sound
ear’s perception of vibration
pitch
A regular repeating vibration
Just Intonation
whole number frequency/pitch intervals, string length is inversely
proportionate to the pitch produced
Timbre
quality of a tone
Harmony
The science of the structure, relations, and practical
combination of chords.
Twelve Tone System
A method of composition formulated by Arnold
Schonberg about 1921 after a period of experimentation in writing music
without tonality and without using traditional ways of building chords.
Harmonic Series
A set of numbers, each of which is a whole number multiple
of a specified root value.
Amplitude
1: on a graphic representation, the vertical component of a
function 2: in electronics, the average strength of a signal measured as
voltage, current, or power
Duration
The time during which something continues.
Form
as music as in the other arts, this means intelligible shape.
Dynamos
the first electrical generators capable of delivering power for
industry, and the foundation upon which many other later electronic
power conversion devices were based.
Assembler Code
extremely low level, human readable machine code
Scripting Languages
high level, allows control of one or more software
applications.
Domain-specific
retain general programmability while providing additional
abstractions tailored to the domain
Audio Rate
refers to the rate at which audio samples are processed through
the system.
Control Rate
dictates how frequently control signals are calculated and
propagated through the system.
Channel Mode Messages (midi)
cSpecify a particular MIDI channel within the
message and generally control such aspects of performance as Noteon/Off,
Continuous Controller, and Program Change…
System Messages
Affect the MIDI system as a whole, without respect for a
particular MIDI channel. These include such functions as System Exclusive
(SysEx) messages, which provide a way to communicate manufacturer-specific
data that is not part of MIDI specification and timing clock messages used for
synchronization.
Note On/Note Off
A Note On message signals the device receiving it to begin playing a
note.Each Note Off of the message signals the end of a note by signaling
the device receiving it to turn off one of the notes it is playing.
Channel Pressure
Channel Pressure messages are sent by those devices that
can sense overall pressure on their keys but are not able to distinguish the
pressure put on each individual key. That is, whichever key is pressed hardest
determines the channel pressure value for the entire keyboard.
Polyphonic Key Pressure
Polyphonic Key Pressure acts in a manner similar
to channel pressure, except that the Polyphonic Key Pressure message contains
an additional data byte specifying a particular note and affects only that note
rather than every note of the specified channel.
Program Change
The terms program, patch and voice are used to refer to a
particular setting of a synthesizer’s controls when the setting produces a
specific instrumental timbre or other musical sound.
Control Change
A Control Change message affects a sound that has already
been initiated by a Note On message, altering such parameters as volume or
modulation of the note in progress.
Pitch Bend
A Pitch Bend Change message transmits a new setting for a pitch
bend controller.
Bank Select
Most recent synthesizers incorporate many more than 128
patches. Bank Select messages make it possible to quickly and easily access
any of 16,384 different patches of 128 different banks.
Sound Synthesis
the production and manipulation of sounds
using mathematical algorithms.
Unit Generator
oscillators, filters, multipliers and
adders, and amplitude envelope generators. Different complex sonic patterns
and sound synthesis algorithms could be implemented by connecting different
oscillators.
Sine Wave
Periodic waveform, simple geometric waveform, which
follows the values found in a sine table.
Triangle Wave
Like a square wave, the triangle wave contains only odd
harmonics. However, the higher harmonics roll off much faster than in a
square wave
Sawtooth Wave
A sawtooth wave’s sound is harsh and clear and its
spectrum contains both even and odd harmonics of the fundamental
frequency.
White Noise
is a random signal (or process) with a flat power spectral
density. In other words, the signal contains equal power within a fixed
bandwidth at any center frequency.
Pink Noise
A random signal of every frequency in which each higher
octave drops off 3 dB. The lower octaves have more power, and the
higher octaves have less power.
Brown Noise
It decreases in power by 6 dB per octave and, when
heard, has a “damped” or “soft” quality compared to white and pink
noise. The sound is a low roar resembling a waterfall or heavy rainfall
Amplitude Modulation
If the control oscillator is running at sub audio frequency, a vibrato of amplitude
is produced, similar to that performed on wind instruments. If the control
oscillator is running at audio frequency, the result is a mix of the two
frequencies, plus extra components at frequencies equal to the sum of the two.
Ring Modulation
Produces side bands associated with amplitude modulation
but suppresses the original frequency content. The output is a very messy
spectrum, especially if one of the input signals is harmonically complex to start
with. A further refinement of the same device suppresses sidebands above or
below the input signal, producing frequency shifting.
Carrier
the oscillator we listen to
Modulator
an oscillator that changes the frequency of the carrier at an
audio rate.
Index also called modulation depth
indicates by how much the
modulated variable varies around its ‘original’ level.
Granular Synthesis parameters:
1. Start time and duration of the cloud, Amplitude envelope of the cloud, Grain duration, Grain envelope, Density of grains per second, Waveforms, and Spaciel Dispersion
Fourier analysis
any periodic waveform (time domain) can be expressed as
the sum of one or more harmonically related sine waves called its spectrum
(frequency domain), each with a particular frequency, amplitude, and phase
Linear Predictive coding (LPC)
spectral modeling
technique especially useful for voice analysis and synthesis.
John Cage
known for variable speed and turntables