FFT Use and Abuse
We talked briefly about the Fourier Transform at the beginning of the
class, and then discussed how it can be used as a foundation for
'algorithmic' composition. I showed how to export
SPEAR
analysis data and then 'massage' it appropriately for use in
a Max/MSP resynthesis. Bryan then did a demo of
Open Music,
the music-data compositional software from
IRCAM.
Links
I didn't go heavily into the Fourier transform (or the FFT), but here are
links to three books for more info if you'd like:
- Who Is Fourier
-- the Transnational College of LEX (I'm not kidding, that
really is the listed author)
this is the best explanation of the Fourier transform
I have read. I based a lot of my lecture on the examples
they use. Check the Amazon reviews, it's quite a book.
Very goofy, but very good.
- Calculus for Cats
-- Ken Amdahl and Jim Loats
I forgot to mention this in class. This is a
good coverage of basic calculus if you want to learn or
review. Again, kind of goofy but the info is solid.
- Musical Applications of Microprocessors
-- Hal Chamberlin
this is the book I mentioned with an excellent discussion
of how the Fast Fourier Transform actually works. It does
look like it's out-of-print, and the prices I see for
"new" books are truly insane. I'm not sure how useful this
really is; I read it almost 30 years ago.
Class Downloads
- week12-classpatches.zip
-- the class patches we used to resynthesize the cat-meow in
Max/MSP from an initial SPEAR analysis. The anaylsis files and
the original "cat1.aif" soundfile are included.
- OM_intro.zip
-- the OpenMusic demo patches by Bryan.