[jmsl] Java Music Systems, Fall 2008, Final Projects by students

[jmsl at music.columbia.edu]

Java Music Systems, Fall 2008, Final Projects by students
NYU Steinhardt, Dept of Music and Performing Arts Professions

On Dec 16, 2008 students in Nick Didkovsky's Java Music Systems class at 
NYU presented their final projects. Descriptions below are by the 
students commenting on their own work. URL’s are provided where appropriate.

Polyrhythm Applet
by Karl Mattias Konrad
“Inspired by music theory from India, where rhythm plays a decisive 
role, the Polyrhythm Applet can be used to train or show transitions 
between subdivisions of a beat, or transitions between different 
groupings. The applet splits a steady beat of a given tempo into 
subdivisions, groups them in patterns and plays the patterns against the 
metronome. The user can manually define tempo, subdivision, grouping, 
and pattern, or use the default pattern and tempo, and make the applet 
create a random set of subdivisions and groupings. A visual counter 
provides extra information about the audible outcome.”
http://www.matthiaskonrad.com/PolyRhythms

Ambient Music Generator Applet
by Chris Polcyn
“This Java applet is a continuous ambient music generator, incorporating 
JSyn and JMSL. A simple click of a button will produce a steady stream 
of ambient music as the listener is lulled to sleep. Simplistic and 
minimal design are key for keeping the sound low-profile and in the 
background.”
http://homepages.nyu.edu/~cmp433/javamusic/finalproject/


Sound Design and Panning Effects with JSyn and JMSL
by Kyle Vaughn
“The sound design creates an eerie mood and features the use of the 
signal processing capabilities of JSyn to create stereo panning effects. 
My main goal with this project was to create a minimalist sound design 
piece that focused on the signal processing tools in JSyn. I began with 
adjusting and tweaking with sounds created in Wire. Once I found 
something I liked they were all loaded together in an applet. I had no 
predetermined ideas of how the sounds would go together. I simply found 
individual sounds I liked and then adjusted them more once they were 
playing all together. The behaviors of the synth notes are called upon 
randomly. However, they are randomly called with in a set of boundaries 
so the behaviors are somewhat predictable. The signal processing 
instruments used are a delay and frequency delay with in the JMSL API. 
Two of same delays are used in an effort to create a stereo panning 
effect. When an instrument called “plucked delay” is called the “dry” 
signal happens first, which is panned all the way to the left side. Then 
a frequency delay signal processer is used to move the “plucked delay” 
to the center. Finally the output of both the “plucked delay” and the 
frequency delay is sent to a delay signal processer, which panned all 
the way to the right. “
http://www.kylevaughn.com/JavaMusicSystems/Final/Final.html


Implementation of an Isolated Hummed Notes Pitch Detector in Java
by Loreto Sanchez
“My project consists in a pitch detector in real time for a singing 
note. The program captures the sound, performs the FFT analysis, the 
Spectral Autocorrelation, peak picking to detect the index with the 
highest peak and pitch determination.”
http://homepages.nyu.edu/~mls548/JavaMusicSystems/finalproject.html


Regarding Time
by Adam Rokhsar
“The goal of Regarding Time was to create an aesthetically meaningful 
interaction between JMSL and Max/MSP/Jitter. Audio features are 
extracted from a piece Violin in Max/MSP, which interact with data 
stored in a MusicShape to control video parameters. By having JMSL 
change parameters at Max speed on MSP data used to drive video, I was 
able to produce something in a more elegant way with JMSL and Max than I 
could have with Max alone.”


N8-BIT DM
by Nataniel Rodriguez
“N8-Bit DM is a virtual analogue drum machine consisting of 5 sound 
sources emulating a kick, snare, high hat, percussion, and tom 
respectively, each with their own pitch envelope. Each part can be 
triggered in 3 different ways: through QWERTY keystrokes (1, 2, 3, 4, 
and5 keys), MIDI note input (notes 60 through 64), or automatically 
through JMSL MusicShapes. MusicShape control is based on Nick 
Didkovsky’s Max/JAVA tutorial patches and classes, except for a few 
modifications, mostly done on the Max patch side. Using the MusicShape 
editor, patterns and variations of such patterns can be created in 
real-time.”

Random Music Generator
By Chi Kim
“This project is to make a music generator which lets users to control 
some of its parameters to generate random music shapes. In that sense, 
the title is misleading, because the process of generating random shapes 
is not purely controlled by computer. The users can specify his/her 
taste in run time, and the computer will loosely match the parameters.”