Towards an Encoding of Musical Interaction

Proceeding of the first international IEEE Conference …

2007

This paper deals with the automatic generation of computer-driven performances and related audio renderings of music pieces encoded in symbolic format. A particular XML-based format, namely MX, is used to represent the original music information. The first step is illustrating how symbolic information can originate music performances. The format we have chosen to represent performance information is Csound. Then, an audio rendering is automatically produced. Finally, we will show how the aforementioned computer-generated information can be linked to the original symbolic description, in order to provide an advanced framework for heterogeneous music contents in a single XML-based format.

IEEE Proceedings of MAX2002, Milan, 2002

The representation of Symbolic Music Information is the fundamental element of Music Information Processing. Among the several approaches developed in history the markupped one seems to be the most promising. Starting from SMDL, some XML proposals are briefly analyzed. We present our approach of layered representation of Symbolic Music Information based on the space-time organization of events. Our model splits music information in layers of representation and takes the symbolic one as the gravity center. Moreover, the symbolic layer contains a space-time structure by means of which all other layers are brought together. Then we discuss other XML standard that can be usefully related to the XML representation of music information, such as security and vector graphics standards. Lastly, we deal with some open problems in the field of music processing that might be of interest for our view of symbolic representation.

Journal of Mathematics and Music, 2014

Most interactive scenarios are based on informal specifications, so that it is not possible to formally verify properties of such systems. We advocate the need of a general and formal model aiming at ensuring safe executions of interactive multimedia scenarios. Interactive scores (is) is a formalism based on temporal constraints to describe interactive scenarios. We propose new semantics for is based on timed event structures (TES). With such a semantics, we can specify more properties of the system, in particular, properties about execution traces, which are difficult to specify as constraints. We also present an operational semantics of is based on the non-deterministic timed concurrent constraint calculus and we relate such a semantics to the TES semantics. With the operational semantics, we can describe the behaviour of scores whose timed object durations can be arbitrary integer intervals.

Eighth International Workshop on Image Analysis for Multimedia Interactive Services (WIAMIS '07), 2007

This paper presents an overview on a future IEEE standard aimed at providing an overall description of music. This format, known as IEEE PAR1599, is based on the XML meta-language. Its purpose is taking into account the heterogeneous multimedia representations of music, such as audio tracks, video clips and graphical instances of score. The key characteristics of the format are the possibility to enjoy such heterogeneous contents in a synchronized way and the possibility to switch from a particular representation to another in real-time.

2007

In this chapter, we will analyze the heterogeneous contents involved in a comprehensive description of music, organizing them according to a multilayer structure. Each layer we can identify corresponds to a different degree of abstraction in music information. In particular, our approach arranges music contents in six layers: General, Music Logic, Structural, Notational, Performance, and Audio. In order to reflect such organization, we will introduce a new XML-based format, called MX, which is currently undergoing the IEEE standardization process (IEEE SA PAR1599). In an MX file, music symbols, printed scores, audio tracks, computer-driven performances, catalogue metadata, and graphic contents related to a single music piece can be linked and mutually synchronized within the same encoding. The aforementioned multilayer structure allows us to gather and organize heterogeneous contents, leaving them encoded in well-known and commonly used formats aimed at music description.

2013

Music notation includes a specification of control flow, which governs the order in which the score is read using constructs such as repeats and endings. Music theory provides only an informal description of control flow notation and its interpretation, but interactive music systems need unambiguous models of the relationships between the static score and its performance. A framework is introduced to describe music control flow semantics using theories of formal languages and compilers. A formalization of control flow answers several critical questions: Are the control flow indications in a score valid? What do the control flow indications mean? What is the mapping from performance location to static score location? Conventional notation is extended to handle practical problems, and an implementation, Live Score Display, is offered as a component for interactive music display.

2019

The presented work is part of the INScore project, an environment for the design of augmented interactive music scores, oriented towards unconven-tional uses of music notation and representation, including real-time symbolic notation capabilities. This environment is fully controllable using Open Sound Control [OSC] messages. INScore scripting language is an extended textual version of OSC messages that allows you to design scores in a modular and incre-mental way. This article presents a major revision of this language, based on the description and manipulation of trees.

2021

We present an online environment for the design of musical scores, also allowing for the embedding of signal processors and hence the publication of electronic works. This environment is part of the INScore project. Its latest version has been transcribed to WebAssembly/Javascript to provide in a web browser the same features as in its native counterpart: the diversity of music representations supported by INScore, the interaction capabilities and all the dynamic aspects of the score. After some historical elements about distributed musical scores, we will provide some reminders about the INScore project and its associated description language. We will then describe the architecture of the system and the choices made for its portability to the Web. Then, we will present the extensions specific to the Javascript version and in particular the support of signal processing objects. Finally, we will show how INScore's communication system has been extended to allow online musical score control from a native version of INScore, paving the way for real-time performance on the web.

Many musical interfaces are designed to enable musical expression. In this process it is the task of the interface to generate data transmitting the expressivity of the performer’s gestures to the synthesis engine. The instrument has to be open or transparent to the performers actions. Building interfaces with this kind of openness may be seen as a problem in interface development because the actions of the performer have to be translated from a phenomenological level to a formal level. This paper investigates the idea to create openness by leaving essentials non-formalized. Examples of implementations in the fields of musical instruments and computer games using this method are presented. The tasks of openness, transparency and flexibility for the users intentions are discussed.