Skidmore College
Music
Reproduced with permission from NeXT Computer, Inc.
A Reference Guide to NeXT in Higher Education, Fall 1992
ยช 1992 NeXT Computer, Inc
Learning sound synthesis with the help of NeXTSTEP
Using NeXT's Interface Builder and Music Kit, Associate Professor of Music Anthony Holland and several students at Skidmore College have developed two software applications-Audio Challenger and Bessie-to help train students in electronic music and sound theory.
"With NeXT, we have everything we need to create music software applications," says Holland. "There wasn't a need to purchase any additional hardware. With the DSP chip and Music Kit that comes with the NeXT, our user base has a known minimum level of hardware that's all the same. With any other system, we'd have to put together a mix of hardware and software from several different vendors to achieve what we have on the NeXT. It's the first time applications could be written so easily for musicians.
"Interface Builder and Music Kit are very powerful tools. They provide a programming shortcut. We don't have to build programs from scratch. We can just build and connect objects someone else wrote and modify them to suit our needs. Everything works so much faster."
Audio Challenger is an ear-training application for music students. The software randomly generates 14 ascending and descending melodic musical intervals. Students use them to improve their ability to identify musical intervals, by clicking on a button on the screen to guess a new interval or repeat a particular interval. To practice a specific interval, students just click that interval in a list provided by Audio Challenger.
"It can take students anywhere from two months to two years to become proficient at identifying the distance between notes," says Holland. "The advantage of using a computer-instead of having a person play the notes on an instrument-is that there is no end to the patience of a computer. Students can try the exercises over and over again."
About creating the application on the NeXT platform, Holland says, "Audio Challenger features real-time synthesis on the DSP chip of the NeXT. That gives it the advantage of a more natural and lively musical timbre than ear-training programs that currently exist on the Macintosh or PC platforms. Plus, the Macs and PCs aren't multitasking. These exercises can get pretty tedious for students. So on the NeXT, they can take a break and work on other applications while Audio Challenger is still running or even read their mail while they're practicing with Audio Challenger."
To overcome the problems of learning sound synthesis with conventional electronic keyboards, Holland has also created an interactive tutorial for teaching the basics of sound creation using frequency modulation (FM) synthesis. The application, funded in part by the Keck Foundation, is called Bessie.
The tutorial provides historical background, an explanation of FM, and a glossary of terms. Users also conduct experiments with various parameters involved in FM synthesis and then hear the results in real time. For example, in one exercise, students re-create how noted electronic music expert John Chowning discovered FM synthesis. Bessie also provides information detailing the value of this discovery.
MARS (Modal Acoustic Analysis for Recording Studios) is currently being developed by Holland and Skidmore music student Robert Hoffman. When completed, the application will perform an acoustical analysis of a recording studio, pointing out any possible problems and then making recommendations on how to correct the problem areas. MARS will run through 66 different calculations of possible problems for a studio to help prevent inaccurate recording or mix-down.
Concludes Holland, "NeXT has brought programming tools to a level that makes them accessible for amateur programmers who are professionals in other fields, to create useful programs. I have a long list of music education programs I plan to produce on the NeXT."
Audio Challenger and Bessie are available via anonymous FTP from nova.cc.purdue.edu in /pub/next/2.0-release/binaries.
For more information, please contact:
Anthony Holland
Associate Professor of Music
Skidmore College
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
(518) 584-5000
tholland@pars.skidmore.edu