Week 1 Activities

  • Introduction to the course (link to presentation)
  • Presenting the syllabus
  • Fill out this survey
  • Installing Max:
    1. Download and install Max 9
    2. Download and install the Sassafras client: Windows or Mac
    3. When installing, you will be prompted to connect to a server. Use the following address: dekeslayton.magnet.nyu.edu
    4. Restart your computer. After the restart, in the KeyAccess client in settings/Control Panel you should be able to connect to our license server.
    5. If you are trying to access the Max license via the Sassafras client off campus, you may run into an issue. This is because the Keyserver is only accessible when connected to NYU’s network. If you wish to connect from home, please connect to the NYU VPN first. Instructions for doing so are here
  • Max examples: Notes and signals
  • Steal a Sound Assignment

MUSIC IV

What is sound?

  • VIBRATIONS IN AIR OR ANOTHER MEDIUM THAT YOU CAN PERCEIVE
  • SOMETHING YOU HEAR
  • COMMUNICATION TOOL -> LANGUAGE

Ear

SPL

  • 20Hz to 20,000Hz is audible frequency range for humans (normatively speaking)

Frequency vs time

What is music?

  • “organized sound”
  • emotional response
  • cultural / learned context

  • use of instrumentation

  • The Human Voice

voice

vowels

hand

pickup

  • Acoustic vs Electric vs Electronic

  • Analog vs Digital

  • Sampling rate (temporal quality)

  • Shannon-Nyquist theorem: to digitally encode a signal of frequency X, you need X*2 values at minimum

  • Bit Depth (accuracy of pressure measurement)

  • Fast Fourier Transform (deriving frequency-domain information from a signal)

  • Programming for sound and music

  • MUSIC-IV