🚀 go-pugleaf

 >  maverick@mahogany.Berkeley.EDU (Vance Maverick) writes:
 > What is the relevance of real sounds to computer music? 

I think the primary relevence of real sounds to computer music is that
they provide a constant reminder of how far we are from developing a
set of tools for the arbitrary manipulation of sound. (Have you ever
heard a good simulation of a piece of paper being crumpled?) Sure, 
theoretically, by adding sine waves of the appropriate amplitude,
phase and frequency over time, any sound can be replicated exactly. 
Practically, however, this ``tool'' is not very useful.

The question is really one of representation. A thought experiment:
What is ``in between'' the sound of a bowed saw and ewe's bleat?
It depends entirely upon how the sounds are modeled, that is, what
parameters are available. If addative synthesis is the model, then 
``in between'' suggests that the amplitude of each frequency be set to
a value halfway between that frequency's level in the two different
sounds. If the sounds are represented by an FM model, adjusting the
frequencies and amplitudes of the carrier and modulator to values
in between those for the two different sounds yields a very different
``in between'' sound than in the additive synthesis case.

In making models of sounds for music, it is not adequate to just
synthesize a given sound sound well. There is no limit to the variety
of ways that any given sound can be constructed. In music, the
question of how one sound relates to another is of paramount
importance. The question can be answered in terms of a good model.

Due to a strong bias of musicians toward notes, an incomplete
understanding of how we hear, and a lack of funds, far more resources
have been devoted to modeling traditional instruments than other sound
sources. Kurzwiel did a great job for the piano (after intensive
efforts). What we need next, is a more general understanding of how to
model, and how the models we use to make the sounds for music effect
how we hear and listen to it.

		
						- lonce


   XXX     XXX         Lonce Wyse                                |
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