Existem inúmeras técnicas de síntese de áudio utilizadas atualmente em instrumentos musicais profissionais, dentre as quais as mais fundamentais são a síntese aditiva e a síntese subtrativa. A síntese subtrativa se tornou popular e foi muito explorada entre as décadas de 60 e 70 com a criação de módulos analógicos de hardware que podiam ser interconectados, criando o conceito de sintetizador analógico modular. Apesar do uso deste tipo de sintetizador ter diminuído durante as décadas subsequentes, nos últimos anos sua utilização voltou a crescer e diversos modelos deste tipo de instrumento são vendidos atualmente, porém em geral a preços elevados. Sintetizadores digitais também disponibilizam a técnica de síntese subtrativa utilizando componentes eletrônicos customizados e desenvolvidos pelos fabricantes de sintetizadores com o intuito de utilizar avançadas técnicas de processamento de sinais, o que ainda mantém seus preços elevados. Neste trabalho investigamos a hipótese de que é possível desenvolver um instrumento musical funcional e de qualidade com recursos limitados de processamento, e exploramos essa hipótese implementando síntese subtrativa em uma plataforma acessível e de baixo custo. O desenvolvimento é baseado em linguagem orientada a objetos para criação de módulos de software replicando as características dos módulos encontrados em sintetizadores analógicos modulares. Com esta abordagem, obtemos um software modular que pode ser facilmente modificado baseado nas preferências do programador. A implementação foi testada na plataforma Arduino Due, que é uma plataforma de baixo custo e contém um processador 32-bits ARM 84 MHz. Foi possível adicionar osciladores com algoritmo anti-aliasing, filtros, geradores de envelope, módulo de efeito, uma interface MIDI e um teclado externo, obtendo assim um sintetizador subtrativo completo. Além disto, incluímos no desenvolvimento a implementação de um órgão baseado em síntese aditiva, com polifonia completa e inspirado na arquitetura de órgãos clássicos, mostrando a possibilidade de possuir dois importantes e poderosos métodos de síntese em uma plataforma acessível e de baixo custo. Com esta implementação aberta e pública, buscamos contribuir com o movimento maker e faça-você-mesmo, incentivando novos desenvolvimentos nesta área, em especial na computação e engenharia, aumentando o uso e acesso a instrumentos musicais eletrônicos e a criatividade musical. / Subtractive and additive synthesis are two powerful sound synthesis techniques that caused a revolution when the first electronic and electro mechanic music instruments started to appear some decades ago. Subtractive synthesis became very popular during the 60s and 70s after the creation of analog hardware modules that could be interconnected, creating the concept of the modular synthesizers. After the initial impact, for some years these instruments faced a slow-down in its usage, a tendency that was reverted on the past decade. Nevertheless, the prices of these instruments are often high. Digital synthesizers also offer the subtractive synthesis technique, by using customized electronic components designed and developed by the synthesizers vendors in order to use the most up-to-date technologies and signal processing techniques, which also leads to high prices. In this project, we investigate the hypothesis that it is possible to design and develop a good quality music instrument with low budget electronic components and limited processing capabilities, by implementing this on a low budget and easy to use platform. The development is based on object oriented design, creating software modules that replicates the functionalities of analog synthesizer hardware modules. With this approach, we have a modular software that can be easily changed based on programmers’ preferences. The implementation was tested on the Arduino Due board, which is a cheap, easy to use and widely available platform and powered by a 32-bits ARM 84Mhz processor. We were able to add oscillators with anti-aliasing algorithms, filters, envelope generators, delay effects, a MIDI interface and a keybed, making a complete synthesizer. In addition to this, we included an additive synthesis organ design with full polyphony based on classic organs design, demonstrating the possibility of having two powerful synthesis methods on a cheap and widely available platform. With this design, suitable for low cost platforms, we intend to contribute to the maker movement and encourage new implementations in this area, especially in the computing and engineering fields, increasing the usage and access to (electronic) musical instruments and musical creativity.

