computer aided composition

The Compose music tablet is a design concept, by Ouyang Xi, He Binbin, Zeng Li & Li Bo, intended to provide a mobile composition solution.

The pen acts as a mic that you sing into. When docked into the digital paper tablet, your vocal harmonies are automatically transcribed from the recording in the pen into a score.

For old schoolers, you can write directly on the display. It also contains sound libraries for an entire orchestra - so once your composition is finished, you can play it back.

I saw this at Yanko Design, which, unfortunately, does not link to the designers’ page or offer much in the way of information. If you’ve got any additional info on this, let me know in the comments.

The Who’s Pete Townshend, with the help of mathematician and composer Lawrence Ball and software engineer David Snowdon, has created a computer system called The Method which allows users to make unique pieces of music created by inputting personal information, sounds and a rhythm. Users will ’sit’ for the software in the same way a person would pose for a portrait painting, and the compositions created will be posted on the site.

Townshend plans to use the music created on the web on the next Who album as long as his bandmate Roger Daltrey gives the project the go-ahead.

Speaking at the launch of The Method yesterday (25.05.07), Townshend said “When I first had this idea John Entwistle and Keith Moon were still alive and in the band. They were very dismissive of it.”

“But today, The Who is just me and Roger Daltrey. If I was going to work with this idea, I would want to do it full on and if Roger was into it then I don’t see why we couldn’t make an album.” Read more…

LvB’s X has introduced LvB’s X 2.0 - Virtual Music Composer, “music motive/phrase maker” software, an application that promises to compose music so you don’t have to.

The software works as a composer instead of a tool for composing. Users can create the basic part of a song by developing the motive which allows a key shift in the phrase. In other words, the program will bring the inspiration to the user. The software is available in three versions: Basic (free), Standard and Professional, for Windows OS.

LvB’s X simplifies creation by providing a simple graphical interface to be used by those with no prior knowledge or understanding of how to make music with a computer. Essentially, LvB’s X is designed to obtain a well-balanced relationship between musical regularities and irregularities. Every note of every instrument, except the drums, has its own sample - there is no musical predetermination as loop-based samples.

Pricing & Availability

The Basic version of LvB’s X is free and available immediately as a download at www.lvbsx.com. The Standard version ($99.95, shipping included) is available for download with software and printed user manual sent to customers via mail. The Professional version ($249.95) offers a special program for educational professionals ($49.95).

System Requirements

LvB’s X requires a Windows (XP, 2000, 2003) based OS, sound capability, at least 99MB/690MB of free disk space for Basic/Professional version installation and minimal graphics resolution of 1024 x 860 pixels.

More information and a demo are available at the LVBSX site.

Synful CEO Eric Lindemann has announced availability of Synful Orchestra for MAC OSX in AU and VST formats.

Synful generated a buzz at January’s winter NAMM show with the introduction of the Windows version of its innovative “Reconstructive Phrase Modeling” (RPM) orchestral synthesizer. Now MAC users can also benefit from the expressivity and ease of use of Synful Orchestra.

Synful’s RPM technology represents a major step forward for expressive music synthesis. Synthesis is accomplished by selecting short phrase fragments from a database of idiomatic recorded instrumental phrases. The fragments, often corresponding to transitions between notes, are morphed in pitch and time and spliced together in real-time to form the synthesizer output. Phrases are stored and synthesized using a proprietary additive synthesis format that not only facilitates flexible morphing and splicing but also greatly reduces the size of the database compared to traditional sampling.

The entire Synful Orchestra fits in just 32M of memory. A 21 day fully functional free trial can be downloaded at the Synful site. http://www.synful.com/Download.htm. Online sound examples including The Rite of Spring and Beethoven String Quartet. Read more…

Steinberg has announced that its latest VSTi product, Virtual Bassist, is now shipping worldwide. Based on real performances by studio bass players, Virtual Bassist offers a range of bass phrases, grooves and styles and covers musical styles ranging through rock, pop, reggae, metal and hip hop to name but a few.

“Virtual Bassist is probably the first product in the virtual instrument world to offer a full virtual bass player within DAW environments that really behaves and sounds like a real bass player,” says Helge Vogt, Steinberg’s Product Manager for Virtual Instruments. “We’ve concentrated not only on providing the most dynamic grooves, gorgeous sound quality and astounding realism, but also on making that instantly accessible to the customer,” Vogt continues. Read more…