ï~~ INTERNATIONAL MUSIC COMPUTER MUSIC CONFERENCE - ICMC/82
VENISE - 27 Septembre-2 Octobre 1982
COMPUTER SYNTHESIS OF SOUND APPLIED TO COMPOSITION WITH SONIC PROCESSES
by Jean-Claude RISSET
C.N.R.S.-.LABORATOIRE DE MECANIQUE ET D'ACOUSTIQUE
B.P..71 - 31, Chemin Joseph Aiguier
13277 MARSEILLE CEDEX 9
FRANCE
Computer synthesis of sound.affords the composer with the possibility of applying compositional- control at the level of the sonic processes,
to control "sound structure in music", as R. Erickson puts it. This can be
appropriate in compositions for tape alone, but also in pieces combining
tape with live instruments: the sonic microcomposition in the tape part
can then reflect or extend the macrocomposition in term of instrumental notes..In this presentation, I shall give sound examples of various sonic
processes which I implemented in my own compositions, using M. V. Mathews'
MUSIC V program.
One should not think that the MUSIC V program is restricted to the
specification of quasi-periodic tones. The "note" concept in MUSIC V should
not be likened to the instrumental note one MUSIC V note may correspond
to.many subjective events; conversely a single aural event may result from
the fusion of many Music notes. The MUSIC V "not2" triggers on aic off, at
prescribed instants, a Music "instrument", i.e. a combination of functional
blocks, and specifies those parameters that have been left variable from
note to note. The composer selects in advance his combination of blocks
those can be oscillators - audio or sub-audio, which put out a prescribed
function and which can be modulated at will in amplitude, frequency or phase; random generators; mixers; multipliers; units giving as output a
prescribed function of the input; filters; reverberators... New blocks
can be added if desired. The functions can be defined in several fashions:
as piece wise linear functions; through mathematical formulas; with graphic tablets, if available. These possibilities, compounded with personal
compositional subroutines, extend the role of the MUSIC V score:not only
does the score specifies in complete detail the physical structure of the
sound; it also serves as sonic structural notation, suggesting and facilitating specific sonic transformations and processes.
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