Existem inúmeras técnicas de síntese de áudio utilizadas atualmente em instrumentos musicais profissionais, dentre as quais as mais fundamentais são a síntese aditiva e a síntese subtrativa. A síntese subtrativa se tornou popular e foi muito explorada entre as décadas de 60 e 70 com a criação de módulos analógicos de hardware que podiam ser interconectados, criando o conceito de sintetizador analógico modular. Apesar do uso deste tipo de sintetizador ter diminuído durante as décadas subsequentes, nos últimos anos sua utilização voltou a crescer e diversos modelos deste tipo de instrumento são vendidos atualmente, porém em geral a preços elevados. Sintetizadores digitais também disponibilizam a técnica de síntese subtrativa utilizando componentes eletrônicos customizados e desenvolvidos pelos fabricantes de sintetizadores com o intuito de utilizar avançadas técnicas de processamento de sinais, o que ainda mantém seus preços elevados. Neste trabalho investigamos a hipótese de que é possível desenvolver um instrumento musical funcional e de qualidade com recursos limitados de processamento, e exploramos essa hipótese implementando síntese subtrativa em uma plataforma acessível e de baixo custo. O desenvolvimento é baseado em linguagem orientada a objetos para criação de módulos de software replicando as características dos módulos encontrados em sintetizadores analógicos modulares. Com esta abordagem, obtemos um software modular que pode ser facilmente modificado baseado nas preferências do programador. A implementação foi testada na plataforma Arduino Due, que é uma plataforma de baixo custo e contém um processador 32-bits ARM 84 MHz. Foi possível adicionar osciladores com algoritmo anti-aliasing, filtros, geradores de envelope, módulo de efeito, uma interface MIDI e um teclado externo, obtendo assim um sintetizador subtrativo completo. Além disto, incluímos no desenvolvimento a implementação de um órgão baseado em síntese aditiva, com polifonia completa e inspirado na arquitetura de órgãos clássicos, mostrando a possibilidade de possuir dois importantes e poderosos métodos de síntese em uma plataforma acessível e de baixo custo. Com esta implementação aberta e pública, buscamos contribuir com o movimento maker e faça-você-mesmo, incentivando novos desenvolvimentos nesta área, em especial na computação e engenharia, aumentando o uso e acesso a instrumentos musicais eletrônicos e a criatividade musical. / Subtractive and additive synthesis are two powerful sound synthesis techniques that caused a revolution when the first electronic and electro mechanic music instruments started to appear some decades ago. Subtractive synthesis became very popular during the 60s and 70s after the creation of analog hardware modules that could be interconnected, creating the concept of the modular synthesizers. After the initial impact, for some years these instruments faced a slow-down in its usage, a tendency that was reverted on the past decade. Nevertheless, the prices of these instruments are often high. Digital synthesizers also offer the subtractive synthesis technique, by using customized electronic components designed and developed by the synthesizers vendors in order to use the most up-to-date technologies and signal processing techniques, which also leads to high prices. In this project, we investigate the hypothesis that it is possible to design and develop a good quality music instrument with low budget electronic components and limited processing capabilities, by implementing this on a low budget and easy to use platform. The development is based on object oriented design, creating software modules that replicates the functionalities of analog synthesizer hardware modules. With this approach, we have a modular software that can be easily changed based on programmers’ preferences. The implementation was tested on the Arduino Due board, which is a cheap, easy to use and widely available platform and powered by a 32-bits ARM 84Mhz processor. We were able to add oscillators with anti-aliasing algorithms, filters, envelope generators, delay effects, a MIDI interface and a keybed, making a complete synthesizer. In addition to this, we included an additive synthesis organ design with full polyphony based on classic organs design, demonstrating the possibility of having two powerful synthesis methods on a cheap and widely available platform. With this design, suitable for low cost platforms, we intend to contribute to the maker movement and encourage new implementations in this area, especially in the computing and engineering fields, increasing the usage and access to (electronic) musical instruments and musical creativity.

