FRACTAL COMPOSER
Contents
1. contact us Can t hear the music when push the Play button Choose another sound driver from Menu Options MIDI device Can t hear the wave sound when push the Play wave button This happend because some sound driver don t let to use MIDI and Wave sound at the same time Choose another sound driver from Menu Options MIDI device If move the mouse s pointer at the bottom of the desktop and the Task bar appears the music goes out of time This happend because the number of calculations in real time Fractal Composer has to do the timing complexity and the interruption by another application Go to the Task bar properties and be sure Auto Hide nor Always on top are not checked 132. FRACTAL COMPOSER USER S MANUAL VERSION 1 0 FRACTAL COMPOSER USER S MANUAL VERSION 1 0 EMEC ISA FRACTAL COMPOSER Software Developed by Rub n Hinojosa Chapel User s manual written by Rub n Hinojosa Chapel CONTENTS 1 Introduction 2 Required Hardware 3 Installing Fractal Composer 4 File Extensions 5 Beginning Fractal Composer 6 The User Interface Upper Controls 4 Right Controls Bottom Controls e Main menu 7 The future 8 Troubleshooting I disagree with the suggestion by some art critics that using computer technology to create art is dehumanizing Using a computer to do art is no different from using a hammer and chisel The supercomputer is just a tool for doing artwork This specific kind of artwork could not exist without a powerful computer BRIAN EVANS Fractal Arts Combining Music Math amp Art The futurist May june 1988 1 INTRODUCTION Fractal Composer is intended to be a virtual musical instrument for real time performances It plotes chaotic atractors dynamic systems and some related formulas and makes music from these calculus while the musician introduces changes to musical parameters and listens to the results all of this in real time As Xenakis said in 1971 With the aid of electronic computers the composer becomes a sort of pilot pressing buttons introducing coordinates and supervising the controls of a cosmic vessel sailing in the space of sound across sonic c
3. algorithm All the seed data it needs are explained in the online help Thanks to Fractint developers 10 Logistic function Formula Xn 1 a Xn 1 Xn 0O lt a lt 4 This is a classic chaotic generator It is a deterministic algorithm The Logistic function 1s one of the most studied non linear equations in chaotic dynamics It models very well the behavior of many natural phenomena such as predator prey ecosystems food population etc All the seed data needed by this algorithm are explained in the online help Julia set Formula L ZFC Fix C and move Z across the complex plane Ex C 0 74543 10 11301 1 65 lt real Z lt 1 65 1 65 lt imag Z lt 1 65 iterating Z Z 2 C for each Z and test it for convergence EX Zl 2 This set was named after mathematician Gaston Julia and can be generated by a simple change in the iteration process As C is a complex number there is a Julia set corresponding to every point on the complex plane thus there is an infinite number of Julia sets This is a deterministic algorithm All the seed data it needs are explained in the online help You can zoom in on the Julia set image To do this move the mouse pointer to the uppper left corner of the area you wish to zoom in on Press and hold down the left mouse button as you move the mouse to the lower right corner of the zoom area A Zoom Box will be displayed changing in size as you move the mouse When you have the zoom
4. area on the interface 3 Sets a recording session On If this button is On you will be able to record your performance and save it into a MIDI file To start recording you have to push the Play button 4 Pauses a recording or playing session 5 Stop a recording or playing session 6 Start a playing session 7 Shows the formula s name 8 Chronometer Shows the passing time from the beginning to the end of the recording or playing session Right Controls The right controls allow to influence the ongoing musical ET output in a playing or recording session From top to bottom f f lr ls 3 Dynamics Controls the loudness of each voice If the checkbox is checked then the values will change Pitch limits automatically ci Ic 6 FP KC ee Pitch limits Defines the pitch limits of each voice To select which voice to change check the related Scale radiobutton in the Voices section the lower section puedo c E Equal Scale You can choose one of the twenty four different r gram scales including nine user defined ones If the right i Acoustic Grand Piano button reads Equal the same scale is applied to all the voices If that button reads Not equal each voice is owner 1 a of its own scale To select which voice to change check the related radiobutton in the Voices section To change a aet definition scale double click on the name A sequence of twelv
5. box the size you want let go of the left mouse button If you changed your mind before the zoom operation move the mouse pointer to the upper left corner and let go of the left mouse button 1 f noise Sometimes called Pink noise The following three formulas are knew as fractional noises whose spectrum diminishes following the formula 1 f where f represents frequency and O lt y lt 2 They are stochastic as they involve random processes each time you play it the notes will be different but the sonic result will be similar 11 1 f noise one over f noise appears in nature all over the places in many ways as variations in annual amounts of rainfall in patterns of sunspot activity as noise in electronic devices in traffic flow radioactive decay chemical systems granular flow ecological systems human speech and even in music In fact physicists Richard F Voss and John Clarke analyzed several recordings of music in varius styles such as Bach s Brandenburg Concerti Vivaldi s four seasons etc and found the loudness and frequency distribution was nearly 1 f The music derived from the 1 f noise is the most closed to the human music it does not have the unpredictability and randomness of white noise nor the predictability of brownian noise 1 f processes correlate logarithmically with the past Thus the averaged activity of the last ten events has as much influence on the current value as the last hundred events and the
