BeatCompose

Basic Idea:

Based on Jean-Claude Risset's early beat experiments and example (our rissbeat.c code from Assignment 3), and Charles Dodge's composition "Profiles", and lots of other examples of cool sine interferences, it should be clear that the whole sine interference thing could be pretty deep from a compositional standpoint.

In fact, it might lead one to a set of thought (and code) experiments. Questions such as:

• Could I program a set of additive sine waves of particular frequencies, amplitudes, and phases such that they would "play" any melody, like "Happy Birthday" over some period of time?
• How might I go about figuring out how to choose frequencies, phases, amplitudes to accomplish a given goal? Or at least to get a musically interesting and predictible result?
• If I started with an assumption of weakly harmonic, but detuned, components, how can i get an intelligent and purposed handle on what will happen when i add them all together?
• Many, many, many more interesting questions

This project is about you asking questions like the above, and some more based on your intuitions, and coming up with some interesting code and sounds from your experiments.

Whatever you decide to do, you must write it up like a mini independent work project.

• What you did
• Why you did it
• How you did it
• Results
• References

Make a web page with the report, the modified code, some example score files, some example sound files (for input and output), and

A 66.6 second "musical statement" made using only your new tool.

Put your materials in the usual place by class time on March 11th.