Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

As of Fall 2015, the Professional Music Department endorses Electronic Music and Sound Design: Theory and Practice with Max and MSP, vol. II as a textbook.

Ultimately, the instructor of record is entrusted with textbook selection, but is expected to consult with the Department Chair to ensure curricular alignment and program coherence.The approved text is difficult, and it is essential the instructor cover the information in an accessible manner.

This course introduces students to sophisticated and abstract content. The course is intended for students who have successfully completed Audio Programming I. Students are, therefore, expected to gain an intermediate facility with the language. Nonetheless, this course is designed for creatives--students realizing creative visions with coding as one of their materials--and not a computer science course. Assignments and standards should be established accordingly.

Upon completion of the course students will be able to:

• Define and use basic and intermediate functions of Max/MSP to generate and create and sculpt new sounds and to design custom audio tools.
• Design flexible, powerful, and navigable user interfaces (UIs) for custom tools
• Articulate and employ principles for the organization of sound (or compositional techniques) within electronic music.
• Program intermediate algorithmic controls for sound.

• Students gain levels of comfort that allow them to play freely with confidence with Max/MSP. The language of visual programming begins to feel more native.
• Students begin to imagine more sophisticated sounds and tools and to realize their visions with Max/MSP
• Students begin re-examining traditional notions of musical composition, practicing algorithmic and interactive composition.

• Lectures
• Implementation of lessons with Max/MSP
• Completion of regular, basic coding assignments
• Development of individual coding projects (projects the students come up with) and implementation under the guidance of the instructor
• Sharing of individual projects with peers and peer discussion
• Capstone project (audio tool, instrument or composition)

• Instructor and peer evaluation of completed projects
• Quizzes and exams

Digital Audio and Sampled Sounds

• Digital sound
• Quantization and Decimation
• Using Sampled Sounds: The Sampler and Looping
• The Segmentation of Samples Sounds: The Blocks Technique and Slicing
• Pitch Manipulation of Sampled Sounds: Audio Scrubbing

Managing Time, Polyphony, Attributes and Arguments

• The Passage of Time (in Max)
• Making a Step Sequencer
• Polyphony
• Abstraction and Arguments

Delay Lines

• Delay Time: From Filters to Echoes
• Echoes
• Looping Using Delay Lines
• Flanger
• Chorus
• Comb Filters
• Allpass Filters

Dynamics Processors

• Envelope Follower
• Compressors and Downward Compression
• Limiters and Live Normalizer
• Expanders and Downward Expansion
• Gates
• Upward Compression and Upward Expansion
• External Side Chain and Ducking

Advanced Preset Management, Bpatcher, Variable Argument, Data and Score Management

• Advanced Preset Management
• Bpatcher, Variable Arguments and Local Arguments
• Managing Data and Scores with Max

The Art of Organizing Sound: Motion Processes

• What are Motion Processes?
• Simple Motion
• Complex Motion
• Exploring Motion within Timbre
• Compound Motion
• Algorithmic Control of Motion
• Introduction to Motion Sequences