H79.2436 Frameworks for Interactive Sound
This course introduces the student to an array of critical and practical frameworks for creating technologically-based audio works. Drawing from an inclusive perspective of technology and sound throughout history, the coursework is based on in-depth dissections of specific tools, compositions, instruments and installations. Hands-on work is enriched with an equal component of critical reading and discussion. Outside of class students will maintain an audio "sketchbook" with which they will exhibit working knowledge of a range of concepts through the execution of small, simple exercises. Students are expected to be conversant in at least one digital audio platform such as Max/MSP, csound, pd, JSyn, or equivalent, and to be familiar with fundamentals of digital audio as covered in Digital Sound Lab (H79.2266).

Contact
Jeff Feddersen
email: fed@zaftig.org
url: www.zaftig.org/frameworks
office hours: Tuesdays, 1:30 - 3:30 by appointment

Coursework
Coursework takes three forms in this class: an online sketchbook of short sound samples; annotated listenings in which students select listening material for the class; and in-class interactive audio events.

Sketchbooks:
The majority of the work in this class will take the form of short, simple audio sketches. Each student will execute 100 or more during the course of the semester. A sketch can be as short as a second (or less) of sound. In these exercises we emphasize quantity - the goal is to generate as many ideas as possible, while bypassing our natural tendency to analyze and critique ourselves. The sketches are a way of getting our hands around the concepts that arise in class. Class time and out-of-class channels will focus on the presentation, discussion and analysis of the ideas and sounds generated from the coursework.

The final form of the sketchbook will be a set of mp3-encoded audio files kept online. An automated web-crawler will gather your sketches into a single page, so its important that all sketchbooks maintain the following simple structure:

<any_url>/<week#>/<sketch#>.mp3

Where <any_url> is, well, any url you want - the site and file structure where you'll be keeping your sketchbook. I don't care what it is, but once you email me this address (before the second class) that's what it will be for the semester - please don't change it thereafter. <week#> is the week in the semester in which the sketch is created: January 18-24 is 1, January 25-31 is 2, and so on. <sketch#> is the number of the sketch that week, starting with 1.

For example:

www.zaftig.org/whatever/1/1.mp3

Annotated Listening:
Starting in the second week students will present listening material for the class. Students will prepare short samples from at least four sources of music or sound art, lasting in total no more than 15 minutes. The material should connect with the general topic of this class, and the student will lead a discussion regarding the material. This should be more in depth than "I rolled out of bed and this was on my iPod", but that said, you shouldn't need to do lots of research for this. Present something that you already know well and from which you think the class may benefit, and spend some time beforehand preparing your thoughts on what ties your selection together thematically and makes it of interest to your classmates.

Jamie Allen's playlist and organization from his presentation last semester is an excellent example:

Ryoji Ikeda - Headphonics 1/0 (emphasis on tonal structure)
505_ - Melody (tone quality, cultural/historical reference)
Kid Koala - Shanky Panky (tonal goals with process limitations)
Steve Reich - Sextet, 5th movement (process alone controls sound output)
Norman McLaren - Synchromy (inspiration through process)
John Oswald - Urge (cultural reference, consumer empowerment as music/art)
Sean Paul - Like Glue (iconography, image centrality in pop music)
Glenn Gould - The Quiet in The Land (the symphony of literal meaning, contrapuntal radio)
Trevor Wishart - Vox 5 (shifting spectra reveal real-world images)

In-class events:
The semester is divided into thirds. At the end of each section we will stage an in-class audio event/performance/composition.

Finally, I encourage the class to be involved in the ITP Radio Station.

Tools
This class does not focus on the mechanics of specific applications or tools. You should choose an environment that you are comfortable working in and learning about with which to implement the concepts addressed in class. Following are a few of the obvious choices, but anything that can generate audio digitally and programmatically is fair game in this class and is encouraged. Pretty much any language could do it; even Director or Perl could write data to a text file that could be played as a sound file. Working with the pic or BX could be an interesting challenge - its up to you.

The class takes as its premise the idea that a flexible, digital audio tool allows us to examine sound in a unique way, by implementing any idea about sound that might occur to us as a program. Thus, traditional instruments, and even electronic (analog or digital) synthesizers, do not qualify as tools for this class, as they are insufficiently flexible to allow this.

Max/MSP - Graphical programming language from Cycling 74. Probably the best overall package, offering powerful MIDI, digital audio, and video processing (via Jitter), strong support at ITP, extremely easy installation and relative ease of use. Downside is its price tag, compared to the other options, all free, but ITP has a lot of licenses. Examples in class will be in Max. Now available for Windows, but some third party objects are probably not yet converted.
http://www.cycling74.com/

Java/JSyn - A Java API for developing audio applications. Cross-platform, and the basics are free; graphical, Max-like GUI editor ("Wire") costs but is available at ITP.
http://www.softsynth.com/jsyn/

Proce55ing/Sonia - Sonia is to Processing as JSyn is to Java, by ITP's Amit Pitaru.
http://pitaru.com/sonia/

Pd - A free, cross-platform program similar to Max/MSP, from its creator Miller Puckette. See ITP's own Hans Steiner for more information.
http://www.pure-data.org
http://crca.ucsd.edu/~msp/software.html

cSound - Text-language similar to C. Orchestras files describe instruments, which can be any digital audio process; score files coordinate instruments into a sequence of events. Compile the orchestra and score and you end up with an audio file. Pretty low level and arcane at times, with an architecture heavily influenced by old-school electronic music terminology. But there's a large community, with lots of online examples and downloads, and its free.
http://www.csounds.com/
A compiler I've used (for OS X) is CSndX, available here.

portAudio - another free, cross-platform tool, portAudio is a C library that allows you to incorporate real-time digital audio easily into your C projects (pixel-by-pixel, perhaps?). As low as you'll get.
http://www.portaudio.com/

Books and Resources
There are a huge number of resources available on our subject; here are some of the ones I've found. One of the goals of the class will be to develop and expand this list as a group by sharing insights. Class readings will be available online, or handed out the week before they are due.

The Computer Music Tutorial, Curtis Roads, MIT Press. This is the best reference I've encountered for technology and audio. Although its quite detailed and deep, material is presented in an accessible way, with extremely thorough diagrams, illustrations, and references. Over 1000 pages long, it could be studied for a lifetime. Many of our readings are drawn from here.

The CSound Book, Richard Boulanger ed., MIT Press. This collection of essays from a number of authors offers many insights and angles for understanding sound. All the examples are in the cSound language, but the text is of general interest due to its broad range and excellent quality.

Musical Instrument Design, Bart Hopkin, See Sharp Press. Although this book in no way addresses digital technology, it is a superb reference for the way sound is made in the physical world, grounded by its purpose as an encyclopedia of instrument design principles. Offers a thorough understanding of the acoustic principles of all major classes of instruments.

New Directions in Music, David Cope, Waveland Press. A comprehensive look at twentieth-century classical music. The author created the Experiments in Musical Intelligence (EMI) program, which several years ago was notorious for imitating the style of classical composers.

The Computer Music Journal and Leonardo Music Journal, MIT Press. Excellent academic journals regarding technology and sound. Note: These and other journals are available online from Bobst or any computer using NYU as a proxy server.