Evan X. Merz

I've just finished work on a new musical instrument for Android devices. It's called Circular Sound, and it's aimed at people who like noise.

Circular Sound is similar to my other recent mobile instruments in that it combines a sampler with custom digital signal processing, and a unique interface. Sounds can be loaded from a configurable directory on the device, or you can play around with the default sounds, which are from freesound.org. Then they are loaded into spheres that are arranged in a circle on the left half of the screen. The left half of the screen is the source audio mixer, while the right half is used to control effects. The effects include waveshaping, granulation, delay, and modulation.

The goal of Circular Sound is to give a simple access point into generating various types of noise that is related in some way to the source sounds provided by the user.

Download it for free on Google Play and shoot me a comment to let me know if you make something cool with it!

UPDATE: I have been unable to continue maintaining Circular Sound, so it is no longer available.

Sound Synthesis in Java introduces sound synthesis concepts using the most widely taught programming language in the world, Java. Using the Beads library, it walks readers through the basics of sound generating programs all the way up through imitations of commercial synthesizers. In eleven chapters the book covers additive synthesis, modulation synthesis, subtractive synthesis, granular synthesis, MIDI keyboard input, rendering to audio files and more. Each chapter includes an explanation of the topic and examples that are as simple as possible so even beginning programmers can follow along. Part two of the book includes six projects that show the reader how to build arpeggiators, imitate an analog synthesizer, and create flowing soundscapes using granular synthesis.

Sonifying Processing is available for free online.

Read Online

Read Sound Synthesis in Java online. The source code is available from links in the text.

In the past few days I've completed several programs that compose rather nice notated music using cellular automata. Yesterday I posted seven solos generated by cellular automata. Today I am following up with two duets. Like the solos, these pieces were generated using elementary cellular automata.

All of these pieces look rather naked. In the past I've added tempo, dynamics, and articulations to algorithmic pieces where the computer only generated pitches and durations. Lately I feel like it's best to present the performer with exactly what was generated, and leave the rest up to the performer. So these pieces are a bit more like sketches, in the sense that the performer will fill out some of the details.

Download the score for Two Duets Composed by Cellular Automata for any instruments by Evan X. Merz.

I've collected several pieces composed using cellular automata into one package.

This collection of seven solos for any instrument was created by computer programs that simulate cellular automata. A cellular automaton is a mathematical system containing many cellular units that change over time according to a predetermined rule set. The most famous cellular automaton is Conway's Game of Life. Cellular automata such as Conway's Game of Life and the ones used to compose these pieces are capable of generating complex patterns from a very small set of rules. These solos were created by mapping elementary cellular automata to music data. One automaton was mapped to pitch data and a second automaton was mapped to rhythm data. A unique rule set was crafted to generate unique patterns for each piece.

Download the score for Seven Solos Composed by Cellular Automata for any instrument by Evan X. Merz.

This is my synthesizer arrangement of Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun.

Isao Tomita did version with actual analog synthesizers in the 1970s.