128-spring-2013/Assignment2

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Overview: single-hemi instrument

This assignment asks you to work with the quintessential laptop orchestra building block: laptop + a single hemispherical speaker array, and create a short sound sketch for it. (Note: This assignment is to be done individually.)

Milestone Check (due April 10)

For the milestone check (by April 10 at the latest), download and install ChucK and the miniAudicle (http://chuck.stanford.edu/release/) on your machine. Check that you can run example codes (http://chuck.cs.princeton.edu/doc/examples/) and make some sounds.

We highly recommend that you do this as soon as possible, and get in touch with TAs if you run into any problems.

Designing your Instrument (due April 17)

  • Brainstorm ideas with your SLOrktastic group so that your (individual) instrument can later be easily adopted to a chamber music setting
  • Create an instrument for a single hemi using ChucK, taking advantage of the multi-channel aspect (note: it is okay to prototype in stereo for this assignment)
  • Consider issues of playability, expressiveness, and use in an ensemble setting
  • Craft a very short piece for your instrument, demonstrating at least 1 axis of musical contrast (e.g. rhythm, melody, timbre, dynamics)
  • If you end up using STK Instrument unit generators (http://chuck.cs.princeton.edu/doc/program/ugen.html), we strongly encourage you to enrich the sound by use of filters and other unit generators.

Presentation Details

  • Due date: April 17 (Wed)
  • You'll be given 5 minutes to perform your instrument/ piece in class on April 17.
  • There's no write-up for this assignment, but be prepared to describe your piece as part of your presentation.