Columbia University


Music

Reproduced with permission from NeXT Computer, Inc.
A Reference Guide to NeXT in Higher Education, Fall 1992
ยช 1992 NeXT Computer, Inc

Students use NeXTs for diverse music projects

During their two years at Columbia University, graduate music students work on diverse projects-creating computer music compositions, manipulating sound files, conducting theoretical investigations about music, and creating musical models. About the only commonality among the projects is that they all use NeXT computers.

"The main features that first made the machine attractive to us are its built-in, high-quality audio capabilities," says Brad Garton, associate professor of music. "These capabilities coupled with the UNIX environment made porting all our existing software to the NeXT quite easy. In fact, we switched from Sun machines to NeXTs in about three weeks-during winter break a few years ago. As I continue to use NeXTSTEP, I appreciate more and more the user-friendliness of the interface.

"It's difficult to learn your way around a UNIX system," says Garton, "but NeXT made taking the initial step a lot easier. Students got intrigued much more quickly than they did with the Suns. They could start composing immediately and could see the possibilities available to them more readily when using a NeXT."

Garton has developed a Blues Composition application that mimics a human guitarist . He uses LISP to write data files for CMIX sound synthesis and processing instruments. These in turn provide Garton with sound files he assembles into longer pieces. Three of his compositions-"Rough Raga Riffs," "Almost Real," and "Home Guitars"-have been performed at concerts in New York City, Princeton, N.J., and Athens, Greece. "Rough Raga Riffs" was also performed at the 1990 International Computer Music Conference.

"I could have created this application in X-Windows," he says, "but I have better things to do with my life. The NeXT machine has opened a whole new world for me. I don't have to sit and write code all day long. Instead, I can sit and write music all day long."

Garton also believes the NeXT has increased collaboration among Columbia faculty and music faculty at other schools, like Stanford and Princeton. "I regularly use software written by faculty at Stanford and Princeton. The UNIX environment and the NeXTSTEP interface really help promote collaboration, as does the ease with which we can set up Internet connections. In addition, former Columbia students regularly send me code updates and new apps using NeXTmail."

At Columbia, Garton is trying to establish an anonymous FTP archive site on the Internet for users to archive and access new music. "I want entire sound files to be available for FTP access," he says. "I see this as a great way to subvert the existing distribution stranglehold by the large recording companies. Plus, it's a terrific new way for composers to reach an audience. The NeXT, with its built-in, high-quality digital-to-audio converter, makes this idea a practical concept."

Although the bulk of music students' work on the NeXT is compositional, several Columbia students have undertaken some unique research projects. Mara Helmuth, for example, uses Interface Builder to create interfaces for the CMIX programming language. One interface, patchmix, provides CMIX code from a graphical patch of oscillators and audio-processing icons. Thanassis Rikakis is investigating the perception of microtonal melodies using a NeXT computer and specialized brain-mapping hardware developed at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. Akira Takaoaka is exploring new rule systems for generating music using statistical voice-leading ideas. Faculty member Jonathan Kramer is studying the perception of rhythm using NeXT computer-generated sound files.

"I think students now have more NeXT machines at home than we do in Columbia's computer music facility," says Garton. Currently, 15 students own their own machines. I also own a NeXT. It's the first machine I could afford to buy to do work at home. The NeXT is also the first machine I did not have to write a digital-to-audio conversion driver for-it came with one. For the disk space and sound conversion capabilities we get with the NeXT, we'd have to pay $10,000 to $12,000 for a machine on any other platform."

For more information, please contact:

Brad Garton
Associate Professor of Music
Columbia University
703 Dodge Hall
New York, NY 10027
(212) 854-3825
brad@woof.music.columbia.edu