Assignment One

due Friday January 28th by midnight

Assignment 1 is due January 28th (Friday).

You can work towards one of two goals (choose one of the following):

• get your own percussion band going. See the examples we went through during the class at:

  http://www-ccrma.stanford.edu/courses/220b/topics/patterns/examples/rhythm.lisp

  You are free to try anything in your bag of tricks, as long as they are CLM-CM-Lisp tricks. Three requirements, though:

  • duration: must last at least 40 seconds (and no more than 10 minutes :-)
  • instruments: make use of cut.ins (see sampling rate conversion)AND some other synthesis technique(s). The "other synthesis technique" includes use of your own recorded samples (which could include non-traditional percussive sounds). For them use the tiny mixsound.ins instrument and/or look at the fullmix example instrument in the CLM manual.
  • note events: should showcase some algorithmic composition prowess, specifically use of Common Music patterns to create a complex rhythm pattern.
  • environment: do use space as a way to differentiate between the percussion "players"

  Your submission should include all the lisp code that generates the sound file and references to all instruments necessary to recreate the submission. Please test the code before including it in the submission.

  As for style, it can be anything (rap, merengue, polka, traditional calypso, jungle, abstract). For those with experience in composing this assignment should pose no problems. For the others I would suggest that you don't try for a specific style, just play around and find something you like. Don't get stuck trying to "render" something you have in your mind, that can be quite difficult, get a set of sounds you like and start experimenting with different layered patterns.

• ring bells with gusto. This option is not only about algorithmic expertise but also about sound design using frequency modulation synthesis

  . But of course it uses some algorithms. Were you to choose this route you would have to use change ringing to drive fm bells. Some requirements:
  • duration: must be at least 20 seconds long.
  • instruments: you can use the bells that can be found at the end of the frequency modulation lecture, plus at least one custom designed bell (that should sound good) created using appropriate parameters in the fm-violin CLM instrument. This the time to excercise some good fm stereotypes :-) Note that the cring.lisp examples need a custom version of the fm-bell instrument you can find here
  • note events: use layered patterns based on the cring.lisp examples.
  • environment: best if you immerse your bells in a reverberant environment.

    Beware: this branch of the assignment uses some Common Music stuff that we have not yet looked at in detail...

One more thing. A plain copy of one of the examples we went through during the class with some numbers changed will not get you much in terms of grade. Those examples are just a starting point for your experimentation.

Have fun!