View of the Final Project

Below I have included a screenshot (click to maximise) of the arrange page for my project. I have tried to include as much information about the process in one window as possible, there is a lot more going on behind the scenes especially in the mixer but I wanted to give a broad sense of what went in to create the final piece.


Visible is the synth settings I tuned to create the atmospheric bass, one of the reverb settings, an example of some equalisation for a track, the matrix editor showing the attention to velocities and note changes and the automation for the pitch (in cents).

I feel that this sort of production requires attention to detail, something that may not be obvious on the initial listen but at the same time 'makes' the track. I hope the screenshot gives a little insight into this.

Final Composition Decision

I have finalised the concept for my piece, it is to be a minimal orchestral piece fused with electronic sub bass to add some depth. The inspiration is discussed in the previous post.

My intentions are to create an atmosphere using the organic textures of acoustic instruments, to do this I have acquired the starter pack for East West's Symphonic Orchestra and am in the process of playing in the appropriate chords via midi.

To cover the whole frequency spectrum I will be layering the various instruments, having a full range of strings and horns. To give space to the mix I will be fine tuning reverb across the instruments.

Due to the minimalist nature of the production a lot of attention needs to be paid to the details, the length of the reverb, the velocities of various notes (to give as authentic a feel as possible), equalisation (to prevent frequency clashes) and bus compression to help mesh the layers together.

Using these techniques and others I hope to achieve a spacious and meaningful cohesion of sound.

Research into

For some background information and inspiration into the type of music I intend to compose and arrange for my task 3 project I have looked into the work of minimalists and modern classical composers such as Jóhann Jóhannsson, Ólöf Arnalds and Arvo Pärt. My trawling lead to me to a very interesting documentary commissioned by the BBC and presented by Björk in 1997. It went into some of the thought processes behind the music and really helped me to envision the sound i wanted to create. Link below.

Task 3

For the 3rd task, create a song of 3mins 50secs, I have chosen to play with orchestral sounds, namely strings and horns. This is due to an interest in film music and the emotion that can be conveyed in a scene through the subtlety of strings.

Being interested in electronic music, I am contemplating using techniques such as re-sampling and cutting and altering the audio to create a new twist on film music.

Pure Data - Task 2

Two Simultaneous Random Melodies:

To create this a bang is needed, when pressed it creates a number between 0 and 800. This randomly generated number is then increased by 200 by running it into an object with the code +200.

The next number box contains the result of the random output with the 200 added, this is then run into the oscillator (which has a tilde after its name to signify output) to produce the sound.

This chain is copied so to produce two random melodies simultaneously.

The final object before routing it all out divides the signal by 0.5

A Quarter Tone Scale:

This sequence starts off with a toggle, a toggle is a switch triggered by a click that can be either on or off, to the computer that is 1 or 0. This is routed into a metronome which acts to set off a series of bangs at a set tempo. The tempo here is set at 700 which translates to 0.7 of a second.

The metronome is then routed into the left input of a float, a float being a way of storing numbers, this is then sent to an object that adds 0.5 to what has been input. Meanwhile the right input to the float is supplied by a message box, the number contained is sent on by a click, to avoid having to click a bang is sent as the patch is opened by having an object containing 'loadbang' routing to the message box.

The result of the float plus modifier is routed back to the original toggle. A parameter is set using the command 'sel' which only produces an output (a bang) when the input equals a certain value, in this case 72.

Before going to the oscillator the signal is run through an mtof object to convert MIDI numbers into frequencies.

Intervals Using Two Bangs:

The first bang routes to two message boxes containing 400 and 600 respectively (the numbers translate to frequencies), these then go into seperate oscillators and are combined at the end to produce one sound. When the second bang is clicked the signal is triggered to run through another two message boxes containing 600 and 700, the sound produced differs from that of the first bang, this difference is an interval.

Glissando Linear

The process for this patch is started with a bang, another bang is triggered at intervals of half a second by a metronome the output of which generates a new random number at these intervals.  The 'line' object is the key to the glissando as it allows ramping in between the randomly generated pitches, giving it the glissando effect.

Linear Logarithmic

 The two chains in this patch start with message boxes which, when clicked, send the data into a a line which has the effect of ramping the pitches. To output the signal the result is routed to an oscillator, the linear one however has an object to convert midi to frequency.

Pure Data vs. Chuck

Pure Data is the the open-source creation of  Miller Puckette (also authour of Max/msp). It is a visual form (gui) of programming audio using objects that are patched together in an attempt to re-create a patchable analogue synth, this type of coding is often called a 'Dataflow programming language'. Pure Data is an object-based code, that is to say it is centered around manipulating entitys such as variables, functions or values to produce the desired outcome.

Chuck is a far less intuitive program, namely as it is presented as a Command Line Interface (CLI), although efforts have been made to increase the readability of the code. Being a CLI the correct syntax has to be learnt making it slower (potentially only initially) than PD to operate however it differs from normal programming in that it runs in realtime, this means that the program does not need to stop running to be altered.

Similarly to PD it is an object based language taking elements of C+ + and Java to form its own language, it still uses classes, arrays and types.

Offering as much control, if not more, over the sound as Pure Data it is a powerful program for synthesis.


Overall the two programs are very similar in the way they run, it is the way they are presented that differs. Pure Data is designed to hide the majority of its workings and present a clear and instantly recognisable interface whereas ChucK is the workings and is a deeper form of synthesis and composition.


Apparently there is a ChucK theme song too!

Basic Programing Techniques, definitions

Class: A class is like a blueprint for a group of similar objects. In the real world an example would be the bicycle, the bicycle can change its characteristics but would still be classed as a bicycle.

An Object: An object in programming is similar to a real world object, they have both states (e.g. on/off) and behaviour (e.g the process of turning on and off).

An Array: An array is a series of objects that share the same data type and are the same size.

Types: This refers to the type of date being used in code. The most common are integer (a whole number), real number (a number with a decimal point), boolean (true or false) and text.

Values: All variables must have a value. The value is what the variable is set to.

Variables: Help to define the object's characteristics and change accordingly.

Concurrency: Is when programs are run in parallel or multiple tasks are being completed in a given time frame.