Orchis 0.

Automatic Orchestration Tool

Grgoire Carpentier 10-Nov-2010

ORCHIS 0.6 WORKS WITH ORCHIDEE 0.3.1 OR LATER VERSIONS.

Orchis is a Max/MSP client application running the Orchidee server. It uses

most of the OSC messages detailed in the Orchidee manual.
This document quickly describes Orchis installation and running processes. I
will try to write a more detailed manual in the future. For any questions please
write me an email at gregoire.carpentier@ircam.fr.
If youre updating from Orchis 0.1, first trash the preferences dir ~/Library/
Preferences/IRCAM/OrchideeForMax/ before using Orchis 0.1b the
first time.

Whats in this version?

- Sound database exploration and query interface
- Easy analysis and import of new sound samples.
- 32-slot orchestra builder allowing up to 4 alternative instruments per slot
and a microtonic resolution up to 1/16 tone (default is 1/4 tone).
- Quick filter design interface.
- Up to six timbre features considered in the search process (defaults are
partialsMainAmplitude and spectralCentroid).
- partialsMainAmplitude synthesis module.
- Feature-based solution navigation interface, including a sound rendering/
editing/exporting module.
- Text export / LilyPond score export.
- Abort current task button.

Installation
- The Orchide server must be installed before using Orchis. Follow the
installation process in the README file provided in Orchide disk image,
then copy the Orchis directory somewhere in your Applications folder.
- Score export requires LilyPond. Download it at http://lilypond.org. Be sure
the LilyPond app is located in your /Applications/ folder, other wise Orchidee
will not find it.

Configuration
- Double-click on Orchis icon to start the application. The Orchidee server
should start immediately (check this in your dock). If the server crashes at
that point, a log file should automatically pop up. If so, please email this file
to gregoire.carpentier@ircam.fr.
- Select Set Root Dir... from the DATABASE menu and locate the ORCHDB
folder. Thats it!

Important notes
- Orchidee comes with sample description files only (in the XML format). The
sound sample database (more than 10 Gb) is NOT included in the release.
However, this does not prevent you from using the software. The only

restriction is that orchestration simulations will be disabled. A good exercise

for your inner ear!
- Orchidee (and therefore Orchis) can only process static target timbres,
eventually with amplitude modulation (e.g. tremolo, vibrato). Time evolving
targets are NOT supported at the current time.
- The current version of Orchidee is designed to cope with MONOPHONIC
sounds only in the database. When adding new samples, forget about
chords, multiphonics and non-pitched percussions.
- When adding new samples, be sure to respect the file hierarchy of the
database: dbname/family/instrument/playingstyle/samplename.
Sample names should respect the following syntax: instrumentplayingstyle-note-dynamics-(string). Please report to the
naming nomenclature in the Orchidee manual to avoid wrong symbols. New
sound libraries must be placed in the ORCHDB/sounds/ directory, next to
the orchidee folder.
- Orchis 0.6 works with Orchidee 0.3.1 and cannot be used with previous
versions of the server.

Defining your orchestra

- From the SESSION menu, choose Orchestra... to build an orchestra. You
can add up to 32 instrumentalists and each musician can play up to 4
different instruments (not at the same time of course).

- NOTE: Instruments are sorted in the traditional orchestral order. You can
configure your own orchestral order by editing the ~/Library/
Preferences/IRCAM/Orchidee/scoreorder[#] text file. There
should be only one instrument symbol per line, ended with a ,. Use the
- symbol to separate instrument families.
- The Orchestra window also allows you to change de microtonic resolution,
i.e. the smallest pitch interval the musicians can play (default is quartertone).

Target definition and analysis

- Import a sound target by dragging a sound on the target frame, or by
clicking the Open button. Select to segment of sound you want to
orchestrate. You can ear the segment by clicking the red led at the top-left
corner (if no sound comes out, check the DSP... item in the SETTINGS
menu).
- Perceptual features will be automatically extracted from the target sound
whenever needed. Hitting the More button allows you to change the
analysis parameters for the partialsMainAmplitude feature, which describes
the overall harmonic color of the sound. The realm of the final orchestration
strongly depends on this descriptor, thus youd better spend a little time on
properly tuning the parameters (frequency resolution and number of
partials).

- Clicking the Synth button allows you to synthesize the main resolved
partials in the target (i.e. the partialsMainAmplitude feature), either by
additive or MIDI synthesis. The closer it sounds to the target, the better will
be the orchestration output.
- Click the Update button to see the list of pitches allowed in the search
process. You can edit this list manually by using the pitch filter below. The
auto mode lets Orchidee choose the pitch set for you. The free mode will
make Orchidee consider all pitches. The auto+include, auto+exclude and
force modes will let you respectively add pitches, remove pitches or force
the allowed pitches to a given set. Here again, the quality of your final
orchestrations may strongly depend on this pitch set.

- Additionally, the More window allows you to choose the perceptual features
that Orchidee will consider in the search process. Note that the search for
orchestrations is a multiobjective procedure, so the more features you use,
the more solutions you get.

- The timbre criteria may be interpreted (carefully, though!) as follows:

- energyModAmp: Rugosity
- logAttackTime: Suddenness
- melMeanAmp: Perceptual spectral envelope
- partialsMeanAmplitude: Overall harmonic color
- SpectralCentroid: Brightness
- SpectralSpread: Volume

Filtering symbolic attributes

- In the SESSION menu, choose Filters... to include or exclude symbolic
attributes from the search process.

Exploring and exporting solutions

- Choose Orchestrate... in the SESSION menu to run the orchestration
process. When the search terminates, a solution navigation interface pops
up. Browse the solutions with the increment/decrement buttons. You can
replace a sample by hitting the E button on the left side of each track, or
change its microtonic transposition using the menu on right side.

- Alternatively, click the Map button to browse solutions according to their

feature and distance-to-target values.

- The solution map is a feature-based 2D representation of the solution set.

You can change the meaning of the axis thanks to the pop-up menus. The
solution map only displays perceptual distances to target (indicated wit the
suffix _distance in the menus) or scalar descriptors. When using
perceptual distances, the closer a solution to the origin (the bottom-left
corner), the closer this solution to the target according to the selected timbre
criteria. When using scalar descriptors, solutions on the left side (resp. on
the bottom) of the map have lower descriptor values than solutions on the
right side (resp. on the top).
- If the sound database is accessible, clicking on a solution or hitting the
Space bar plays it. You can change the playing region in the control bar of
the solution browser. Default region is 500-700 ms (which means that
Orchis plays samples during 200 ms, starting at 500 ms). Pressing the Ctrl
key freezes the map to the current solution.
- You can also click the Mixboard button to mute tracks or adjust levels and
pans.

- Last, use the Export menu to save the current solution as a text file or a
PDF score (remember that LilyPond must be installed on your computer for
that).

Quitting
- Quit the server with the Quit item on the SERVER menu in the top frame.
- Quitting Orchis directly will also shut down the Orchidee server.
- If for some reason Orchis or any client application crashes before Orchidee
is shut down, use the quit utility in the /panic/ folder (located in
Orchidees directory).

Bug report
- If a bug comes out, check your ~/Library/Logs/IRCAM/Orchidee/
directory and send the last log file to gregoire.carpentier@ircam.fr.