K509 Syllabus

K509 - Seminar in Computer Music - Syllabus

Prof. Jeffrey Hass (hassj @ indiana.edu )
(remove blanks to copy and paste emails)
Click here for course information

Dates	Dodge Topic/Lecture	Weekly Web Page with Assignments and Additional Readings	Dodge Chapter/Presenter (to be read by listed week)
Week 1 (8/28)	• Course overview; administrivia (studio times, accounts, required materials, etc.) • Assignment of Dodge chapters and guidelines for chapter presentations • Discussion of independent assignments (final project) • Learning UNIX. Macintosh Terminal app	K509_Week1 UNIX for Musicians Review of binary numbers
Week 2 (9/4)	Acoustics Review 1 RTcmix 1 guest lecturer: Prof. Gibson	K509_Week2 Basic Acoustic Principles (1-10) RTcmix homepage RTcmix Tutorial [pdf] RTcmix packages for OS X	1-Hass
Week 3 (9/11)	Acoustics Review 2 RTcmix 2 guest lecturer: Prof. Gibson	K509_Week3 Basic Acoustic Principles (11-19)	2-Hass
Week 4 (9/18)	Digital Audio Principles RTcmix 3	K509_Week4 Principles of Digital Audio RTcmix->MAX/MSP Garton article	3-Martin
Week 5 (9/25)	Synthesis Fundamentals MAX/MSP 1	K509_Week5	4-Jeff/Brent
Week 6 (10/2)	FM Synthesis and other synthesis using distortion techniques MAX/MSP 2	K509_Week6 FM Synthesis article	5-Zach
Week 7 (10/9)	Subtractive Synthesis MAX/MSP 3	K509_Week7	6-Martin/Jeremy
Week 8 (10/16)	Analysis-based Synthesis MAX/MSP 4	K509_Week8 Roads E-reserve phase vocoder article	7-Jeff
Week 9 (10/23)	Granular Synthesis Isadora 1	K509_Week9 Truax-Granulation of Sampled Sound Roads, pp. 168-184	8-Adam
Week 10 (10/30)	Physical Modeling Isadora 2	K509_Week10 Julius Smith Waveguide article (browse!) Darthmouth K-S article MAX reading TBA	9-Jeremy
Week 11 (11/6)	Reverberation, Localization sensors and real-time perfomance interfaces	K509_Week11 Roads E-reserve convolution article MAX reading TBA	10a-Zach/Adam (TBD)
Week 12 (11/13)	Algorithmic Composition Introduction to Supercollider 1	K509_Week12 Supercollider Home Page David Cottle Supercollider Tutorial [pdf] on CECM Server->Shared->K509 2007->K509 Supercollider docs->David Cottle SC Tutorial	10b-Adam/Zach (TBD)
Week 13 (11/20)	Real-time Performance Introduction to Supercollider 2	Thanksgiving • no class Thursday	11-Brent
Week 14 (11/27)	Supercollider 3	David Cottle Supercollider Tutorial [pdf]	12-The Stoned Guest
Week 15 (12/4)	Supercollider 4	David Cottle Supercollider Tutorial [pdf]
Exam Week	Performance of Final Projects on assigned exam day	DO NOT BUY A TICKET TO LEAVE TOWN EARLY! THE PLEASURE OF YOUR PRESENCE IS REQUIRED!

Course Information

This syllabus includes lecture topics, weekly assignments, and reading.
Reading assignments are listed together with the relevant lectures. It is expected that readings be done in advance of the lectures to facilitate maximum comprehension. A portion of the class grade depends on this preparation and short content quizzes on the assigned reading may be given at the start of the class the readings were assigned for. You may drop your lowest quiz grade.
The dates given in the Dates column are for the Tuesday lecture.
During the first week, chapters in the Dodge book will be assigned for presentation. While these presentations are usually done on a Tuesday, sometimes other topics may require postponement until Thursday.
A final project, consisting of a composition of appropriate length and technical sophistications will take the place of the final exam. The composition should primarily exemplify some or all of the tools and techniques covered by this class, as well as possessing good artistic qualities. Multimedia works and installations are also a possibility and can be discussed with the instructor.
GRADING POLICY: 40% weekly assignments, 15% assigned in-class Dodge presentation, 15% in-class quizzes, 30% final project.
Catastrophic loss of materials is not deemed an acceptable excuse for lateness of assignments or the final project. Students are expected to keep adequate back-ups of their work using proper back-up techniques. A portable hard drive is highly recommended as a second or third form of back-up.
Aside from the quizzes mentioned above, there are no scheduled exams for this class.
WEEKLY ASSIGNMENTS: Weekly assignments are expected to be completed by the next Tuesday. Depending on class size, some or all of the student's work will be played or discussed in class. It is a great time-saver to have your work ready to go on the CECM MAC302 server in your account rather than transferring from servers, other drives, etc. Credit will be deducted for late assignments (of course, '0's for no assignment. It is hoped that students will 'go for the gusto' and show independent initiative when completing the work rather than just go for the bare minimum necessary. Work done on assignments can easily be incorporated into the final project. Students are highly encouraged to experiment with assignments once the basic assignment has been fulfilled. Being one of the last classes that most of you will take in this subject, an important skill I hope you all develop is the ability to work out technical problems on your own. Absolutely, help is available, but please give figuring things out yourself a good shot first.
DODGE CHAPTER PRESENTATIONS: Being a graduate seminar, students are assigned two to three Dodge chapters to present in class. In part, the quality of the class for other students depends on students making their best efforts to accurately summarize and explain theories and techniques discussed in the book. Student should have a 4-6 page handout to help in their presentation, but should also avoid paraphrasing Dodge word for word. Some concepts and entire chapters may be very complex. In this case, the student should find other sources in the library and/or on-line sources to aid in their understanding of the material prior to presenting it themselves. Presentations should be very close to 45 minutes. The non-presenting students are expected to have fully read the chapter prior to the class in which it is presented. This will help immensely in comprehension and also one's performance on those spot quizzes.
ATTENDANCE POLICY: Each student is permitted two unexcused absences. Beyond that, a half-grade will be deducted for each additional absence (i.e. an A will become an A-, an A- becomes a B+, etc.). Excused absences consist of important professional or educational conflicts cleared in advance with instructor, or serious illness with an excuse from a Bloomington physician stating clearly that the student was not able to attend class on that date (a note from the Health Center stating the student visited them is not sufficient). No medical notes from relatives of the student will be accepted. Any other request for excused absences must be discussed and approved in advance by instructor.
Incompletes will only be granted per the University guidelines.

Course Materials

Required Text: Dodge--Computer Music 2nd ed. (purchase online (not in bookstore), library reserve)
Articles on E-Reserve; http://ereserves.indiana.edu/eres/coursepass.aspx?cid=5468 and you will need the secret password from me.
Additional Readings: F. Richard Moore--Elements of Computer Music, Roads--Computer Music Tutorial, Teach Yourself UNIX (located on bookshelf)--see others on Hass Permanent Reserve List
Additional Materials: Supercollider .pdf files from David Cottle (print out portions) and other Supercollider help files provided in class, other public documentation pointed to by various class materials.