1. Music Software Projects
New York University
Adjunct Instructor Scott Burton

2. MSP Introduction Professor Background Plan for Semester First half:
Programming submissions weekly
Build foundational components
Develop idea for app
1 Quiz
Second half:
Develop app on your foundation
Demo your “product” at the end
2 Quizes
Periodic tests will check functionality as well as domain knowledge
Programming phases will evolve towards our final product
Part of final grade is class vote for best product 
Usually one or two special guests (professional musicians)

3. MSP Introduction... Class Objectives: Build some software
Build it in the music domain
Build it well ?
Clear
Testable
As simple as possible
Performs - speed/size
Unit, Integration and Regression Tested
Conceptual Integrity
It works!
Has Users (heavy ones)!
Implement living specs provided as spreadsheets
Build a cool app in the music domain
Attain some domain knowledge along the way!
Student Objectives – Musician? First musical experience? Favorite genre? Favorite artist?
Teacher Objectives

4. MSP Introduction (cont)
Grading:
Weekly programming phases
3 tests for 20%
Demo of final app
Class participation
Attending all classes will help your grade
Missing more than two classes will hurt your grade
If you are going to miss a class me in advance

5. Where is the math in music?
Pitch – Tone or “Note”
Pitch Sequences -> Melody
Scale
Mode
Key or “Pitch class”
Pitch Combinations -> Harmony
Interval
Chord
Rhythm
Tempo
Meter – groupings, stresses
Timbre or Tone
Harmonics
What makes sounds unique
Song Structure
Q: Can we quantify what sounds “good” ?

6. The notes available in “western” music
What is an octave and why is it so special?
Why are their 7 tones in a key (8 including octave)?
Why are there 12 divisions to an octave?
Why can’t there be more divisions to an octave?
Why has the western 12 tone scale we accept today been “adjusted” over the last few centuries?

7. How do we define pitch?
Represented as the frequency in Hz of the “Fundamental” (or most pronounced pitch)
Approximately 20-20k range for humans
It all starts with the vibrating string
Harmonic Series produces harmonic ratios
Harmonics = Overtones = Partials
Integer multiples of a base frequency
Overtones are not all harmonious (even and odd)
We will be focusing on the harmonious ones...

8. Assignment For Next Week
Set up development environment on your laptop
Choose language
Choose sound toolkit
Choose GUI framework
Generate a 400Hz tone for 5 seconds
Questions?

9. IBM Recruits Musicians in 1959