Stanford Historical Society

A BRIEF HISTORY OF CCRMAJohn Chowning

Osgood Hooker Professor of Fine Arts and Professor of Music, Emeritus

May 15

jc@ccrma.stanford.eduThe Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics

CCRMA

Stanford University

Stanford Symphony Orchestra1964

© J. Chowning

STRINGS STRINGS

HORNS

WOODWINDS

BRASSES

TRUMPETS TROMBONES TUBA TYMPANI PERCUSSION

CONDUCTOR

Sandor Salgo

JC Joan Mansour

Joan Mansour & Max Mathews meet for the 1st time2007

43 years later

© J. Chowning

John chowning

Max standing next to IBM 7094 (BTL)Max Mathews, to whom we owe much,1926 - 2011

Mathews, M.V., “The Digital Computer as a Musical Instrument,” Science, Vol. 142, No. 3592, 553-557, 1963.

John chowning

“There are no theoretical limitations to the performance of the computer as a source of musical sounds, in contrast to the performance of ordinary instruments.”

© J. Chowning

COMPUTER

DIGITALTO

ANALOGCONVERTER

DAC

Max Mathews’ sound synthesis program–Music IV

Compared to electronic music studios of the time, with circuit boards, test equipment, wires and patch cords, I would not have to learn to solder But, I had to learn to program!

In the Summer of 1964 on a visit to BTL, Max gave me the program and its compiler in a box and said forcefully

“DON’T DROP THE CARDS!”

this was a conceptually simple system having three well-defined stages and pieces of machinery.

LOUDSPEAKER

Stanford Symphony Orchestra1964

© J. Chowning

STRINGS STRINGS

HORNS

WOODWINDS

BRASSES

TRUMPETS TROMBONES TUBA TYMPANI PERCUSSION

CONDUCTOR

JC Joan MansourDavid Poole

David Poole(my angel)

© J. Chowning

Computer Music Project moved with the AI Laboratory from Pine Hall to the D. C. Power Laboratory in 1966

© J. Chowning

D. C. Power Lab at 1600 Arastradero Rd.

►

Leland Smith

Leland Smith’s “Score” programs

© J. Chowning

• Score as complement to Max’s synthesis program

• 1967-68 begins adapting Score for music printing

Score became, and remains, the hi-end industry standard

90º

90º

90º

90º

0º

0º

0º

0º

CH1CH2

CH3 CH4

Listeners space within the speaker perimeter

j. chowning

Music for loudspeakers

listeners

sounds moving through anillusory sound space

I continued my work in creating music in an illusory space that would allow compositional constructions in which sound could be positioned and moved through the space.

Localizationand Moving Sound Sources

FAST

FASTER

FASTER YET!

J.M. Chowning 11/30/02

90º

90º

90º

90º

0º

0º

CH1CH2

CH3CH4

0º

x

System to process signal using functions shown in preceding slide.

Rev CH1Rev CH2Rev CH3Rev CH4

AMAMAMAM

CH1CH2CH3CH4

AMFM

x

AM

% signal(to rev) x

Originalsignal1.0

1

2

4

x

x

x

x

Spatial Processing Scheme -1968

√d1

dtdd (distance)d1+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

-

DIRECT SIGNALSIGNAL→REVERB

j. chowning

(doppler)CONTROL SIGNALS

3REALIZATIONSCOMPUTERS AND LANGUAGES:

• ALLOW DIRECT CONROL OF THE MATERIAL OF MUSIC• SOUND STRUCTURE AND MUSIC STRUCTURE CAN BE JOINED IN A NEW WAYTHE VALUE OF A MULTI-DISCIPLINARY ENVIRONMENTMY EARS ARE MY MOST IMPORTANT TOOL!

x

Rev CH1Rev CH2Rev CH3Rev CH4

AMAMAMAM

CH1CH2CH3CH4

AMFM

x

AM

% signal(to rev) x

Originalsignal1.0

1

2

4

x

x

x

x

Spatial Processing Scheme -1968

√d1

dtdd (distance)d1+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

-

DIRECT SIGNALSIGNAL→REVERB

j. chowning

(doppler)CONTROL SIGNALS

3

DAC

© J. Chowning

(still, without knowing how to solder)

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SIMULATING LOCATION AND MOVEMENT OF SOUNDPatent number: 3665105Filing date: Mar 9, 1970Issue date: May 1972Income:

a few thousand $(enough to purchase a 4-ch sound

recording system)

j. chowning

Discovery of FM SynthesisNovember, 1967

e =A{J0(I) sin αt

+ J1(I)[sin(α+β)t - sin(α-β)t]

+ J2(I)[sin(α+2β)t + sin(α-2β)t]

+ J3(I)[sin(α+3β)t - sin (α-3β)t]

…

+ Jn(I)[sin(α+nβ)t ± sin(α+nβ)t]}

e = Asin(2πfct+Isin2πfmt)

FM EQUATION AND THE TRIGONOMETRIC EXPANSION

© J. Chowning

For a complete description of FM/PM Synthesis see Bill Schottstaedt's tutorialhttps://ccrma.stanford.edu/software/snd/snd/fm.html

The FM paper can be downloaded from https://ccrma.stanford.edu/people/john-chowning

+

+

Percussive tonesBrass-like tones

modulation Index(bandwidth)

amplitude

B a n d w i d t h frequency

I

© J. Chowning

c

m

= 1.0

= 1.4= 1.0

© J. Chowning

John M. Chowning

+

+

Singing voice

modulation Index(bandwidth)

amplitude

FREQ

AMP

f 2f 3f …

Formants (resonances) 1 2 3

+ +

© j. chowning

Vibrato with resonances causes complex modulation of the partials, enriching the color.

