Schedule

The schedule below is subject to minor modifications. Associated readings from the course textbook are shown in (parentheses). You should read these sections of the textbook before the corresponding lecture.

Peer grading is always due precisely one week after each project deadline. See the important note about final exams and travel at the end of this page.

Click here to subscribe to the course's Google Calendar.

Week 1: Introduction to Computer Music

• Monday, January 12 – Course overview, Fundamentals of Sound and Sampling (1.1-1.2)
  • Read Syllabus and fill out academic integrity form - due Friday, January 16 by 11:59PM Eastern
  • Start Project 0 (Hello Nyquist) – due Tuesday, January 13 by 11:59PM Eastern
• Wednesday, January 14 – (Guest Lecture: Tom Cortina) Introduction to Nyquist and SAL (1.3-1.9, 2.2)
  • Start Project 1 (Audacity and cross fading) – due Tuesday, January 20 by 11:59PM Eastern

Week 2: Basics of Synthesis

• Monday, January 19 – NO CLASS (MLK Day)
• Wednesday, January 21 – Unit Generators, Envelopes/Piece-wise Functions, Programming Scores (2.1, 2.4, 2.6-2.7)
  • Start Project 2 (Envelopes and Scores) – due Sunday, February 1 by 11:59PM Eastern

Week 3: Sampling Theory

• Monday, January 26 – Additive / Wavetable Synthesis, Basic Waveforms (1.2.5, 2.3, 2.5)
• Wednesday, January 28 – Frequency vs. Time, Fourier Analysis (3.1-3.2)

Week 4: Synthesis by Modulation

• Monday, February 2 – Amplitude Modulation, Spectral Centroid (3.8-3.9, 5.2)
  • Start Project 3 (FM Synthesis, Spectral Centroid) – due Sunday, February 15 by 11:59PM Eastern
• Wednesday, February 4 – Frequency Modulation (4.1-4.3)

Week 5: Spectral Analysis

• Monday, February 9 – Sampling Theory: Aliasing, Negative Frequencies, Quantization (3.3-3.7)
• Wednesday, February 11 – EXAM 1
  • (Only for graduate students in 15622) Start Term Project, various due dates

Week 6: Granular Synthesis, Algorithmic Composition

• Monday, February 16 – Discrete Fourier Analysis: DFT, FFT (5.1), Granular Synthesis (6.2)
  • Start Project 4 (Granular Synthesis) – due Sunday, March 8 by 11:59PM Eastern
• Wednesday, February 18 – (Guest Lecture: Tom Cortina) Behaviors (4.4-4.9), Patterns / Algorithmic Composition (5.3-5.7), Mastering Nyquist (6.1)

Week 7: Filters

• Monday, February 23 – Filters (McFee 3, Dannenberg 7.2)
• Wednesday, February 25 – Filters continued

SPRING BREAK (no classes): Monday, March 2 – Friday, March 6

Week 8: Sampling

• Monday, March 9 – Sample-based Synthesis, Markov Chains (7.1, 5.5.3)
  • Start Project 5 (Sampling, Spectral Processing) – due Sunday, March 22 by 11:59PM Eastern
• Wednesday, March 11 – STFT Analysis and Resynthesis, Spectral Processing (McFee 9, Dannenberg 8.1-8.2)

Week 9: Vocal Synthesis, Instrument Acoustics

• Monday, March 16 – (Guest Lecture: Tom Cortina) Vocal Synthesis (9.1-9.8)
• Wednesday, March 18 – Phase Vocoder (9.6), Instrument Acoustics, Delay and Feedback (10.1, 10.3.1-10.3.3)

Week 10: Physical Models

• Monday, March 23 – Physical Modeling Synthesis (11.1-11.12)
  • Start Project 6 (Physical Models) – due Sunday, April 5 by 11:59PM Eastern
• Wednesday, March 25 – EXAM 2

Week 11: Psychoacoustics, Compression

• Monday, March 30 – Psychoacoustics, Tuning (10.1-10.2)
• Wednesday, April 1 – Compression, MIDI (13.1-13.7)

Week 12: Effects, Real-time

• Monday, April 6 – Effects, Panning (10.3), Spatialization (12.4)
  • Start Project 7 (Computer Music Composition) – due Sunday, April 19 by 11:59PM Eastern (NO LATE DAYS ALLOWED) (No peer grading)
• Wednesday, April 8 – Real-time computer music

Week 13: Music AI

• Monday, April 13 – (Guest Lecture: Roger Dannenberg) Computer music accompaniment (14.1-14.5)
• Wednesday, April 15 – Music AI (13.5, 13.7-13.8, 14.6)

Week 14: Future Directions, Project Presentations

• Monday, April 20 – Where to go from here? (15), 15-622 Presentations / Concert (in class)
• Wednesday, April 22 – 15-622 Presentations / Concert (in class)

Finals Week

• Friday, May 1, 1-4p - FINAL EXAM (90 minutes), location TBD

IMPORTANT: Do not plan post-semester travel until your final exam schedule is finalized, including dealing with any conflicts or cases where three exams are within 25 hours. Because our final is on May 1, you should plan your travel for May 2 at the earliest to be safe. If you have conflicts, you may want to plan to depart even later. Early/late final exams will not be accommodated.