The Theremin Center for Electroacoustic Music

4. D.V. Piotrovsky, “Computer Graphic Modeling of Melodic Structures,” New Technologiesin Culfure and Arf:A Regional Scientific-Praclical Seminar (Kazan, Russia, 1995). In Russian. 5. I,L, Vanechkina, - ~ ~ ~ i ~ ~ l Graphics- as an strument for Musicologists and Educators,” Imnardo 27, No. 5,437-439 (1994). 6. “UPIC-A Computer for Composing Music Created by Iannis Xenakis,”BulkfinojfheScientific In- /ormation Service o/fheRimky-Korsakov State Concerualory o/St. PelersburgNo. 4 (1992) pp. 3240 . In Russian. 7 .Lityaginaand Naumov [11, 8. Lityagina and Naumov [11. Alexander I? Mentyukov The NTONYX Computer Laboratory (NCL) was established in 1984as the Novosibirsk Computer Laboratory by research collaborators of the Computer Department of the Novosibirsk State Conservatory, including engineers, programmers , acousticians, psychologists and musicians who specialized in the development and application of software and hardware for electronic music. Before 1990, the NCL‘s primary activities involved performing projects to order for industrial enterprises. During that time, it developed several products , including Data Filer for musical instruments, Car Sound Processor, Telegraph Adapter and the Music Computer , which was the first computer based on the Apple I1 to be produced in the Soviet Union. At present, the NCL is known in Russia as a scientific-industrial firm with limited production of equipment using updated components. Scientific research forms a considerable part of the laboratory’s work. Particular focus is on the fundamental question of the expressiveness of electronic music. According to the NCL specialists’opinions, the main point of the problem lies not so much in the improvement of sound-synthesis technology and the stabilityof Alexander P. Mentyukov (musicologist, educator), Computer Department, Novosibirsk State Conservatory, 31, SovetskayaStreet, Novosibirsk, Russia. E-mail: . tempo, pitch and timbre-whose recent developments are widely regarded as signs of progress-but in the lack of effective methods of influencing and controlling synthesis.In many respects, the expressive characteristics of electronic music are predetermined by synthesis, and the laboratory’s specialistssee their search in this direction as a fruitful one. This suggests that the next step in the developmentof electronic means of producing music will involve transferring the sound extraction laws and norms of expressive intonation that function in music as an art form. In their attempts to solve this problem , the NCL specialists have created the Integral Controller for solo synthesizer ; the Tone Generator, which is based on a concept of “familyvoices”; and the StyleEnhancer (SE system), a program for modeling performance and automatic processing of an electronic score to produce a given form of expressiveness. Rather than making use of the traditional wheels andjoystick, the original structure of the Integral Controller has six independent parameters that give the musician free rein to influence performance and control synthesisin real time. A concept of “familyvoices”forms the basis for the Tone Generator, which was realized with the help of a timbremorphing method. In this case, one synthesis channel for reproduction of an expressive musical part-which includes different methods of sound extraction and timbre shading-is used instead of several. The main purpose of the SE System program is to model the rendering processwith due regard for instrument structure, performer physiology, soundextraction technology and standard laws of intonation. The program algorithm includes the analysisand transformation of musical data in accordance with a set of regulated rules. In the course of modeling, a number of transforming functions such as frequency, time and amplitude influence the initial data. As compared to the traditional method of editing scores by hand, the program reduces the composer’s expenditure of time in the creation and arrangement of a musical composition. It can also prove useful in the research activities of musicologists and practical work of teachers, because its modeling methods allow one to examine concealed mechanisms of the performance process. The creation and approval of a practical version of the SE System spurred the organization of the new Laboratory for the Modeling of Performance at the NovosibirskState Conservatory. Alexei Ustinov, an educator at the Computer Department, is the organizer of the NCL and the chief manager of its research projects. In 1995, the NCL was renamed the NTONYX Computer Laboratory and became a research subdivision of NTONYX International Corporation. The Theremin Center for ElectroacousticMusic Andre Smirnov The Theremin...