Final class concert

Our final class presentation will be December 4th at 3pm in our classroom B21 with rehearsals and sound checks in the morning before the performance. More details about time and logistics will be discussed in class.

More here:

Final Project: Sound Art Forum, Dec. 9 at 3pm

PD example using OSC

Attached is my example from class, connecting to the “localhost” (to yourself!) and sending OSC data over port 9000. You can, of course, modify this with the IP address of another machine if you want to test sending from one computer to another.

Note my post just below with download instructions for PD-extended AND some links for tutorials to get you starter with the basics.

See the help files for [sendOSC] and [dumpOSC] for more options. Click HERE to download … you will need to unzip the patch to get the resulting “.pd” file.

screen-shot-2016-11-09-at-7-09-44-pm

PD Installation guide

To install PD(-extended) on your Mac, PC, or Linux system please visit:

http://puredata.info/downloads/pd-extended

Download the installer appropriate to your operating system and architecture (I don’t recommend the “Alpha” release for prime-time usage. If you are curious about recent developments in the interface (significant) and function of PD or interested in participating in development, you are welcome to download that also).

For some Mac users, you may need to install “X11”, the venerable Unix graphics system on which some of PD’s functionality rests. You can download that, available now as “XQuartz” from here.

Here, too, is mPD, a mobile version for Android, for those interested:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.mpd

In addition to PD’s built-in Help system, please see the following sites for more help and shared patches.

– PD Forum and Patch Repo – Repository for patches, tutorials, and discussion related to PD.

– PD FLOSS Manuals – including concepts, working patches, and installation/setup help

Programming Electronic Music in PD (“loadbang”) – Johannes Kreidler’s book

Project materials from today

Here is the Sessions View project from today’s lecture on Live and clips/scenes. More information here and here. There are many video tutorials on the web as well …

Lies Project, Sessions Views

Class materials for Oct. 27th Lab

Class materials for 10/27 labs can be found here.

Listening from today

— there are many other performances of this piece to listen to

In Bb crowd-sourced music project, homage to Riley
http://www.inbflat.net/

Content for today

sounds

Some media from today’s lecture

Moog synthesizer:

R.A. Moog Co. Trumansburg Factory

David Borden’s Continuing Story of Counterpoint (Part I, 1977)

Buchla Synthesizer

History and the San Francisco Tape Music Center (Hoodline)

History of the Buchla Synthesizer

Morton Subotnick’s Silver Apples of the Moon (excerpt)

FM Synthesis

The origins of FM, CCRMA, and John Chowning (Father of the Digital Synthesizer)

PureData software

A Little Happiness – Hebe Tian

I decided to focus my assignment on a piece that is considered the theme song for a 2015 romantic comedy that is still widely popular in Taiwan.

A Little Happiness starts with a simple four-measure 4/4 time acoustic guitar pattern that is repeated four more time. Sometime interesting I found was the building of other instruments during this time, mainly the vocals and piano. The vocals become a constant overlay starting after the intro pattern. The piano, on the other hand, gradually increases its play time as the A pattern continues to repeat. As it shifts into the B pattern, the piano not only provides harmony, but also percussion. When the chorus hits, the violin is added as an additional harmony for the piece while the piano once again takes the role of a harmonizer and the percussion. The D pattern acts as an explosion and transition into the more intense part of the song, which I will discuss later. This is also the part when the violin has a solo with percussion (drum set) and possibly a synthesizer.

After this interlude, the drum set becomes the main percussive force throughout the song, which I will indicate as the prime patterns as they are similar to the patterns before the interlude, but have a different tone to them. During the A’ pattern I did notice some clarinet or flute playing, but it was more for harmony purposes. Something I found very interesting during the prime patterns was the switching of roles. The piano took the role of the guitar during the A’ pattern while the violin took the role of the piano during the B’. During the C’ pattern, the violin and piano shared the same role. The transition between C’ and A at the end was large crescendo that returned back to the acoustic base that began the song.

I found it interesting how throughout the piece, the vocals acted as the facilitator of transition for the song, either by becoming more intense or almost relaxing to guide the instrumental part. The building of intensity in terms of volume and types of instruments was a common theme throughout the piece. I think this ties very well with the lyrics which focus on a person reminiscing about their hidden feelings for someone in their past. The acoustic part serves as an almost nostalgic and distant thought that develops into intense feelings about the memory during the more traditionally pop part. The ending acoustic part serves as a transition to end the song, but also to remind the listener about the nostalgic and memory-esque nature of the feelings portrayed in the song.

Song Structure: A|A|A|A|A|B|C (Chorus)|C (Chorus)|D (Interlude)|A’|A’|B’|C’ (Chorus)|C’ (Chorus)|A

Really Love D’Angelo Black Messiah

The intro of Really Love starts with a low bass note and then an orchestra joins in with spoken word in Spanish, which is panned more in the left in a soft whispery voice. Up to this point the orchestra is building in intensity. Then the orchestra fades out with a high string note that blends into a digital sound and a guitar is introduced and then is supplemented by the orchestra and continuous spoken word, still very soft, almost a whisper prevails. Reverb is put on the guitar as it plays until around 1:25 then a synthesizer, low string note, a little of low winds, and chimes helps transition the intro into theme A and it is repeated twice before vocals join in. The theme grooves with a laidback feel percussion (swung eighth notes on high-hat, snare on offbeat, kick on one and then right before the snare) and baseline (eighth note line) play very steady and repetitive rhythms. Once D’Anglo starts singing the theme is repeated twice. Then a bridge (theme B) is played giving some tension as it builds in intensity. It then transitions back into theme A that gives that resolution, which is repeated twice and then goes into theme B (the bridge). Then it goes back into theme A with a guitar solo over theme A. An interlude transitions the solo into the outro by building intensity with synthesizers that repeats the A theme into a fade. The overall song is about the same volume and intensity. It builds in intensity in the bridge section and interlude. In addition throughout the song, different instrumental elements are added making it constantly engaging and evolving.

Song Structure: |Intro|A|A|A|A|B|A|A|B|A|Guitar Solo|Interlude|Outro|

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