Seminars

Past talks

Speaker: Antonio José Homsi Goulart
Date and time: Wednesday, March 30, 2016 - 12:00
Place: Auditório do CCSL
Abstract: In this seminar we will present Phase-Lock Loops systems, widely used for demodulation of frequency modulated signals. The basic idea behind the technique will be shown, along with recently proposed adaptations for fundamental tracking of audio signals. The efficiency of the system will be confirmed with audio examples, and audio effects based on the fundamental frequency of the input signal will also be discussed.


(video presentation in portuguese)

Speaker: Guilherme Feulo do Espirito Santo
Date and time: Wednesday, March 16, 2016 - 12:00
Place: Auditório do CCSL
Abstract:

This seminar is based in the article "A Tutorial on EEG Signal-processing: techniques for mental-state recognition in Brain-computer Interfaces" by Fabien Lotte, a chapter of the book "Guide to Brain-computer Music Interfacing" edited by Eduardo R. Miranda and Julien Castet.

The main stages in the development of Brain-computer Interfaces through Electroencephalography will be presented, with the description of the most used techniques for Feature Extraction an Feature Classification..


(video presentation in portuguese)

Speaker: Antonio Deusany de Carvalho Junior, ScD candidate at IME/USP
Date and time: Wednesday, March 9, 2016 - 12:00
Place: Auditório do CCSL, IME/USP
Abstract:

In this talk we will present many research projects developed from the collaboration between Computer Music and professionals from other areas like Musica, Engineering, Physics, and Medicine. The discussion will focus on the contributions that the Computer Music area provided to the researches and researchers, and we will discuss the interaction between the professionals that had to deal with different technical languages, methods, and scientific approaches in front of the problems to be solved.

The works discussed during this talk had the presenter as a member, and they comprise: musical installation using mobile devices and webservice; the use of mobile sensors during musical performances; a concert taking advantage of cloud computing and web audio; difficult airways evaluation from formant analysis of vowels pronounced by patients; the disgnostic of sleep apnea with mobile devices and sensors; and some works developed with the HardwareLivreUSP group including analog synthesizers and MIDI controllers connected to floppy disks. Some of these researches are in progress, but they already provided many interesting experiences that will be presented during this talk.


(video presentation in portuguese)

Speaker: Rodrigo Borges
Date and time: Wednesday, March 2, 2016 - 12:00
Place: CCSL Auditorium, IME/USP
Abstract: (abstract in Portuguese) Ruído é termo polissêmico e como elemento sonoro reveste-se de complexidade. Seu significado é subjetivo e sua percepção varia no sentido histórico, social e cultural. Retrospectivamente ruído está associado à negação, como não-informação, não-música, incômodo, desconforto. Timbre, por sua vez, não é definido precisamente senão como o complemento do que é descrito de forma objetiva, sendo geralmente referido como o que caracteriza um som exceto pelas suas características de intensidade, frequência e duração. Pesquisas empíricas com análise de timbre têm trabalhado com sons musicais, sons sintéticos, sons de eventos sonoros cotidianos. O presente estudo propõe uma análise comparativa entre amostras relativas à escuta cotidiana, sons sintetizados e trechos de música contemporânea japonesa do gênero Noise Music. Foram realizados testes de escuta e percepção com nove pessoas com o ouvido treinado. Foram feitas comparações entre parâmetros semânticos e físicos, tendo sido as amostras divididas em quatro classes distintas - sínteses determinísticas, sínteses não determinísticas, sons cotidianos e amostras de Noise Music. Para a descrição da percepção sonora, os ouvintes escolheram livremente adjetivos, sem a indução do pesquisador. Os descritores de timbre usados referem-se a características físicas de sons de natureza variada, de distribuições de probabilidade à indicadores de dissonância. Foram comparados os testes de percepção com os parâmetros acústicos e os resultados foram analisados e discutidos considerando-se a percepção do ruído e sua relação com o timbre. Os achados principais apontaram para experiências de escuta diferenciadas entre as classes de sons, para distribuições de energia dentro da região de médias frequências como principal determinante para a diferenciação, e contrariam a ideia de que o ruído incomoda pelo seu timbre.


(video presentation in portuguese)

Speaker: Ivan Simurra
Date and time: Wednesday, December 2, 2015 - 12:00
Place: CCSL Auditorium, IME/USP
Abstract:

Within the research line in Creative Processes focused on music composition and computer-aided orchestration, this work describes an investigation into the instrumental combination process using a computing environment using audio descriptors in PureData (PD) and the PDescriptors library to analyze the sound characteristics of a database of audio files with various musical instruments and extended techniques.

The research relies mainly on three fundamental aspects: a) the study of audio descriptors as an analysis tool for computer-assisted musical orchestration; b) the analysis of works and procedures developed by composers who served as reference for the development of writing models; c) the creation of compositional studies, in which the orchestration hypotheses will be tested. From the study of audio descriptors as an analytical tool, item a, the next step focused on the generation of a universe of instrumental combinations described by their sonic characteristics. This procedure helps the decision making related to the orchestration and expanded techniques. Regarding item b, we used the audio descriptors to analyze the sound characteristics of the following works: the First Movement of the "Quattro Pezzi per Orchestra" by Giacinto Scelsi; three solo pieces "Guero", "Pression" and "Dal Niente - Interieur III", by Helmut Lachenmann; and "Reflections" by Jônatas Manzolli. As concerns the item c, we present a portfolio whose orchestral compositional planning was based on the dialogue between the results obtained from studies of audio descriptors with the analysis of the works of reference composers.

It is expected that the whole process of research reported here will contribute to developing knowledge in the field of computer-assisted musical orchestration, establishing a more refined blend of sound diversity as a method of combination of musical instruments and extended techniques.


(video presentation in portuguese)

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