Jam Sesh Music to Your Ears, From You Ben Dantowitz, Edward Du, Thomas Pinella, James Rutledge, and Stephen Watson
Jam Sesh: What is it? Inspiration an application to support individual musicians with real-time background synthesis dependent on analyzed input Concept a tool that can be used by the everyday musician to enhance performance With the input by an individual, JamSesh plays chords to support the user
Origins You re may be thinking this has already been done In one sense, you could be right In another, we hope to show its unique potential
Prior Work Midi Utility Input MIDI file, set parameters GenJam Fixed structure, user-application exchange Others Intelligent musicians improvise with user
Unique Potential Real-Time Loosened structure User-centric Technology and music can be increasingly intertwined
Real Talk: Real-Time One of the core goals behind our project Achieving sound output with instantaneous analysis has proven to be difficult This goal has since been pushed to the back burner Inputting pitch while synthesizing output is particularly problematic tradeoff between measuring significant lengths of time
Application: Stephen, Ben, Edward Access users and synthesised music Set microphones, speakers, user instrument, and output instruments start stop pause recording/synthesis
Analysis: James, Thomas, Stephen Goal: Dissect the microphone input for pitch Analyze pitch over time to determine chord progression and key Pass retrieved information and parameters to Synthesis APIs: Tarsos and EchoNest
Synthesis: James, Thomas, Edward, Ben Goal: Generate a midi file with all the background music generated and pass the file to individual instrument threads / midi player Possible approach: Synthesis part takes the output of Analysis part (chord, current pitch, etc.) and Application part (user input of selected instruments, key, bpm, possibly chord progression). It then generates a list of pitches to play according to the chord, number of instruments, and current input pitch. Finally, it assigns pitches generated to proper instruments using music theory techniques (trying to avoid parallel fifth, tritone, and other situation that sounds bad), generates the final midi file and returns it.
Putting it Together, Together Constant collective revision of our overall vision With each meeting we discuss how the big picture is evolving That said, here is the current framework...
Individual Reports: Ben Application and Synthesis Given a hypothetical.wav file, synthesize output Researching sound classes Spearheading written work
Individual Reports: Edward Application and Synthesis Working on Java Applet Working on Synthesis solution and algorithm using Music Theory knowledge Research on MIDI file format
Individual Reports: James Analysis and Synthesis Writing the interfaces and general classes for communication between group classes. Researching procedural music generation. Research into the MIDI file type and use in java. Working on getting a real time MIDI interface working.
Individual Reports: Stephen Application and Analysis In charge of general coordination and communication between groups Writing the general computer application
Individual Reports: Thomas Analysis and Synthesis Pitch detection with Tarsos API Graphing live pitch Recording.wav file of live input Using EchoNest to determine key and tempo
Short Demonstration Enjoy!
Closing Thoughts Initial goal had to be scaled back, considerably As we race the clock, we are reevaluating end goals We may change the parameters as needed
References Biles, Al. "Al Biles -- The Home Page." Al Biles -- The Home Page. N.p., 25 June 2014. Web. 22 Oct. 2014. <http://igm. rit.edu/~jabics/>. "GenJam's Journey: From Tech to Music: Al Biles at TEDxBinghamtonUniversity." YouTube. YouTube, 21 Apr. 2012. Web. 22 Oct. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfbhwquzgxg>. "JorenSix/TarsosDSP." GitHub. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2014. <https://github.com/jorensix/tarsosdsp>. "Midi Utility." Midi Utility. KH Midi Music Ltd, n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2014. <http://www.midiutility.com>. "Software." 0110.be. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2014. <http://0110.be/software>. "The Echo Nest." GitHub. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2014. <https://github.com/echonest/>. "We Know Music..." The Echo Nest. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2014. <http://the.echonest.com/>.