Algorithmic Composition: A Guide to Composing Music with Nyquist

Contents

Contents Preface xi   Acknowledgments xiii   Chapter 1   Introduction 1   1.1   SAL 1   1.2   Lisp 2   1.3   Nyquist 2   1.4   The Nyquist Integrated Development Environment 3   1.5   Algorithmic Composition 4   1.6   Additional References 5   Chapter 2   The History and Philosophy of Algorithmic Composition 6   2.1   The Process of Algorithmic Composition 6   2.2   A Brief History of Algorithmic Processes Applied to Music Composition 7   2.3   Aesthetics of Algorithmic Composition 14   2.4   Suggested Listening 15   Chapter 3   Introduction to SAL 16   3.1   Data 16   3.2   Running Nyquist 18   3.3   SAL Expressions 19   3.4   Functions 21   3.5   Predicates 29   3.6   User-Defined Functions 36   3.7   Getting Help 38   3.8   Programming Errors 38   3.9   Error Messages 38   3.10   Stack Traces 40   3.11   Printing 42 viii Contents Chapter 4   Programming and Nyquist 43   4.1   Getting Started 43   4.2   Nyquist Instruments 46   4.3   Nyquist Scores 48   4.4   Variables 51   4.5   Score Processing 52   Chapter 5   Introduction to Algorithmic Composition 61   5.1   Getting Started 61   5.2   Pitch and Rhythm Notation 64   5.3   Pattern Objects and Item Streams 64   5.4   A Complete Example 68   5.5   Suggested Listening 73   Chapter 6   Printing, Reading, and Debugging 74   6.1   print Command 74   6.2   format Command 74   6.3   display Command 76   6.4   Debugging with #display and #print 77   6.5   Tracing Pattern Evaluation 78   6.6   Reading Data from the Computer Keyboard 80   Chapter 7   Variable Assignment and Scoping 82   7.1   set Command 82   7.2   begin, end, and with 84   7.3   score-gen and Local Variables 86   7.4   Combining with and score-gen 87   7.5   Understanding Variable Scope in SAL 90   7.6   Increment, Decrement, and Other Operators 93   7.7   Assigning Local Variables Interactively 95   7.8   Suggested Listening 97   Chapter 8   Conditionals 99   8.1   if Command 99   8.2   #? Special Form 101   8.3   Using if with begin-end 102   8.4   Using Conditionals in Algorithmic Composition 102   8.5   Conditionals vs. Formulas 105   8.6   Suggested Listening 107 Contents ix Chapter 9   Sets and Tables 108   9.1   Introduction to Set Theory 108   9.2   List and Set Operations 111   9.3   Tables 117   9.4   Arrays 123   9.5   Suggested Listening 123   Chapter 10   Functional Programming 125   10.1   Introduction to Functional Programming 125   10.2   Mapping a Function over a List 125   10.3   Using the score-apply Function 128   Chapter 11   Recursion 132   11.1   Introduction to Recursion 132   11.2   Single-Test Tail Recursion 132   11.3   List-Cons’ing Recursion 134   11.4   Conditional Augmenting Tail Recursion 136   11.5   Double-Test Tail Recursion 139   11.6   Multiple Recursion 141   11.7   Tracing Function Evaluation 143   11.8   SAL Is Recursive 144   11.9   Using Recursive Forms in Nyquist 145   11.10   Suggested Listening 147   Chapter 12   Iteration 148   12.1   The loop Command with a for-below Clause 148   12.2   The Full Story of for-below 151   12.3   Iterating over the Elements of a List 151   12.4   Using return in a loop 153   12.5   The for-then Clause 154   12.6   Loops with while and until 155   12.7   Reading and Writing Records Using Iteration 157   12.8   score-gen as Iteration 161   12.9   Suggested Listening 162 x Contents Chapter 13   Algorithmic Composition Using Probabilistic Methods 164   13.1   Introduction to Probability 164   13.2   The random Pattern 164   13.3   Graphs and Patterns 168   13.4   The markov Pattern Generator 170   13.5   Patterns Can Specify Next States and Weights 173   13.6   Learning a Markov Process 176   13.7   1/f2 Noise or Brownian Motion 181   13.8   1/f Noise 183   13.9   Suggested Listening 186   13.10   Suggested Reading 186   Chapter 14   Hierarchical and Recursive Musical Structure 187   14.1   Structure from Nested Patterns 187   14.2   Hierarchy in Scores 189   14.3   Encapsulation 194   14.4   Compositional Environments 196   14.5   Suggested Listening 197   Chapter 15   Composing Sonic Microstructure and Macrostructure 198   15.1   Sound Synthesis in Nyquist 199   15.2   A Pattern-Driven Sound Generator 202   15.3   Nyquist Sounds and Scores 205   15.4   Nyquist Sounds and Global Control Functions 208   15.5   Scores and Global Control Functions 211   15.6   Further Explorations 212   15.7   Suggested Listening 212...