The Electroacoustic Music Studio of Yekaterinburg

The ElectroacousticMusic Studio of Yekaterinburg Tatiana Komarova The Electroacoustic Music Studio of the Ural State Conservatory was founded in 1990.In addition to myself, composers Sergei Sidelnikov and Valery Galaktionov are activelyworking at the studio as of 1996.Research in experimental electroacoustics includes work on the synthesis of electronics and traditional instruments as well as visual and performance-related implementaTatiana Komarova, Electroacoustic Music Studio of the Yetatcrinburg Conscrvatory, 26 Lcniii Avc.. Yckaterinburg 620014. Russia.Tcl/fax: 01I (3432) 51-71-80. tions of electroacoustic music. This conception of electroacoustic music as a concert genre has been presented with great successat the Electronic Music Festival (1992, Yekaterinburg) and the International Demidov Assembly (1992). Members of the studio are also working on educational courses for composition faculty in a complex field of subjects involving the potentials for electronic equipment and its use in composition practice. In recognition of the progress made in this field, the Ural State Conservatory obtained the right to institute a new degree program that qualifies graduates as “Composers of Electronic Music.”In 1994,Vladimir Volkov was the first to graduate with this qualification. Compositions created at the studio have been successfullyperformed at electronic music concerts in the United States (DeKalb, Illinois, 1994),at the twenty-fifth anniversary of the ElectroAcoustic Music Festival in Bourges, France (1995) and in Russia at the Alternativa-95and Panorama of Russian Music festivals in 1995. The Graphovox System of Musical Transformation Lydia Lityagina and Nikolai Naumov The Graphovox is a new musical system that allows for the creation of musical compositions from graphic drawings. It was developed in the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics as part of complex linguistic research. The system was developed on an IBM PC 386/DX with a Gravis Ultrasound sound board and an external KORG synthesizer. Graphovox allows for the creation of original graphics as well as multitimbral compositions. From a music-theory perspective , the system represents a new kind of multitimbral musical instrument that allows for the creation of a musical image by means of the creation and subsequent transformation of a graphical image and a technological apparatus for the study of musical images/forms by means of graphical images/forms. The system has a broad range of apreception of new musical material plications, including and further direct or indirect use of the material following manipulation broadening the user’s field of activity by opening additional opportunities for individual musical creativity, Lydia Lityagina and Nitolai Natiinov, tlic Kcldysll Institute ofApplied Mathematics. 4 hliurshayaSquare. Moscow A-47. 125047, Russia. self-expression and experimentation use of conversion between music and graphic imagery for research and systematization of musical forms and styles. We have described our graphics/music conversion elsewhere [11.The user creates a drawingwith a mouse, choosing colorsas necessary,then feeds the drawing as input to the program. One can draw figuresby connecting points and/ or using geometrical primitives. The conversion of the drawing to music is based on a syntactic method [2] founded on the mutual disposition of points on the plane: every point corresponds to one note of the melody, and the order in which the notes sound depends on which system of coordinates (Cartesian or polar) is chosen by the user. Moreover, every color of the drawing corresponds with a certain timbre as specified by the user. The user can also control the type of scale (European , pentatonic, chromatic) and the duration of the notes as parameters of the melody. The melody can be played by a synthesizer and saved as a MIDI file for subsequent processing or listening. Similar approaches have been used by Bulat Galeyev and others [3,4,5], as well as for the UPIC system [6]. Graphovox representswhat we believe is the first system that allows for both direct and inverse conversions -from drawing to music and vice versa multiple variations made possible by the availability of different coordinate systemsfor use in conversion . Besides the Cartesian system, which has already been implemented [7],Graphovox allows for the use of the polar system of coordinates [8]. When the latter are used, the order in which the notes occur depends on the angle formed by the lines and the distance between points. a...