Publisher's Synopsis
For the growing number of professionals in computer music, composers, performers, and teachers who are looking for more from the computer music systems that are now available, "Interactive Music Systems" provides a survey and evaluation of new computer programmes that can analyze and compose music in live performance.;Although Rowe focuses primarily on musical motivations and possibilities of interactive systems, he also takes up such practical considerations as how to build, analyze, and extend these systems and looks at the impact of music theory, music cognition, and artificial intelligence on the design of interactive systems and on ensemble performance. He describes in detail both the theory and practice of his own real-time interactive music programme, Cypher, and further illustrates basic concepts and characteristic issues using the graphic MIDI programming environment Max.;In a concluding chapter, Rowe assesses developments in hardware and software with implications for the evolution of interactive systems, including their implementation in multiple-processor environments, the impact of real-time digital signal processing, and extended prospects for sensing performance gesture.;In addition, there is a CD-ROM (available separately), which provides a supplement to "Interactive Music Systems" and contains audio and programme examples that document a variety of systems and the music they produce. An extensive library of Macintosh software allows the user to experiment with or adapt existing interactive systems. Some parts of the library require the presence of underlying software environments, such as SmallTalk, LISP, or Opcode's Max Language. The programme discussed most extensively on interactive music systems, Robert Rowe's Cypher, will run on any Macintosh computer.