6. e zeros 0 and ones 1 appear representing which chromatic grade belongs to your scale For instance the Major scale is defined as follow 101011010101 When finish press the Enter key J on the keyboard Program Here you can choose an instrument for each voice To select which voice to change check the related radiobutton in the Voices section Although program names are showed in the General MIDI convention you can use any non GM external sound module Voices This control section is like a very little mixer Here you can mute or not each voice and set the modulation effect on off The leds indicate each voice s action MIDI note on or note off and the radiobuttons select of which voice are the parameters Pitch limits Scale and Program showed above The voice number five is dedicated to the percussion set Each voice uses the same MIDI channel i e voice one transmits over channel one etc Eee Voice number Led indicator e IR Radiobutton selector r m Lower Controls From left to right the first lower section is Wave which lets you open a digital sound file wav and play it along with the MIDI music From left to right the buttons are Open sound file Play sound file Pause playing sound file Stop playing sound file and Loop The last one indicates a loop 1f it is checked the sound will be played again from the beginning when it finishes Tempo The next section is
7. for Tempo and Panning changes You po a can change the tempo value by pressing the arrowed Hz buttons or double clicking the value itself and typing the new value In this case when finish press the Enter key J on the keyboard Set tide When the Panning button is pushed a dialog box becomes visible showing four sections like this except for the Reset button Each panning section is for each voice On the top LtoR you ll see the actual position of the related voice If the C RtoL little box below is checked the voice will be moved from left to right from right to left or from left to right to left automatically according to the radiobutton selected Voice 11 CoLtoRtoL Step pS need to hide it if you want to play The Step value indicates the speed of the movement The Reset button sets the panning to the default values To hide the dialog box just push the Close button but you don t The mapping section follows Map It lets you choose one of the six preset formulas to translate pixel colors into pitches The next sections are Style and Rhythm Style is the way the voices are combined The value showed below is used for the distance between the voices Fractal Composer uses four note durations If the button reads Static the note durations will be the same during the session otherwise they will be changed automatically Main menu ARI etm When the second icon from
8. last thousand Thus they have a relatively long term memory 1 f noise is a fractal noise it exhibits self similarity one property of the fractal objects In a self similar sequence the pattern of the small details matches the pattern of the larger forms but on a different scale The 1 f algorithm used by Fractal Composer is adapted from the one in Curtis Road The computer music tutorial p 884 The MIT Press 1996 White noise ve noise This is the first and most basic random process There is not any relationship between a value and the next one and all of them have the same probability to be generated This is not a fractal formula but it is related with 1 f noise Brown noise ve noise The brownian music moves along from one pitch to another within a small span of intervals It seems to wander around with no clear direction This is not a fractal formula but it is related with 1 f noise 12 7 THE FUTURE We count on your suggestions and reviews to improve our system They are welcome Meanwhile we are thinking of making some improvements For instance add more fractal formulas add more styles and more control over MIDI messages At the Wave controls you will be able to play more than one wave sound in a session The algorithm and the controls for the drum set will be better 8 TROUBLESHOOTING This chapter list common problems and their solutions If you experience a problem and it cannot be resolved with this list
9. le contains a 256 colors palette in RGB format Fractal Composer uses the same color map files from the well known fractal software Fractint 5 BEGINNING FRACTAL COMPOSER Fractal Composer is designed to be used in the easiest and intuitive way To start simply push the Play button o TOM mf Play bution and listen to the music for a while After that let s do some changes Push any button or control you want and hear the results immediately This is a good starting point For the future I recommend you to make a composition plan intended to be performed in public or to be recorded and saved in a MIDI file for later edition in a sequencer or in a score edition software for creating finally your own composition Another starting point is to listen and examine the example configuration files Keep in mind you can listen these files and create SMF without introducing changes nevertheless the aim of the system is to be guided 5 6 THE USER INTERFACE Upper Controls The following picture depicts the two upper left icons Help and Menu Fractal Composer Help displays the online help contents Menu shows the main menu to be explained later On the right hand follow these icons and information Henon mapping 0 0 00 04 12 3456 7 8 1 Panic button If for any reason you are hearing some MIDI note after pushing the Stop button this button should switch off the sound 2 Erases the image on the screen the black