Existem inúmeras técnicas de síntese de áudio utilizadas atualmente em instrumentos musicais profissionais, dentre as quais as mais fundamentais são a síntese aditiva e a síntese subtrativa. A síntese subtrativa se tornou popular e foi muito explorada entre as décadas de 60 e 70 com a criação de módulos analógicos de hardware que podiam ser interconectados, criando o conceito de sintetizador analógico modular. Apesar do uso deste tipo de sintetizador ter diminuído durante as décadas subsequentes, nos últimos anos sua utilização voltou a crescer e diversos modelos deste tipo de instrumento são vendidos atualmente, porém em geral a preços elevados. Sintetizadores digitais também disponibilizam a técnica de síntese subtrativa utilizando componentes eletrônicos customizados e desenvolvidos pelos fabricantes de sintetizadores com o intuito de utilizar avançadas técnicas de processamento de sinais, o que ainda mantém seus preços elevados. Neste trabalho investigamos a hipótese de que é possível desenvolver um instrumento musical funcional e de qualidade com recursos limitados de processamento, e exploramos essa hipótese implementando síntese subtrativa em uma plataforma acessível e de baixo custo. O desenvolvimento é baseado em linguagem orientada a objetos para criação de módulos de software replicando as características dos módulos encontrados em sintetizadores analógicos modulares. Com esta abordagem, obtemos um software modular que pode ser facilmente modificado baseado nas preferências do programador. A implementação foi testada na plataforma Arduino Due, que é uma plataforma de baixo custo e contém um processador 32-bits ARM 84 MHz. Foi possível adicionar osciladores com algoritmo anti-aliasing, filtros, geradores de envelope, módulo de efeito, uma interface MIDI e um teclado externo, obtendo assim um sintetizador subtrativo completo. Além disto, incluímos no desenvolvimento a implementação de um órgão baseado em síntese aditiva, com polifonia completa e inspirado na arquitetura de órgãos clássicos, mostrando a possibilidade de possuir dois importantes e poderosos métodos de síntese em uma plataforma acessível e de baixo custo. Com esta implementação aberta e pública, buscamos contribuir com o movimento maker e faça-você-mesmo, incentivando novos desenvolvimentos nesta área, em especial na computação e engenharia, aumentando o uso e acesso a instrumentos musicais eletrônicos e a criatividade musical. / Subtractive and additive synthesis are two powerful sound synthesis techniques that caused a revolution when the first electronic and electro mechanic music instruments started to appear some decades ago. Subtractive synthesis became very popular during the 60s and 70s after the creation of analog hardware modules that could be interconnected, creating the concept of the modular synthesizers. After the initial impact, for some years these instruments faced a slow-down in its usage, a tendency that was reverted on the past decade. Nevertheless, the prices of these instruments are often high. Digital synthesizers also offer the subtractive synthesis technique, by using customized electronic components designed and developed by the synthesizers vendors in order to use the most up-to-date technologies and signal processing techniques, which also leads to high prices. In this project, we investigate the hypothesis that it is possible to design and develop a good quality music instrument with low budget electronic components and limited processing capabilities, by implementing this on a low budget and easy to use platform. The development is based on object oriented design, creating software modules that replicates the functionalities of analog synthesizer hardware modules. With this approach, we have a modular software that can be easily changed based on programmers’ preferences. The implementation was tested on the Arduino Due board, which is a cheap, easy to use and widely available platform and powered by a 32-bits ARM 84Mhz processor. We were able to add oscillators with anti-aliasing algorithms, filters, envelope generators, delay effects, a MIDI interface and a keybed, making a complete synthesizer. In addition to this, we included an additive synthesis organ design with full polyphony based on classic organs design, demonstrating the possibility of having two powerful synthesis methods on a cheap and widely available platform. With this design, suitable for low cost platforms, we intend to contribute to the maker movement and encourage new implementations in this area, especially in the computing and engineering fields, increasing the usage and access to (electronic) musical instruments and musical creativity.

