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Department of Computer Science, Unit Catalogue 2008/09


CM30142 Music & digital signal processing

Credits: 6
Level: Honours
Semester: 1
Assessment: CW 25%, EX 75%
Requisites:
Before taking this unit you must take CM10134 and take CM10135 and take CM20144 or equivalents (as approved by the Director of Studies, to include knowledge of programming; complex numbers; knowledge of sine/consine functions, integration and elementary calculus).
Aims: To introduce the basic ideas of DSP programming and the ways in which musical signals can be treated as data.
Learning Outcomes:
1. To be able to code simple digital filters, and construct simple oscillators;
2. To be able to control a frequency domain analysis and resynthesis;
3. To be able to use three synthesis methods.
Skills:
Application of Number (T).
Content:
Introduction: Musical signals: their nature, characterisation and representation. Pitch, amplitude and timbre. PCM representation: sampling and quantisation errors. MIDI representation and its limitations. Software Systems: Music5 family: Csound.
Additive Synthesis: Simple oscillators and their coding; wavetable synthesis. Helmholz theory and Fourier analysis.
Subtractive Synthesis: Noise, and digital filters. Filter types, IIR and FIR. Issues in filter design.
Psycho-acoustics: Basic ideas and Shepard tones as an example. Lossy compression. MPEG level 2. Time and frequency domains: Phase vocoding. FFT and IFFT; analysis and resynthesis. Pitch changing.
Physical Models: The wave equation. Delay lines and wave guides. The plucked string.
FM and non-linear synthesis: Analysis and coding of FM. Introduction to Granular Synthesis, formants and FOF. Pitch changing.
Spacialisation: Stereo panning, reverberation, localisation and audio clues. Composition: Process based, algorithmic composition. Pitch and Tuning: ET and Just.