Tuning Timbre Spectrum Scale:
(The CD-ROM)

This page briefly describes the contents of the CD-ROM supplied with Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale. The CD contains many .mp3 sound files, a number of .avi video files, some .pdf versions of technical papers, some MAX patches and MATLAB programs, and a number of supplementary .html files for browsing (including a list of web references for further exploration). To access all this great stuff, you have two choices: you can poke around using the file manager (equivalently, the Mac finder) or you can browse in your favorite web browser.

Sound Examples:

The sound examples are located the sound/ directory and are encoded in .mp3 form. If your browser is set up to play .mp3's then you can just click on the appropriate file names. Otherwise, you can play them in any .mp3 capable software such as Windows Media Player or Quicktime.

Here's a complete description of all the sound examples.

You can also access the various compositions directly: those in various equal temperaments, in spectral scales, in just intonation, in adaptive tunings, and those that use spectral mappings. (If you don't know what these all mean, don't worry. Listen and form your own impressions. All are explained in depth in the book.)

Or you can preview much of my two CDs - there's Xentonality and Exomusicology.

Video Examples:

The video examples are located the video/ directory and are encoded in .avi form. If your browser is set up to play .avi's then you can just click on the appropriate file names. Otherwise, you can play them in any .avi capable software such as Windows Media Player or Quicktime. If you encounter stuttering on playback, then it may help to copy the videos to your hard drive for playback.

Here's a complete description of all the video examples.

Technical Papers:

The .pdf examples are located the pdf/ directory. If your browser is set up to display .pdf files, then you can just click on the appropriate file names. Otherwise, you can use Adobe Acrobat's free .pdf reader, which can be downloaded here if you have an active internet connection.

A number of the original technical articles are included on the CD, and there is a browser friendly version of Relating Tuning and Timbre, which first appeared in Experimental Musical Instruments.

Software:

There are two kinds of software on the CD, both located in the software/ directory. Program listings for the calculation of dissonance curves are in Matlab and BASIC. Programs for conducting adaptive retuning are written in the MAX programming language. Both source files and "collective" (compiled) versions are available. Depending on when you are reading this, it is possible that there is a more recent version of the software. If you have an active internet connection, you can check for this at my website.

Interesting Stuff to Browse Through:

A number of web references occur throughout Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale. These are in clickable form here if you have an active internet connection. There are also nice summaries of the major ideas of Tuning, Timbre, Spectrum, Scale, here, here and oh yes, here, too.

And I'm quite sure you don't want to find out what's at this link.