – Variables, comments, scale using mul and add, voltage control, vibrato, envelopes, triggers, gates, .ar, .kr, reciprocals

Week 4 (2/5, 7) – Intervals, multi-channel expansion, additive synthesis, random numbers, CPU usage

Week 5 (2/12, 14) – Subtractive synthesis, noise, message chains, Karplus/Strong, synthDef, server commands

Week 6 (2/19, 21) – FM/AM synthesis, sequencer, sample and hold, busses and nodes, groups, linking events

Week 7 (2/26, 2/28)– Synthesis project due

Week 8 (3/4, 6) – Numbers, operators, music functions, variables, arguments, expressions, user defined functions

Week 9 (3/11, 13) – Iteration using .do, MIDI out, control using if, .do continued, arrays

Week 10 (3/18, 20) – Collections, arrays, index referencing, array messages, arrays of strings

Week 11 (3/25, 27) – Spring Break

Week 12 (4/1, 3) – More random numbers, Pbind, mutation, Pfunc, Pwrand, Pseries, Pseq, serialization

Week 13 (4/8, 10) – Markov chains, numerical data files,

Week 14 (4/15, 17) - Concréte, audio files, real time audio DSP

Week 15 (4/22, 24) – GUI basics

Week 16 (4/29, 5/1) – review and in class work

Final Project Due: Because there is no scheduled final exam time, the due date for the final project will be determined at a later date.

LEGAL STUFF:

If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, please submit to me a letter from Disability Services (DS) early in the semester so that your needs may be addressed.  DS determines accommodations based on documented disabilities (303-492-8671, Willard 322, www.colorado.edu/sacs/disabilityservices)

Reasonable and appropriate accommodations will be made for those students who have conflicts between religious observance dates and course examinations and assignments. Please see me at the beginning of the semester to discuss any potential problems. (www.colorado.edu/policies/index.html)

Also, be aware of the classroom behavior policy (see previous URL) and student honor code.

(www.colorado.edu/academics/honorcode/)