Submitted by Rafael Santana (rafael.silvasantana@ufpe.br) on 2017-08-31T18:49:43Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 811 bytes, checksum: e39d27027a6cc9cb039ad269a5db8e34 (MD5) Dissertação Renato.pdf: 2458758 bytes, checksum: b08fb4f41c821e5fd07c0022ea5dcaac (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-31T18:49:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 811 bytes, checksum: e39d27027a6cc9cb039ad269a5db8e34 (MD5) Dissertação Renato.pdf: 2458758 bytes, checksum: b08fb4f41c821e5fd07c0022ea5dcaac (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-09-14 / Em aplicações de Preview de serviços de streaming de música, onde uma rápida impressão de um álbum desconhecido é proporcionada pela navegação de suas músicas, a inclusão do refrão no trecho de trinta segundos fornecido para cada música torna a aplicação muito mais precisa e eficaz. O refrão pode também funcionar como uma “miniatura” representativa da música, melhorando o desempenho e a precisão das consultas, se realizadas somente procurando pelos refrãos em vez de se procurar por músicas inteiras. Diante da importância de obter o trecho mais representativo de uma canção, o objetivo de um sistema de detecção de refrão é identificar este segmento ou, mais precisamente, os seus instantes inicial e final. Métodos do Estado da Arte buscam extrair features associadas a notas musicais e timbre como vetores Chroma e MFCC, e a partir destas identificar as repetições entre os segmentos da música, inclusive o refrão. Este tipo de abordagem torna o método pouco robusto no processamento de músicas onde notas musicais e variedade de timbres não são tão presentes, como em estilos musicais mais percussivos. Este trabalho propõe uma mudança de paradigma para a detecção de refrão, baseada na exploração do domínio do tempo em lugar do domínio da frequência, com o objetivo de obter um método mais competitivo no processamento de músicas percussivas. O método proposto elimina a etapa de segmentação, substitui as features harmônicas e timbrais pela envoltória do sinal e utiliza a função de correlação entre as envoltórias das partes da música como métrica de similaridade, tornando o método menos dependente de notas musicais e timbres. Os testes mediram o grau de degeneração das taxas de acertos do método proposto e de uma versão modificada usando vetores de Chroma sobre uma base harmônica e uma base percussiva. Os resultados indicam que a abordagem proposta sofre uma degeneração duas vezes menor que a versão modificada, comprovando a hipótese de que um método de detecção de refrão que explore o domínio do tempo é mais competitivo, ao processar músicas percussivas, que um método limitado à exploração do domínio da frequência. / In Preview applications of music streaming services, where a fast printing from an unknown album is provided by the navigation of your songs, including the chorus in thirty seconds excerpt provided for each song makes the application much more accurate and effective. The chorus can also function as a “miniature” representative of music, enhancing the performance and accuracy of search, if carried out only by looking choruses instead of searching for entire songs. Given the importance of getting the most representative excerpt of a song, the goal of a chorus detection system is to identify this segment, or more precisely, its beginning and its end. State of the art methods seek to extract features associated with musical notes and timbre, like Chroma and MFCC vectors and identify from these repetitions between segments of music, including the chorus. This approach type makes method little robust in music where musical notes and variety of timbres are not as present, as in percussive music for example. This paper proposes a paradigm shift for the chorus detection, based on the exploitation of the time domain instead of the frequency domain, in order to obtain a more competitive method in the processing of percussive music. The proposed method eliminates the segmentation, replaces the harmonic and timbral features with the envelope of the signal, and uses the correlation function between the envelope of the music segments as a metric of similarity, to make it less dependent on musical notes and timbre. The tests measured the degree of degeneration of hit rates of the proposed method and of a modified version using Chroma vectors on a harmonic basis and a percussive basis. The results indicate that the proposed approach have a degeneration two times lower than the modified version, proving the hypothesis that a chorus detection method that exploits the time domain is more competitive when processing percussive songs than a method limited to the frequency domain exploitation.

