Sound and Music Computing

Outline

Description

The LENS (Laptop Ensemble) performance is the major project for this course. You will individually create a computer music system that can be performed live by a group of students at a live concert. This could take the form of a new computer music instrument or composition that a group of performers can control.

Your performance must be sophisticated in terms of fundamental concepts in music computing, have high technical quality as a coherent performance, and demonstrate a high level of expression and collaboration by the performers.

In order to create your LENS Performance, you will be assigned to a laptop ensemble during the semester and you must involve all members of the ensemble in your performance.

You will also submit all of your performance materials (code) and a readme document explaining how your performance works.

Specification

Your LENS performance consists of:

  1. an in-person ensemble performance that you will participate in with your group with video uploaded through GitLab
  2. performance materials uploaded through GitLab

(1) Ensemble performance

Your performance is the primary representation of your work. As described in the marking criteria this includes all aspects of the performance.

Your ensemble performance:

We make recordings of all performances, including performer’s screens and faces for grading and archival purposes. Your performance must be recorded through our system with all performers present and all screens visible to be graded. We will provide you with the video of your whole concert via GitLab, and you should extract your part of the performance and upload it to your own fork of the gitlab template repo.

You will perform a concert with the members of your group. Each group member must present their own work and be prepared to participate in everybody else’s piece.

Computer Music Languages studied this semester are: Pure Data (Vanilla) and Strudel. Your performance is expected to work in Pd-vanilla, strudel.cc or Flok in Strudel mode. If extensions or libraries are required, these must be documented in your performance materials.

(2) Performance materials

You must submit your performance materials through GitLab in your fork of the LENS performance repository.

Your performance materials:

The primary part of your performance materials is the README file created in your GitLab repository. We may check the other files in GitLab if further information is required about your performance, but basically your work should be represented clearly in your README file.

Please use good judgement about the size of media files you upload to GitLab. It’s ok if you need to upload large files (e.g., up to 50MB or so), but better if you can keep sound files smaller.

Rules

Performance Dates and Times

See the practical information below.

Technical Setup

We will provide for each laptop:

We will also provide a WiFi router with internet.

You need to provide whatever adapters or cables that are necessary to connect HDMI to your computer, you should also bring your power adapter. By default, we expect every member of the ensemble to connect their laptop to HDMI and a power outlet and leave it plugged in for your performance.

External Equipment

You are allowed to use equipment external to your laptop for the purpose of controlling your computer music software in the final performance. This includes MIDI controllers, human-interface devices, microbits, etc. There are a few caveats:

External Software

Use of non-referenced software in your performance is a breach of academic integrity at ANU. Investigating such a breach, even unintentional mistakes, is time consuming and stressful. It could delay your completion of this class. Please be very careful about your references and the software you have used.

Assessment Process and Practical Information

Here’s the process and practical information for completing your final assessment.

Make sure you have read all the information on this page so that you are aware of our expectations and standards.

Preparation

Here are a list of the concert venues so you know how to find them:

  1. Big Band Room 1.55, Ground Floor, Peter Karmel Building 121.
  2. Lecture Theatre 1 (LT1) Room 509, Level 5, ANU School of Music Building 100.

On the day of your concert

After the concert but before the deadline

Once you have (1) completed your in-person concert, (2) uploaded the recording of your piece to gitlab, (3) uploaded materials, (4) documented your performance in README.md and (5) ensured that all tests pass on your fork of the GitLab template repository then you have completed this assessment task and the course! Time to celebrate! 🥳🥳🥳

Supporting each other and being awesome

I know that everybody in the class wants to help each other. In the stress leading up to the concert, you may find yourself a bit more frustrated with your group if and when things go a bit wrong. Please keep in mind how important supporting each other is for learning. You gain a lot from the experience of helping others when they need it and going through a difficult assessment with a team is a memorable and worthwhile experience.

Please be your best self and act respectfully in all interactions over the next few weeks.

If folks do not meet our expectations for behaviour in terms of the ANU Student Code of Conduct, they may be subject to investigation which would, at the very least, delay their assessment and completion of this course.

Deferred Assessment and Extensions

This assessment is arranged as a non-centrally administered exam. If have an extenuating circumstance that prevents you from attending, please apply for Extenuating Circumstances. This is defined as circumstances that are unexpected and unavoidable and must be a serious matter that would prevent you from physically attending your performance assessment.

If you apply for extenuating circumstances in this course, please inform the course convenor.

