Sound: Advanced Topics I
Our plan is to use this term and the next term to take you through a fairly extensive tour of these capabilities, the goal being to give you the tools you need to develop your own nifty applications. Much of this is very new, and we'll be making a lot of it up -- especially the documentation -- as we go along. This semester is something of an extension of what we covered in the Fall 2017 class, but be aware that many of the demos we did in that class (linked in the Fall 2017 Course Syllabus pages) used an older version of the Unity/RTcmix package and may not work properly. But they might be good resources, and we'll probably be resurrecting a few for this class. Things are relatively stable now after a year of bashing on the code while away on leave.
It will be helpful if you know RTcmix and/or Unity, but if these are relatively new you should still be able to do the work for the class. There are many good on-line resources for picking up the skills that you may need. We will be linking to them from the class syllabus page. We also won't expect that you've done a lot (or any) programming in your past, although a little familiarity with coding will help. Unity itself is designed for non-coders to use, and we believe that it will be possible to develop interesting apps without extensive a-priori knowledge. We will be doing some programming, but I've found that it's not too difficult to learn, especially when you have a good reason to learn it.
Because the underlying framework we are using for the class is still in flux, you will need to stay on your toes as the semester progresses. We also have no idea if we can even cover one-tenth of the materials we have planned to cover, but hey, this is Columbia! Go Lions!
We'll also be having a special guest or two come to talk to the class during the term. The dates may shift slightly on the syllabus as we work out the schedule. We may also have to radically bend and stretch the syllabus to accommodate what we plan to teach. Thus you should think of the syllabus primarily as a rough guide to the term and not necessarily set-in-stone. We will, however, link all of the code, patches and projects to each class in the syllabus for you to download and use.
To demonstrate how RTcmix functions in an embedded environment, we will be using it initially as the [rtcmix~] object in Max/MSP. There was a pd version of the object, but I think it is defunct at present. If you'd rather not shell out the $$$ for Max/MSP, you can run RTcmix as a free "standalone" app on OSX and Unix computers. We can show you how to set that up. And if you have a Windows machine, John Gibson at Indiana University has built a nice interface-app called RTcmixShell. It also runs on OSX, too.
Using these apps is a good way to develop audio outside the game environment, making it much easier to tweak and hone musical parameters of the audio you'd like to use.
Although we'll probably be doing our class instruction using Macs, nearly every VR/AR interface system (Oculus, HTC, etc,) runs only on Windows at present. We have a powerful Windows desktop computer for use in the class. You can still develop on OSX if you have the right tools installed, and most of the demos we do in the class will be on OSX.
If you have Macintosh, you will need the
Xcode/iOS Developer Tools
to do development work. You will also need
Visual Studio 2017
(get the free "Community" version) for Windows development. This may
actually come with the
Unity
development download package. Obviously you will need that one.
Collected here are links to software that we will be using in class:
If you prefer to work on your own computer, that's perfectly fine. We actually encourage this.
You may sign up studios and machines for doing your work at the CMC using our new sign-up system. We do these using the Google Calendar app available through your Columbia cunix account (i.e. Lionmail). You will be receiving an invitation 'join' the relevant room calendars after the class starts. We'll be demonstrating how to use the system to reserve room times in class.
If you are having trouble getting access to the hardware or software you need, please let us know. The CMC is intentionally in a state of perpetual flux, reflecting the rapid evolution of the field of computer music. Our primary guide for the kinds of hardware and software investments we need to make comes from you, our happy students!
Do let us know if you are having problems getting equipment or
software to work for you. This promises to be a more intense term
because of the range of material we will be discussing.
In general, if you are having difficulty
understanding the programming paradigms
we are using or the applications and information we are covering,
be sure to talk to us. We'll be happy to sit down and work through
any issues with you.
Like we said,
each week we do will become a link to information relating to that
class. We'll try to keep up with linking in class patches, examples
and information, but we may fall behind. Yell at us when we do.
In general, it's always a good idea to make an appointment to see me, even during my purported office hours, because I often have to run around campus like a maniac doing strange, computer-music stuff. If you need to contact someone at the CMC or Music Department using your actual voice, the relevant phone numbers are:
I say this every year, and generally people believe it (I think): by this point in your career the last thing you should be worrying about is a grade. The main thing is to find something that you'd really like to do and then do it. Please don't try to impress us with your consummate knowledge and skill, we are more impressed by people who do things. Honest!
Hope you enjoy the class!
