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Appendix 4. Operations used in each Study

For each composition a stable set of operations is used on the melody generated by the phoneme stream. The transformations to the note-event row are listed in bold, beneath each of these lists is an explanation of the effect of the transformation. This explanation should give a fair idea of the effect of the transformations applied to the other pieces. The "COMPOSE" and "CANON" parameters for each piece are listed below.

STUDY 1

Using the "COMPOSE" algorithm

Pitch                      multiplication                      modulus                                transposition

1                                              12                                           60

This results in the pitches generated from the note row falling between MIDI note 60 and MIDI note 71.

Velocity                 multiplication                      modulus                                transposition

1                                              70                                           20

This results in the velocities generated from the note row falling between MIDI velocity 20 and MIDI velocity 69. This is all the possible MIDI velocities used in the note row with 20 added to them.

duration                 multiplication                      modulus                                transposition

1                                              4                                              81

This results in the durations generated from the note row falling between 1 and 48.

inter-onset time                                   multiplication                      modulus                                transposition

1                                              12                                           1

This results in the inter-onset times generated from the note row falling between 1 and 12.

duration                                multiplication                                       99

This multiplies the resultant duration by 99. For example: if the resultant duration were 10 then the pitch attached to that duration would last for 990 msecs.

inter-onset time                  multiplication                                       99

This multiplies the resultant inter-onset time by 99. For example: if the resultant inter-onset time were 10 then the time distance to the next note would be 990 msecs.

Using the "CANON" algorithm

note separation                                                                                  0

This selects which note-events will be selected to produce the accompaniment. By using a value of 0 each note-event is selected, which means that the interval between every pitch is being used to create the harmony

interval multiplication                                                                        4.0

This multiplies the interval between the selected pitches, in this case an interval of -2 will be multiplied to result in an interval of -8.

harmony type                                                                                      left to right

Here the resultant intervals are applied to the selected pitches in a linear fashion, the intervals added to the selected note-events are entered from left to right and then discarded. The interval table below gives an example:

Intervals-3000

4-300

-24-30

5-24-3

25-24

Notice that -3 is discarded as it no longer fits in the gamut of four numbers. This results in chord/arpeggios that have a close affinity to the melody because the intervals used to create the chord/arpeggios are temporally close to the same intervals of the melody.

arpeggio inter-onset time multiplication                                                      1, 2, 3, 4

Here the inter-onset time between the selected note-event events is multiplied by 1, 2, 3, and 4. In this case the first accompaniment note-event is heard at an inter-onset time from the original note equal to the original inter-onset time, the second accompaniment note-event is heard at an inter-onset time of twice the original inter-onset time from the original note, the third accompaniment note-event is heard at an inter-onset time of three times the original inter-onset time from the original note and the fourth accompaniment note-event is heard at an inter-onset time of four times the original inter-onset time.

By multiplying the inter-onset times in this way the accompaniment is spread over a wide temporal space. This smears the obviousness of the interval based harmony.

STUDY 2

Using the "COMPOSE" algorithm

pitch                       multiplication                      modulus                                transposition

1                                              70                                           24

This results in the pitches generated from the note row falling between MIDI note 24 and MIDI note 94.

velocity                  multiplication                      modulus                                transposition

1                                              70                                           5

This results in the velocities generated from the note row falling between MIDI velocity 5 and MIDI velocity 75.

duration                                 multiplication                      modulus                                transposition

1                                              70                                           0

This results in the durations generated from the note row falling between 70 and 0, allowing the possibility of a note having no duration.

Here all the possible MIDI pitches, velocities, durations and inter-onset times of the note row are used.

inter-onset time                  multiplication                      modulus                                transposition

1                                              70                                           0

This results in the inter-onset tomes generated from the note row falling between 70 and 0, allowing the possibility of an inter-onset time of 0.

duration multiplication                                                      45

inter-onset time multiplication                                        15

Using the "CANON" algorithm

note separation                                                                  6

Roughly every third, not sixth, pitch is accepted, this is because the pitches are repeated, first to trigger a MIDI note on message then to trigger a MIDI note off message. Occasionally a note on will occur before the previous note's note off message is sent, this creates the possibility of more or less than three pitches occurring before one is selected for the chord.

interval multiplication                                                        0.25

This means that the interval size used to generate the intervals for the chord/arpeggios is multiplied by 0.25. The result is that a melody interval with an absolute value below 4 will generate an interval of 0, a melody interval with an absolute value between 4 and 8 will generate a chord/arpeggio interval with an absolute value of 1, a melody interval with an absolute value between 9 and 12 will generate a chord/arpeggio interval with an absolute value of 2, and so on. When the intervals are computed numbers after the decimal point are disregarded.

harmony type                                                                      left to right

arpeggio inter-onset time                                                0, 0, 0, 0

Because all the inter-onset times are multiplied by 0 the arpeggios are heard as chords.

STUDY 3

Using the "COMPOSE" algorithm

pitch                        multiplication                      modulus                                transposition

1                                              24                                           48

velocity                  multiplication                      modulus                                transposition

21                                           20                                           5

Here the possible velocities are all multiplied by 2 creating possible velocities ranging from 0 to 138. The velocities are then placed within a modulus of 120 and then 5 is added to the result, creating an amplitude range from 5 to 125

duration                                 multiplication                      modulus                                transposition

1                                              12                                           0

inter-onset                            multiplication                      modulus                                transposition

1                                              8                                              0

duration multiplication                                                      125

Resulting in 12 possible note durations, from 1/16 notes to a dotted 1/4 notes at mm = 60.

inter-onset time multiplication                                        62.5

Resulting in 12 possible note inter-onset times, from 1/32 notes to a dotted 1/8 note at mm = 60.

Using the "CANON" algorithm

note separation                                                                  0

interval multiplication                                                        0.75

This means that the melody interval size used to generate the intervals for the chord/arpeggios is multiplied by 0.75. This results in chord/arpeggio intervals that do not have a static co-respondence to the melody intervals. Three examples are: a melody interval with an absolute value below 4 will generate an interval of 3, a melody interval with an absolute value of 12 will generate a chord/arpeggio interval with an absolute value of 9, a melody interval with an absolute value of 24 will generate a chord/arpeggio interval with an absolute value of 18, and so on.

harmony type                                                                      roll

Here the resultant intervals are applied to the selected pitches in a looping fashion, the intervals added to the selected note-events enter from left to right and then return to the right to left. This results in more open sounding chord/arpeggios as the intervals selected for the chord/arpeggios oscillate from between being temporally closer to the same intervals of the melody and being temporally farther from those intervals of the melody.

arpeggio inter-onset time                                                0, 0, 0, 0,

Resulting in the arpeggios being heard as simultaneities.