Music 256a + CS 476a | Fall 2021
Music, Computing, Design: The Art of Design
Stanford University
Ge Wang and Kunwoo Kim (TA)




syllabus | assignments | final projects | gallery | MCD

class: MW 3:15-5:05pm
location: CCRMA Classroom (the Knoll)
prerequisite: prior programming experience

textbook
Wang, G. Artful Design: Technology in Search of the Sublime
Stanford University Press, 2018. (ISBN: 978-1503600522)
(available at Stanford Bookstore, who will honor price-match at register with Amazon or Barnes and Noble)

course description
This course explores the artful design of interactive musical software, tools, instruments, toys, and games. Topics include strategies for crafting interactive systems, audiovisual design, game design, and the aesthetic dimension of shaping technology in our world today. Course work features several programming assignments, short weekly reading responses, an emphasis on critical design feedback, and a "design your own" final project. You will learn to create systems using Chunity. Prerequisite: experience in C/C++, Java, or Unity.

256a topics include:

  • real-time software system design for music (integrating audio, graphics, interaction)
  • principles and patterns for artful design
  • game and toy design for music
  • technology-mediated social design
  • audio-visual interactive programming in Chunity (ChucK + Unity)
  • a practical philosophy of shaping technology
(see final projects from: 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2011, 2010 and 2009)

assignments