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the machine can read, into the com-
r
puter, together with the instrument-
0 to 20 6 13 16 12 11 15-- 2
units, and turning on the computer.
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L 10
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The numerical output is recorded on
a digital magnetic tape for subsequent
conversion to acoustic form.
The interconnected blocks of pro-
_JO gram which make up the instrument-
< ; -10 unit are called unit generators. There
.n 0o
a -20 -
0 2
are a number of different types of unit
generators, each of which has a spe-
0. TIME (MILLISECONDS) cific function. A typical instrument-
unit is shown in Fig. 2. This instru-
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram depicting the conversion of a sequence of n
in a computer memory to a sound pressure wave form. The sampling umtbers 10oe0d ment-unit is composed of five unit
numbers per second to yield a bandwidth of 5000 cycles per second for tbie sound wave, generators; three of them are oscilla-
tors, one is a random-number gener-
ator, and one is a summing circuit.
of output is required from the com- devised for computing the samples Each oscillator has two inputs and one
puter, and hence the computation costs from a simple set of parrameters. The output. The upper input specifies the
are less. The disadvantage is that the central contribution of t]he Bell Tele- amplitude of the output; the lower in-
only sounds that can be generated are phone Laboratories to co ,mputer music put specifies the frequency of the out-
those produced by the particular elec- is a program for computing the many put. The wave shape of the output
tronic apparatus employed, and hence samples in a note from thLe few param- need not be sinusoidal and can, indeed,
the generality of the sampling process eters characterizing it. T'he details of be any one of 20 arbitrary functions
is not attainable. the program determine the limits of stored in the computer memory. In
The work described here, which was the sounds now obtainab le (from the the example given, the wave shapes are
done at the Bell Telephone Laborator- standpoint of practicality) with a com- sketched on the oscillators, oscillator 1
ies, is based entirely on the sampling puter. The program repr esents a com- producing a damped sinusoid, oscillator
method. promise between a generral procedure, 2, a triangular attack-and-decay func-
through which any sou Lnd could be tion, and oscillator 3, a sinusoid.
produced but which wouild require an This particular instrument-unit pro-
Playing a Computer inordinate amount of wor k on the part duces notes with controlled attack and
of the composer, and a very simple decay and with a frequency variation
To specify individually 10,000 to procedure, which would too greatly or vibrato. Oscillator 1 produces the
30,000 numbers for each second of limit the range of music,al sounds ob- main frequency, which, for example,
music is inconceivable. Hence, the tainable. In order to give the composer for note A of the musical scale would
numbers-to-sound conversion is useless flexibility between these Itwo extremes, be about 440 cycles per second. The
musically unless a suitable program the program is divided irito two parts. amplitude of the output of oscillator 1
(set of computer instructions) can be In the first part the comp)oser specifies, is modified by oscillator 2, which im-
poses a desired attack-and-decay func-
tion. The frequency of oscillator 2 is
Table 1. A typical computer score. The corresponding conventional score is sshown in Fig. 3. such that it goes through exactly 1
Loud- Periodic vibrato I
cycle of oscillation per note. Such low
S
Opera- Instru- tart- Dura- ness Fre- frequency operation is quite feasible
tion ment time tion (arbi- quency Ampli- Fre- Ampli- Band- for oscillators used in computer pro-
code No. (sec) (sec) trary (cy/sec) tude quency tude width grams. The amplitude of the note is
units) (cy/sec) (cy/sec) cy/sec) (cy/sec)
controlled by the upper input to oscil-
Play 1 0.0 0.25 1 466 0 0 7.0 6 lator 2, and this amplitude is one of
Play 1 .5 .25 3 698 0 0 10.5 7
Play 1 1.0 .125 5 698 0 0 10.5 7.5 the input parameters which the com-
Play 1 1.5 .125 7 698 0 0 10.5 8 poser must specify for each note. The
Play 1 2.0 .25 9 932 0 0
Play 1 2.25 .125 10 784 0 0 14.7 95 frequency of oscillator I is the sum of
Play 2 0.5 .50 1 116.5 1.7 6 0 0 three components, one being the center
Play 2 1.5 .25 5 156 2.3 7 0 0 frequency of the note (an input param-
Play 2 2.0 .125 10 233 3.5 8 0 0
eter), the other two being a periodic
554 SCIENCE, VOL. 142
and a random vibrato, respectively. no more complicated than drawing a
The amplitudes and frequencies of the diagram such as that of Fig. 2. About 60
periodic and the random vibratos can ten different types of generators are IA I * 4
be controlled separately, and thus these available, and new ones may easily be -
'bp^ U u et-c-
amplitudes and frequencies constitute defined. However, the generators most
four additional input parameters. The
random generator is a unit whose aver-
frequently used are those shown sche-
matically in Fig. 2. Most composers
. A