Note that deferred assessments will be arranged as soon as practical after the deferral period starting from the day of your scheduled performance assessment. That is, if a two-working-day deferral is approved, the assessment will, by default, be scheduled on the first available timeslot on the third working day after the original scheduled date.

Marking Rubric

The marking rubric for this task is different between COMP4350 and COMP8350 as these courses have different learning outcomes (see the links to Class Summaries).

COMP4350 Rubric

Criteria HD D CR P N
Sophistication of application of fundamental concepts in sound and music computing. (50%) Excellent to outstanding SMC implementations going beyond learning materials. Very good application of SMC concepts, but not beyond learning materials. Application of SMC at level of learning materials. May have gaps in some areas. Some effort to replicate SMC learning materials resulting in functional SMC software. May have only applied some SMC concepts covered. Very little SMC software or software that is below the level of learning materials.
Technical Quality (20%) A performance showing an outstanding level of stability, technical polish, and consideration of staging. A performance showing an very good level of stability and technical polish with good consideration of staging. A performance showing a good level of stability but some lack of technical polish. Staging has been considered. A performance that may have some issues with stability but lacks technical polish. Staging considerations may be lacking. A performance with serious stability issues and a lack of technical polish. Staging considerations may be lacking.
Demonstrated capacity for expression and collaboration (20%) Performance demonstrates an excellent to outstanding capacity for expression (creative control) by all performers and collaboration that goes beyond learning materials. A performance that shows very good capacity for expression and creative control by the performers. Collaboration is demonstrated and necessary for the performance. A performance that shows some capacity for expression and creative control by the performers. A good capacity for collaboration is demonstrated but it may not be completely necessary. A performance with some capacity for expression by the performers, but it may not lead to fully collaborative creative control. Performance does not demonstrate a capacity for expression (creative control) by the performers and the level of collaboration is below acceptable standards.
Presentation and communication through performance materials (10%) An outstanding presentation of performance materials clearly communicating the submissions and performance procedure. A very good presentation of performance materials clearly communicating the submissions and performance procedure. A good presentation of performance materials. The submission and performance procedure may not be fully communicated. A satisfactory presentation of the performance materials. The submission and performance procedure may be only weakly communicated. Unsatisfactory performance materials that may have minimal or no communication of the performance and submission.

COMP8350 Rubric

Criteria HD D CR P N
Sophistication of application of fundamental concepts in sound and music computing. (50%) Excellent to outstanding SMC implementations going beyond learning materials that reflects recent developments in SMC. Very good application of SMC concepts, but not beyond learning materials. Reflects recent developments in SMC. Application of SMC at level of learning materials. May have gaps in some areas. May not fully reflect recent developments in SMC. Some effort to replicate SMC learning materials resulting in functional SMC software. May have only applied some SMC concepts covered and may not reflect recent developments in SMC. Very little SMC software or software that is below the level of learning materials. May not reflect recent developments in SMC.
Technical Quality (20%) A performance showing an outstanding level of stability, technical polish, and consideration of staging. A performance showing an very good level of stability and technical polish with good consideration of staging. A performance showing a good level of stability but some lack of technical polish. Staging has been considered. A performance that may have some issues with stability but lacks technical polish. Staging considerations may be lacking. A performance with serious stability issues and a lack of technical polish. Staging considerations may be lacking.
Demonstrated capacity for expression and collaboration (20%) Performance demonstrates an excellent to outstanding capacity for expression (creative control) by all performers and collaboration that goes beyond learning materials. A performance that shows very good capacity for expression and creative control by the performers. Collaboration is demonstrated and necessary for the performance. A performance that shows some capacity for expression and creative control by the performers. A good capacity for collaboration is demonstrated but it may not be completely necessary. A performance with some capacity for expression by the performers, but it may not lead to fully collaborative creative control. Performance does not demonstrate a capacity for expression (creative control) by the performers and the level of collaboration is below acceptable standards.
Presentation and communication through performance materials (10%) An outstanding presentation of performance materials clearly communicating the submissions and performance procedure. Clearly articulates recent developments in SMC. A very good presentation of performance materials clearly communicating the submissions and performance procedure. Clearly articulates recent developments in SMC. A good presentation of performance materials. The submission and performance procedure may not be fully communicated. Articulates recent developments in SMC but may not be clear. A satisfactory presentation of the performance materials. The submission and performance procedure may be only weakly communicated. May not articulate recent developments in SMC. Unsatisfactory performance materials that may have minimal or no communication of the performance and submission. May not articulate recent developments in SMC.