1 2 3

Synthesis of the Singing Voice by Means of Frequency Modulation. Current Directions in Computer Music Research, Edited by Max V. Mathews and John R. Pierce, MIT Press, 1989.

© J. Chowning

METHOD OF SYNTHESIZING A MUSICAL SOUND Patent number: 4018121Filing date: May 2, 1975Issue date: Apr 19, 1977Income:

?

1975 - Founding of theCenter for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics

CCRMA (kar·ma)

© J. Chowning

Photo Patte Wood

Leland Smith

James (Andy) Moorer

John Grey John Chowning Loren Rush

from the beginning, our work was multidisciplinary

Ligeti at Stanford Jan –Jun 1972

--informed Boulez of our work

1975- Pierre Boulez brings IRCAM team to CCRMA for two week course in computer music

© J. Chowning

Photo Patte Wood

Pierre Boulez

James (Andy) Moorer

Steve Martin – graduate student

John Chowning

Max Mathews

© J. Chowning

John PierceJean-Claude Risset

John ChowningMax Mathews

IRCAM- 1979 PDP-10

Pete Samson with the “SamsonBox” digital synthesizer — a highly optimized computer for synthesizing and processing audio signals in real-time. It was built for CCRMA in 1977 and was retired in 1992.

It is now part of the collection at the Musée de la Musique in the Cité de la Musique, Paris.

In early January 2010, Mike McNabb and Bill Schottstaedt generated the original music for Mars in 3D using a software emulator of the Samson Box programmed by Bill Schottstaedt.

Mute!

Mute off!

The “Samson Box” Digital synthesizerc

© J. Chowning

1983 – DX7

© J. Chowning

METHOD OF SYNTHESIZING A MUSICAL SOUND Patent number: 4018121Filing date: May 2, 1975Issue date: Apr 19, 1977Income:

a lot more than the 1st patent(enough to endow CCRMA,

thanks to Stanford)

?

1985-Move to the Knoll

Patte Wood

Heidi Kugler

John R. Pierce1910 - 2001

Chris ChafeDirector CCRMA

Jay KadisJulius Smith

Fernando oLpez-LezcanoBill Schottstaedt

Max Mathews 1926-2011

AND CCRMA FLOURISHESRadio Baton

The JOS Global IndexRecording Engineering

Planet CCRMACLM

1996 – CHOWNING RETIRES – CHRIS CHAFE IS APPOINTED DIRECTOR

Tricia SchroeterPatte Wood

Heidi Kugler

Ge Wang

Fernando Lopez-Lezcano

Sasha Leitman

Jonathan Abel

Takako Fujioka

Jonathan BergerChris ChafeDirector CCRMA

Julius Smith

Max Mathews 1926-2011

MODULATIONS

1996 - 2013

Jay Kadis

Tricia Schroeter

Bill Schottstaedt Carr Wilkerson

Nette Worthey

HAGIA SOPHIALISTENING ROOM

Bill retired 2012

Max died April 2011

INSTRUMENTMAKING

BANF/SEOUL/NY/SAN DIEGO

STANFORD/ST JOHNS

CHRIS CHAFE

STANFORD/BEIJING

-NETWORKCONCERTS-SONIFICATION-HUMAN/COMPUTER PERFORMANCE

CHRIS CHAFE

JULIUS SMITH

Impulse response from a Schroeder / Feedback Delay Network reverberator (recently implemented in Faust)

A waveguide model of a cylindrical tube with a conical tip

-FAUST -DIGITAL WAVEGUIDES-STUDENTS

Waveguide model of a bowed string

JULIUS SMITH

Pablo Castellanos Macin

MEXICO

Romain Michon FRANCE

Zhengshan Shi CHINA

JONATHAN BERGER

Sonification of satellite data from Jiyeh 2007 oil spill

-SONIFICATION

JONATHAN BERGER

-SONIFICATION-MUSIC AND THE BRAIN-OPERAS THEOTOKIA THE WAR REPORTER

JONATHAN BERGER

GE WANG

CHUCK AUDIO PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE & BOOKOCARINA, FOR IPHONE (OVER 10 MILLION DOWNLOADS)STANFORD LAPTOP ORCHESTRA

GE WANG

TAKAKO FUJIOKA

Interests of my research

Biological nature of human musicality• How does our brain work to understand sounds?• How does the brain change when learning musical

skills?• How do learning and brain development/aging

interact?• How can that knowledge be used for education,

therapy, and sound application?

TAKAKO FUJIOKA

TAKAKO FUJIOKA

The upcoming NeuroMusic Lab @ CCRMA!!

-BRAIN COMPUTER INTERFACE -BEHAVIOURAL AND EEG ANALYSIS-MOTION, VIDEO, AND AUDIO ANALYSIS- REHABILITATION

TAKAKO FUJIOKA

the teaching/research is enriched further (and still) by

Max Mathews 1926-2011

David BernersMarina Bosi

Poppy Crum

Tom RossingMalcolm Slaney

Eleanor Selfridge-Field

Jaroslaw Kapuscinski

Computational Models of Sound Perception

Perceptual Audio Coding

Musical Acoustics

Music Gaming and Neuroplasticity

Music Query, Analysis, and StyleSimulation

Introduction to Digital Audio Signal Processing

Intermedia Workshop

© J. Chowning

Photo Patte Wood

DISCOVERY INVENTION CREATION

COMMUNICATION TEACHING PUBLICATIONPERFORMANCE

STUDENTS FACULTY STAFF

STUDENTS FACULTYSTAFF

© J. Chowning