Music and its effects on the brain has been discussed from many different angels. Everything from “The Mozart effect” that shows that listening to music can improve your brain’s performance, to several studies showing that playing an instrument creates plastic changes to the brain. When we listen to music, areas related to motor control and language are activated, and humans are using sound and music from a very early age to communicate wants and needs to their surroundings. Since music seems to have a positive effect on the human brain and a connection to human communication skills, would it then be possible to use music playing to enhance togetherness and communication among pre-verbal individuals? As a first step towards examining this, this paper will investigate how playing music together with others affect pre-verbal individuals’ initiatives to communication. A set of musical instruments were developed that assists the players by sounding good together no matter how you play them, by keeping the same tempo and staying in the same part of the song composition. This was to take away focus from the challenges of playing an instrument, and instead being able to enjoy the feeling of playing music together and also have room for connecting with the other persons in the group. The results showed that playing the instruments created several opportunities for social interaction, but that the interaction in most cases happened between the participant and one of the assistants rather than between the participants. Focusing on playing the instrument and at the same time notice your peers and their playing, takes some practice. By optimizing the setup of the playing sessions, and taking time to get comfortable with the instrument and the situation, the chance of this communicative connection happening is likely. / Musik och dess effekter på hjärnan har diskuterats utifrån många olika vinklar. Allt från "Mozarteffekten" som visar att musiklyssnande kan förbättra hjärnans funktioner, till studier som visar att instrumentspelande skapar plastiska förändringar i hjärnan. När vi lyssnar på musik aktiveras områden relaterade till både motorik och språk, och människan använder sig av ljud och musik från en mycket tidig ålder för att kommunicera önskemål och behov till sin omgivning. Eftersom musik verkar ha både en positiv effekt på den mänskliga hjärnan och vara kopplat till kommunikation, skulle det då vara möjligt att använda musikspelande för att öka känslor av grupptillhörighet och underlätta kommunikation mellan preverbala individer? Som ett första steg mot att undersöka detta, kommer denna artikel att undersöka hur musikspelande tillsammans med andra påverkar preverbala individers initiativ till kommunikation. Till studien utvecklades en uppsättning musikinstrument som hjälper användarna att hålla sig till en gemensam takt, tempo och till samma del av låtkompositionen, vilket gör att instrumenten alltid låter bra tillsammans oavsett hur deltagarna spelar på dem. Detta var för att ta bort fokus från de kognitivt mest utmanande delarna med att spela ett instrument, och i stället kunna njuta av känslan av att spela musik tillsammans och öka möjligheten att även kunna ta in musiken från de andra personerna i gruppen. Resultaten visade att spelandet skapade flera möjligheter till social interaktion, men att interaktionen i de flesta fall skedde mellan deltagare och assistent snarare än mellan deltagarna. Att både fokusera på att spela sitt instrument och samtidigt ta in kamraterna och deras spelande, kräver längre tid av övning. Genom att optimera uppbyggnaden och strukturen av sessionerna och ge deltagarna längre tid för att bli bekväma med både instrumentspelandet och situationen som helhet, finns det goda chanser att social interaktion och kommunikation mellan deltagarna ökar.

The thesis project concerns the development and evaluation of a real-time music visualization system aimed at creating a multi-modal perceptual experience of music emotions. The purpose of the project is to provide singers with real-time visual feedback on their singing, to enhance their expression of emotions in the music. Built upon results from previous studies on emotional expression in music, crossmodal correspondences, and associations among sound, shape, color, and emotions, a singing voice visualization system is proposed that generates real-time graphics to reflect the emotional expression in the input singing in an intuitive fashion. A mapping between musical and visual features was established and tested within a user study regarding the setting of its polarities. The singing voice visualization system was developed as as a software system that runs on personal computers, utilizing Pure Data and Unity. This implementation allows for instantaneous feedback to the user during their singing. The mapping was evaluated in a user study, where participants engage in expressive singing to test the system,in order to assess the meaningfulness of the visual feedback and the effectiveness of the mapping, as well as the impact of the polarity. The results show that color as a strong visual cue of emotional expression provided meaningful information on some participants’ expression of typical happiness and sadness. Other cues of the visual feedback possibly enhanced some participants’ emotional expression of singing in an indirect way. The polarity had a noticeable impact on the perception of the visual feedback. The current study is limited by the reliability of the techniques used for the extracting acoustic features from real-time