10. left to right is pushed the main menu becomes visible offering the following options Files Opens and saves FCC files and saves Standard MIDI files Image Opens and saves BMP files and copies it to the clipboard Options Options Changes the MIDI device driver and the color palette Formula Formula Changes the mathematical formula Help Help Shows the Help Contents and the About dialog window Files Image Exit Exit Exits the program Files Open CFG Opens a Configuration file All the parameters you change and the data you enter can be saved in a file to keep this information for future performances This mean you can save the Wave file name the Tempo value Style Rhythm Voices selected instruments Scales formulas and its parameters Dynamics color map file name etc Save CFG Saves a Configuration file Save SMF Saves a Standard MIDI File All the changes you made during a recording session can be saved with this choice Image Open With this option you can put an image onto the screen the black area on the interface I recomend you to open only BMP files saved by this program for size compatibility Save Saves the screen image into a bit map file BMP Save to clipboard Saves the screen image into the clipboard to be pasted on another software Options MIDI device Lists all the MIDI device drivers installed on your operating system The first time you run Fractal Comp
11. onstellations and galaxies that could formerly be glimpsed only in a distant dream This first version features seven different fractal formulas and related algorithms for tone generation wich combine six way of mapping pixel colors into pitches and four note duration or rhythms Up to four interdependent voices may be used conducted through three different manners or styles Each voice owns its loudness or dynamic its pitch limits and scale The system offers twenty four different scales including nine user defined ones The user may have control over some MIDI functions like program changes modulation and panning Each voice can move from left to right or vice versa automatically at the speed the user chooses Although program names are showed in the General MIDI convention of course you can use any non GM external sound module In addition to this it is possible to load a digital sound file and play it with the MIDI fractal music While Fractal Composer creates music in real time it can save the resulting music with all the changes you made in a standard MIDI file This lets you edit your music in any comercial sequencer or music notation software available in the market You can save all the settings in a configuration file to be opened later in another session This means that you don t lose your fractal type and its parameters Voices selected patches Dynamics Scales even your own scales etc A chronometer is showed at
12. oser you have to select a MIDI driver which will be remembered by the system for future runs Colors Shows two choices Invert and Open map The first one inverts the color palette i e Fractal Composer uses a 256 color palette so the first color becomes the last the second one becomes the penultimate etc Open map loads a color palette from a color map file map Formula All the formulas share two parameters R factor and Buffer The buffer is a note list that may be repeated in accordance with the R factor value The R factor influences how many times the buffer is repeated Henon mapping Formula Xn 1 Xn Cos Alpha Yn Xn22 Sin Alpha Yn 1 Yn Sin Alpha Yn Xn22 Cos Alpha This is a deterministic algorithm i e with the same initial parameters always sounds the same notes All the seed data needed by this algorithm are explained in the online help Thanks to Mr Carlos Alberto Gonzalez Denis Digital Interactive Technologies S A de C V for his contribution with this algorithm Henon Atractor Formula Xn l 1 Yn a Xn 2 Yn 1 b Xn Ex a 1 4 b 0 3 This is the strange attractor most often linked with Michel Henon an astronomer at Nice observatory in southern France who came to the subject of fractals via investigations of the orbits of astronomical objects The Henon map is an example of a very simple dynamic system that exhibits strange behavior This is a deterministic
13. the upper rigth corner of the display to inform the performer the time while this virtual instrument is played Fractal Composer was developed at the EMEC ISA Estudio de M sica Electroac stica por Computadoras Instituto Superior de Arte by Rub n Hinojosa Chapel 3 How to contact EMEC ISA EMEC ISA Calle 120 1110 Playa La Habana Cuba Phone 537 218975 Fax 537 336633 E mail isa artsoft cult cu isa Oreduniv edu cu 2 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS An IBM PC compatible with Pentium 166 MHz 32 MB RAM VGA display and mouse Microsoft Windows 95 or later and a Windows compatible sound card This configuration is enough a faster CPU is recommended though mainly for real time public performances 3 INSTALLING FRACTAL COMPOSER To install Fractal Composer run SETUP EXE from the installation disk and follow the instructions To uninstall it go to the Control Panel and choose Add Remove Programs then select Fractal Composer 4 FILE EXTENSIONS Fractal Composer uses four different file name extensions 4 FCC A Fractal Composer Configuration file Use this for saving the whole configuration of your song i e Tempo Panning parameters Pitch Style Voices patches Scales Dynamics fractal formula etc 4 MID A standar MIDI file Fractal Composer uses this extension for saving the music you have played BMP A bitmap image The system saves to disk the fractal image in this format 4 MAP A color map file This kind of fi
Download Pdf Manuals
Related Search