Master of Music Technology - Final Project

Iain C.T. Duncan, University of Victoria

• Introduction
• Background - Computer Music Programming Languages
  • What is Computer Music Programming?
  • Requirements for a Computer Music Platform
    • Support for Musical Abstractions
    • Support for Performer Interaction
    • Support for Complex Algorithms
  • Computer Music Platform Families
    • Domain-Specific Textual Languages
    • Visual Patching Environments
    • General-Purpose Programming Languages
    • Multi-Language Platforms
  • Conclusion
• Project Motivation and Goals
  • Overview
  • Focus on programming musical events and event-oriented tools
  • Support multiple contexts, including linear composition, realtime interaction, and live performance
  • Support advanced functional and object-oriented programming techniques
  • Be linguistically optimized for the target use cases
  • Be usable in conjunction with modern, commercial tools
  • Support composing music that is impractical on commercial tools
  • Enable interactive development during musical playback
  • Conclusion
• High-Level Design
  • Why a Max extension?
  • Why not use JavaScript?
  • Why use a Lisp language?
    • Symbolic computation and list processing
    • Dynamic code loading and the REPL
    • Macros and Domain Specific Languages
    • Max and Lisp syntax compatibility
  • Of the possible Lisp languages, why use s7 Scheme?
    • Use in Computer Music
    • Linguistic Features
    • Ease of embedding
    • License
• Features and Usage
  • Installation
  • Object Initialization
    • Bootstrap files
    • Source Files
    • Inlets and Outlets
  • Input
    • Inlet 0 Scheme Expressions
    • Inlet 1+
  • Output
  • Sending Messages
  • Buffers & Tables
  • Dictionaries
  • S4M Arrays
  • The s4m.grid object
  • Scheduling Functions
  • Garbage collector functions
  • Conclusion
• Conclusion
  • Evaluation
    • Focus on programming musical events and event-oriented tools
    • Support multiple contexts, including linear composition, real-time interaction, and live performance
    • Support advanced functional and object-oriented programming techniques
    • Be linguistically optimized for the target use cases
    • Be usable in conjunction with modern, commercial tools
    • Support composing music that is impractical on commercial tools
    • Enable iterative development during musical playback
    • Evaluation Summary
  • Limitations and Future Work
    • Limited Integrations
    • Real-time Scheduling
    • Garbage Collection
    • Thread Limitations
    • Difficulty of Extension
  • Conclusion
• References