singing, particularly in the detection of attack speed. The evaluation were limited by the broad definition of one of the research questions. The findings of this study suggest potential applications for the singing voice visualization system in fields of music education, art, and entertainment. Additionally, the research highlights the need for further exploration and refinement in the design of the mapping and the evaluation methodology. / Avhandlingsprojektet handlar om utveckling och utvärdering av ett realtidssystem för musikvisualisering som syftar till att skapa en multimodal perceptuell upplevelse av musikkänslor. Syftet med projektet är att ge sångare visuell feedback i realtid på deras sång, för att förstärka deras uttryck av känslor i musiken. Med utgångspunkt i resultat från tidigare studier om känslouttryck i musik, korsmodala korrespondenser och associationer mellan ljud, form, färg och känslor, föreslås ett visualiseringssystem för sångstämmor som genererar realtidsgrafik för att på ett intuitivt sätt återspegla känslouttrycket i den inmatade sången. En mappning mellan musikaliska och visuella funktioner etablerades och testades i en användarstudie avseende inställningen av dess polariteter. Visualiseringssystemet för sångröst utvecklades som ett mjukvarusystem som körs på persondatorer med Pure Data och Unity. Denna implementering möjliggör omedelbar feedback till användaren under dennes sång. Kartläggningen utvärderades i en användarstudie, där deltagarna fick sjunga uttrycksfullt för att testa systemet, för att bedöma meningsfullheten i den visuella feedbacken och kartläggningens effektivitet, samt polaritetens inverkan. Resultaten visar att färg som en stark visuell signal för känslomässiga uttryck gav meningsfull information om vissa deltagares uttryck av typisk lycka och sorg. Andra ledtrådar i den visuella återkopplingen förstärkte möjligen vissa deltagares känslomässiga uttryck av sång på ett indirekt sätt. Polariteten hade en märkbar inverkan på uppfattningen av den visuella feedbacken. Den aktuella studien begränsas av tillförlitligheten hos de tekniker som används för att extrahera akustiska egenskaper från sång i realtid, särskilt när det gäller att upptäcka attackhastighet. Utvärderingen begränsades av den breda definitionen av en av forskningsfrågorna. Resultaten av denna studie visar på potentiella tillämpningar för visualiseringssystemet för sångröster inom musikutbildning, konst och underhållning. Dessutom belyser forskningen behovet av ytterligare utforskning och förfining av kartläggningens utformning och utvärderingsmetodiken.

This study contributes to practical discussions on the composition of dynamic music for video games from the composer’s perspective. Creating greater levels of immersion in players is used as a justification for the proposals of the thesis. It lays down foundational aesthetic elements in order to proceed with a logical methodology. The aim of this paper is to build upon, and further hybridise, two techniques used by composers and by video game designers to increase further the reactive agility and memorability of the music for the player. Each chapter of this paper explores a different technique for joining two (possibly disparate) types of gameplay, or gamestates, with appropriate continuous music. In each, I discuss a particular musical engine capable of implementing continuous music. Chapter One will discuss a branching-music engine, which uses a precomposed musical mosaic (or musical pixels) to create a linear score with the potential to diverge at appropriate moments accompanying onscreen action. I use the case study of the Final Fantasy battle system to show how the implementation of a branching-music engine could assist in maintaining the continuity of gameplay experience that current disjointed scores, which appear in many games, create. To aid this argument I have implemented a branching-music engine, using the graphical object oriented programming environment MaxMSP, in the style of the battle music composed by Nobuo Uematsu, the composer of the early Final Fantasy series. The reader can find this in the accompanying demonstrations patch. In Chapter Two I consider how a generative-music engine can also implement a continuous music and also address some of the limitations of the branching-music engine. Further I describe a technique for an effective generative music for video games that creates musical ‘personalities’ that can mimic a particular style of music for a limited period of time. Crucially, this engine is able to transition between any two personalities to create musical coincidence with the game. GMGEn (<b>G</b>ame <b>M</b>usic <b>G</b>eneration <b>E</b>ngine) is a program I have created in MaxMSP to act as an example of this concept. GMGEn is available in the Demonstrations_Application. Chapter Three will discuss potential limitations of the branching music engine described in Chapter One and the generative music engine described in Chapter Two, and highlights how these issues can be solved by way of a third engine, which hybridises both. As this engine has an indeterminate musical state it is termed the intermittent-music engine. I go on to discuss the implementation of this engine in two different game scenarios and how emergent structures of this music will appear. The final outcome is to formulate a new compositional approach delivering dynamic music, which accompanies the onscreen action with greater agility than currently present in the field, increasing the memorability and therefore the immersive effect of the video-game music.