Music-Sound-Design

Blurring the lines between sound design and music, between diegetic and non:

Graphic Score

This set displays a variety of approaches to graphic representation of sound. This group effort results in a full 'score' for a fairly extensive composition:

Humour

Playing with some familiar music

Pitch shifting

G09.pitchshift.pd in the help patches is an implementation of pitch shift with 2 overlapping delays. Miller explains the techniques in his online book. Here is a more detailed explanation, followed (click on next>>) by an implementation of pitchshifting library. You can download this tool and try it for yourself. This is one of the great things about Pd and open source -  it allows anyone to contribute from their own expertise. 

Pd patches

• A repository for Pd with an interactive website, examples patches, and documentation of a variety of project.
•  Pd website includes a section of patches shared by users
• A modular synth build with Pd with some examples. 

Automatic composition

In the words of the author:

"Autocousmatic generates electroacoustic music intended for acousmatic presentation. Based only on a seed directory of source sound files, a desired duration and number of output channels, the program creates multi-channel spectromorphological tape pieces. Audio analysis capabilities are used to discover 'useful' portions of sound files and assess processed files. The project investigates a deeper relation from machine listening to algorithmic composition tasks, and welcomes feedback."

Listen to some of the examples on the website and judge for yourself. And you can read Nick's CMJ article about the system.

Ondes Martenot

One of the early (1928) electric instruments. An introduction about the instrument:

Endless glissando

This is an illustrated video of a famous auditory illusion:

Spectral Music

Some examples:

• Gerard Grisey: Partiels
• Kaija Saariaho: Verblendungen
• Giacinto Scelsi: Konx-Om-Pax (though it wasn't called spectralism then). 
• Jonathan Harvey: Still. 

François Rose's Perspective of New Music article explains some of the composition methods.

Live electronics

Some examples of music for solo instrument with electronic processing:

• Music for hihat and computer Cort Lippe
• The Twittering Machine Andrew May
• Sequitur XIV Karlheinz Essl (and other interesting pieces). 

Interaction

Analogue 'sequencer' using distance sensor (with the arduino platform).
Silent Drum from Jaime Oliver (not jamie) using Pd/Gem to map gesture to audio creating a new instrument.

Paul Lansky

American composer Paul Lansky has been involved with electronic music since the 70s. His piece Six Fantasies on a Poem by Thomas Campion uses a processing technique called linear predictive coding (LPC) to transform a recorded voice. He is using a single reading of the poem to generate 6 'versions' of the poem. Three of those are available on his website (compare, for instance,  'Her Reflection' with 'Her Song').  Notjustmoreidelchatter is another voice based piece. You can read more about Lansky, with detailed examination of several of his compositions.

Delay

This chapter from Miller Puckette covers all aspects of delays very well with several examples of how you create and use delays for different effects in Pd. A video tutorial covering the basic Pd objects for delay and reverb. A different approach to reveb is using convolution (a technique that can be used very effectively for processing sounds).

Noise and Subtractive Synthesis

We use the term noise for:

a) auditory sensation arising in response to non-periodic sound waves/signals, with flat and dense spectral distributions (vibrational/physical frame of reference) 

b) auditory sensation that is undesirable/unpleasant/unintended within a given context, interfering with auditory sensations that are desirable/pleasant/intended (i.e. sounds) within the same context (cognitive/semantic frame of reference, focusing on communication)

 Vassilakis et al lecture notes 

Also see Truax about the meaning of noise. 

A tutorial about using filters for subtractive synthesis (see also section 4-3 & 4-4 Music & Computers). Noise elements are actually used in music often, a very interesting example is the work of Italian composer Luigi Nono. Other examples include Ryoji Ikeda and Carsten Nicolai (alva noto) - Impulse or Fades.
and this is an article explaining different approaches to noise generation refining our understanding of the range of possible sounds: 

Atomic noise

KRISTOFFER JENSEN (2005).
Organised Sound, Volume 10, Issue01, April 2005 pp 75-81
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?aid=306542

FM Synthesis

A basic introduction to frequency modulation in Pd and a video tutorial for building an fm patch . A demonstration of the Yamaha DX7. An extensive discussion of the properties of frequency modulation from Barry Truax (with links to examples from his compositions using this technique). And a technical explanation of FM with illustrations of the sidebands and more from another master of the technique - Bill Schottstaedt.

Several illustrations of configuration for fm-synthesis sounds (bell-like, brass-like, etc.). A general tutorial about fm-synth with reference to various software implementations. 

This method was pioneered by John Chowning. Here he is explaining how he discovered this technique: 

 His piece Stria applies the Golden Ratio to constructing its fm-synthesised tones.

Computer Music Journal dedicated an issue to this important work, were you can read about the techniques used in the composition of this piece. And here is an article by John articulating his ideas about the link between synthesising new sounds and tuning systems that computers make available.

Amplitude and Ring Modulations

Two of the simplest forms of modulation. A good explanation of amplitude modulation from our friends at Columbia university. Ring modulation using Pd and a Video tutorial on amplitude modulation in Pd.

The German composer Stockhausen used ring modulation for his piece Mantra applying principles of 12-tone composition technique to the relationship between then pianos and the modulators.

Additive synthesis

Additive synthesis is based on the superposition of simple sine tones. A video tutorial explaining the [osc~] object and how it works:

Read about additive synthesis technique here and here. A Theramin inspired demo using wiimotes to control an additive synthesis patch. And an acoustic instrument based on Fourier analysis mapped to additive pipe organ. 

Filters

• An explanation of the most commonly used filters.
• A more in depth chapter including theory, applications, and more sophisticated filter designs.
• Short delays will have a filtering effect (see the above chapter for explanation). The phasor and flanger effects are an example.
• Both are essentially types of comb filtering.
• Which is an effect you usually want to avoid with careful mic placement.
• Simple (analogue) filtering was used to great effect in Stockhausen's piece Mikrophonie. Some of the composer's notes about this piece are available here.

Granular Synthesis

Curtis Roads demonstrating the technique of granulation:

 

An introduction to the concept of using grains of sound. A central resource for granular synthesis with basic explanation, musical examples, and links to applications. Borderlands is an application (developed by a music technology students) for granular synthesis - an iPad version as well as windows). 

Spectrum

• Definition from the Handbook of Acoustic Ecology.
• More about sound & spectrum from physclips.
• Analysing and transforming sounds with open source program SPEAR.
• Composition based on piano overtones from Erik Oña.
• Music on a Long Thin Wire. And here is a video documenting a reconstruction of the piece.
• Discussion of tuning and timbre.
• Spectral transformation plug-ins Soundmagic Spectral.