composition | other software projects

Other software projects

I have been involved in many other projects not listed on this page, but these I feel are worth sharing, since they were my ideas, and I was the sole or the main contributor. Most of these projects are also programmed in Max (see Compositions above), but I also work in Ruby and JavaScript and have delved into Python and Java, as well as having done projects in Pascal, Basic, machine language (8088), and surely other scripts and languages.

Sonic Cities Imagined (2014)

A soundscape project merging the cities of Chicago and Salford. As part of Sonic Fusion 2014, Loops to and From ‘The Loop’, C_LEns (Columbia Laptop Ensemble) at Columbia College Chicago, and ALE (Adelphi Laptop Ensemble) at the University of Salford, MediaCity, UK, a joint concert between the two institutions, simulcast to the two theaters. The concert consisted of a back-and-forth of pieces presented by students and faculty at the two institutions followed by the collaborative event listed here in which participants from both ensembles presented their soundscape materials in a scripted manner. Along with the video, audio from each institution was streamed to the other for a live mix with the host audio. The piece was composed in a way that accommodated the ~600 ms round-trip delay. This piece and concert served as a prototype for the 2016 event (see compositions).

Watermaker (2012)

This app allows the creation and recording of synthesized waterlike sounds using pulses, doppler shifting, pitch modulation, timed repetition, layering, reverberation and delay. Created in Max 4.

Online Music Theory Drills (2011)

Programmed in Javascript, these drills were created to fill holes in the availability of free online drills for various music theory and music literacy skills. Designed to fit on screen sizes from desktop computers to phones, the drills cover the following skills:

• Enharmonic Equivalents
• Steps and Seconds
• Notes an Octave Apart between staves
• Time Signatures and their beats
• Flags and Beams – correct beaming in various meters
• Scale Degrees (in various keys)
• Dominants and Secondary Dominants – Roman numerals
• Natural Intervals

MinEvent performance interface (2011)

I worked with composer Richard Woodbury to realize his 2011 score composed for C_LEns to perform for the final event of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company for a faculty dance recital, I created a software interface allowing students to work with Richard’s sounds according to his score. The collaboration with Richard and the ensemble included their own manipulations of his source sounds.

In order to perform a score commissioned for a performance of Merce Cunningham choreography.

Psychoacoustic Learning Modules (2010)

This was a team project with composer and educator Ben Sutherland. Our goal was to create interactive modules to demonstrate psychoacoustic effects as well as audio illusions.

8 Audio Modules (Technology Fellowship project, CCC 2009)

I worked with another faculty member at Columbia College Chicago to create audio modules to teach some basic lessons of working with digital audio. I did the programming.

• clipping
• foldover
• smoothing filter
• quantization noise
• cancellation
• additive synthesis
• filter types
• comb filter effect

RhythmTools (Tech Fellowship project, CCC 2004)

This was a Max-based set of drills created for a digital music lab. It used MIDI in conjunction with MIDI keyboards, and allowed for dictation, reading and other. No longer supported.

Digital Monochord and Monochord HD (1998-1999)

These programs allowed study of the medieval instrument used for testing and establishing tuning systems. Digital Monochord allowed cursor-based exploration, while Monochord HD provided for numerically specified ratios. No longer supported.