An Automated Digital Sound Synthesis Instrument
Steven R. Holtzman · Computer Music Journal · 1979
This article describes the organization and functioning of a digital sound synthesis instrument. Our description extends to several levels of the instrument, but before entering into detail, it might be helpful if the context of its development were briefly outlined. We are researching the development of automated composition processes. The basic proposition is that music be considered as a semiotic hierarchical system. This semiotic basis establishes a semantics (for music) which is purely formal in that the (of music) is described as a set of relationships between (sound) objects i.e., meaning is a question of structure. Thus, composition is the generation of a structure an empty form which in the case of music is projected in time. The content that fills the gaps of the structure is arbitrary as long as the distinctive aspects of the structure are realized.' In music, the object of the compositional processes is somewhat ambiguous. One may speak of the composition of individual sounds of a piece of music, the composition of sound events, or the composition of sound structures.2 All of these have in common the process of assembly from smaller parts. What we describe in this paper is an instrument which, by the use of a generative grammar, composes collections of individual sounds. The sounds are synthesized digitally. It is instructive to see the instrument as functioning on two major levels: one, as a sound synthesis process, and two, as a syntactic structuring process. Both levels are discussed below. Non-standard or Instruction Synthesis Versus Standard or Synthesis by Rule