Music 307

Introduction to Computer Music

FINAL PROJECT

Final Project:  Using any of the hardware/software we learned about in this class (for example Max/MSP, Pro Tools, Reaper, the Buchla, Audacity, etc, or any combination of the above), create a short piece.  Can be played "live" (for example a Max/MSP patch that plays a short piece in real time), or using a sound editor like Reaper or Logic, you can edit/mix your audio from various sources, and produce a final result as a sound file.  

1. Compose an original work 3-5 minutes in length, longer if you really want to
OR do research on a topic related to the course and write a paper (or some other format like a web page) about it.

2. Make use of the music software and/or hardware available in the Create Lab (studio) or the in Fine Arts Lab (across the Ring Road), or on your own laptop to create your original composition.

3. Combine all your new-found skills.  Examples:

Write a MAX patch that interacts with live audio from a microphone (using pitch tracking or other analysis), or is "performable" from a keyboard. You can also write a Max patch to control the Buchla using the MIDI-to-voltage module (to do this you need a MIDI interface -- there is one permanently mounted in the rack in the studio).

4. Feel free to use any work that was done in the previous labs as a starting point for your final project.  Perhaps you have an FM sound you created in Lab 4 that you would like to use in your Final Project, or a Buchla patch from Lab 3, or some samples and/or edits from Lab 2, etc. Or you'd like to expand on Lab 3 by using the MIDI-to-voltage converter on the Buchla, etc.

5. Submit a brief summary of the techniques used in your work, what you were trying to accomplish, and whether you accomplished it. As always, describe in English what you did and why it sounds the way it does.  Comment on how successful were you at creating the music that you envisioned.

Grade rubric:

Will be based on technical skill (as well as originality).  This assignment is worth 30% of your final grade, as noted in the syllabus.
Everything (audio and documentation files) should go in the drop box for the Final Project.  Please remember to include your name in the filename.

NOTE:  If you make a Max patch, you have the option to make it "self-documenting" by putting in comments whereever needed, or you can have a subpatch that contains explanatory text (instead of having a separate text document).  Also, if you are performing in some way, you can send a short video of your performance so I can see what you were doing and how you did it.

Note that a Max/MSP patch that plays music will be a tiny file, whereas a sound file, or especially a movie, could be quite large. Either one is OK.

NOTE: You could submit a video AND a Max patch; for example you might write a patch that you can perform with, in which case you would submit the video along with the patch that you made. Or, if you're going in a direction similar to Lab 5, there wouldn't need to be a video -- your patch would or could "play itself." That's up to you.

Note that if you are doing something in Max/MSP, the Final Project does not have to be like Lab 5, that is to say, it doesn't necessarily need to "play itself." That's an option if you want to do it that way, but it can also be something that you can control or perform live with, in which case a video is a good way to capture your performance.

Let me know if you have any questions.