DT2213 Music Communication and Music Technology Lab A: Music performance modelling

Lab A: Music performance modelling

Purpose
Here you will take a short piece of music in MIDI format, make different performances
using Director Musices and then mix them using a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). The
purpose is to give you a basic introduction to performance modelling.

You work in pairs on your own computers. The lab should take you around three hours
but not much more, so plan your effort ahead (set deadlines, check the clock, boil coffee,
put away Facebook completely).

To pass the Lab, you need to go through the results with the assistant and be ready
to show all examples.

Preparation (must be done before the lab)

It is important that you have the basic knowledge from the lectures regarding
communication of musical structure, emotions and the rules for music performance in
Director Musices. The theory for emotional expression in music has maybe not been
presented yet; therefore, look at the relevant papers. In those (for example tables and
pictures) you can find a number of musical parameters (cues) that characterize different
emotional expressions. Make a list of what you think are the most important cues relating
to both the structure and the performance for three different emotions:

Structural cues

Anger:

Happiness:

Sadness:

Performance cues

Anger:

Happiness:

Sadness:

Copyright (c) 2014 Anders Friberg & Kjetil Falkenberg Hansen

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
DT2213 Music Communication and Music Technology Lab A: Music performance modelling

Tools
• PC or Mac with soundcard
• Director Musices program to model music performance
• DAW music program for mixing and recording, for instance Cubase, LMMS,
Samplitude, Garageband, or similar.
• Director Musices manual

Director Musices
Director Musices (DM) is a program developed at the department for modelling music
performance. DM contains a number of rules that modifies the performance with respect
to phrasing, timing, swing, articulation, etc. DM prefers to read MIDI files that are strictly
quantised, that is, the tones are of the exact length that is specified in the score.

The newest Director Musices is a brand new version currently in development. It is

multiplatform and runs just by double-clicking the file. It can be downloaded here:
http://odyssomay.github.io/clj-dm/

Track parameters
In the track pane to the left of the score you can edit some basic properties such as the
midi channel and instrument. It is important to select the right synthesizer in order to get a
calibrated sound level when listening to the result.

Rule palettes
Rule palettes are presets that contain sets of rules and rule parameters. You can apply rules
and listen to the result using the buttons to the left.
DT2213 Music Communication and Music Technology Lab A: Music performance modelling

Graphs
There are a number of graphs available for inspecting the results (Display menu). The score
pane shows a primitive music notation with all the tracks.

Double-clicking a note brings up a window in which you can edit all the parameters of that
note.
Right-clicking a note provides a menu where you can edit the phrase marks, add graphs,
and show any note parameter.

Note that in DM notation,

DR is IOI of the note to the following note

NDR the nominal IOI before any rule application
F0 midi note number
SL the sound level relative the middle
PHRASE-START (4 5 6) marks the hierarchical phrase analysis level 4 5 6

The PHRASE-START marker must be followed by a PHRASE-END marker on the

corresponding level. Note that these phrase markers have to be inserted in order to use the
phrase-arch rule.
The “Show vars…” button brings up a window for specifying variables that will be
printed below the notes. In this case it is the phrase-markers.

Performance graphs
The useful graphs are the “Duration difference (in %)”, which shows the relative deviation
of IOI and the “Sound level” showing the deviation of sound level in dB from the nominal
value.
DT2213 Music Communication and Music Technology Lab A: Music performance modelling

DAW/Cubase
Most modern DAW applications have similarities. Try a couple to see which one you like
(unless you already have a favourite). Here is one list and some more information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_audio_workstation or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_multitrack_recording_software
Many applications have free versions or demo versions, and there are several Free Software
DAWs like LMMS that are really good. Some DAWs have lots of functionality that you
might not need, like GarageBand, and some are very complicated aimed at professional
studio work, like Ardour or ProTools.

The following describes Cubase, and the rest of the Lab instructions are based on Cubase,
but similar functionality is available in most DAWs.

Cubase is an audio workstation containing a large number of tools for music production.
The music is divided in a number of tracks, typically one for each instrument. A track can
either be MIDI or audio and there are many possibilities to insert and edit the music. In the
picture below there are three MIDI tracks as visualized with piano roll notation showing
the MIDI events as horizontal bars with score time on the x-axis and pitch on the y-axis. In
the track to the left, a number of general parameters can be set. In this case the MIDI
output is connected to the Halion software synthesizer included in Cubase and shown in
the window to the right. In this window you can make the mixing directly, changing
instruments, levels, adding effects etc.

A central part of a modern audio workstation is the plug-in facility. The format of plug-in
have been standardized (a couple of different formats) so that they can be developed and
shared independently of the host program. Plug-ins can be audio effects (reverb, echo…),
MIDI effects (transposition, chord creator…), or soft synthesizers such as the Halion
module.
DT2213 Music Communication and Music Technology Lab A: Music performance modelling

Task
The overall task is to take two classical MIDI files (excerpts from the 5th symphony by
Beethoven) and to render them in a musical way. The MIDI files are coded as written in
the score. Here is an overview:
1. Load the MIDI files into Director Musices and make a simple phrase analysis that is
added to the score.
2. Make a musical performance using the rule system in Director Musices.
3. Transfer the MIDI file to your DAW/Cubase and work with the timbre and mixing
for the final version.

Workspace
Start by copying lab-A-2014.zip from Bilda and unpack it to your desktop (or workspace).
Rename the folder to your name (lab-A-2014-MyName). Do this before you start changing
something.

1. Music preparation and analysis

There are two MIDI files in the folder. “beethoven1.mid” is the first part of the first
movement and “beethoven2.mid” is the first part of the second movement. Start with one
of them and open it in Director Musices using the default settings (no quantization). Select
instrumentation according to the score. Make sure that each track has its own MIDI
channel (otherwise you will get the same instrument).
Before playing the score you may need to set the MIDI output port using the button
. For Macs, you might need to install Simplesynth and let it run in the background.
Make a phrase analysis using both the score and by listening. Use at least 2 phrase levels
from level 4 5 6, where 4 is the highest level corresponding to the largest chunk of music.
For example, a phrase start on level 4 and 5 is marked by “(phrase-start (4 5))” on the first
note, see also the Director Musices manual. The phrase analysis can be entered by right-
clicking notes in the score window. Only one track needs to be marked. The best way with
that many tracks is to add both phrase-end and phrase-start markers on the first note of the
bar (since there is always a note in that position). Use then the menu Tools-Distribute
phrase analysis… tool to distribute it to the other tracks. Otherwise there will be a
matching problem.
Eventually adjust the dynamics roughly for a reasonable balance between instruments
(in the tracks window). Save the result as a DM score file (“.mus” extension). Switch
“mouse commander” and repeat the above steps for the second file.

Describe the character of the piece 1 (e.g. emotional, motional character, style):

Describe the character of the piece 2:

DT2213 Music Communication and Music Technology Lab A: Music performance modelling

2. Make a musical performance with Director Musices

Before working with the Beethoven examples you need to get familiar with the rule system
using a simple melody. Load the default score in Director Musices. Open the default rule
palette. Apply each rule in isolation and hear what is going on. Use first large rule
quantities so that you clearly hear a difference. Use for example the piano sound (patch 1).
Note that some rules may have little or no effect on a particular music example. Double-
duration, for example, triggers only when there is a 2:1 IOI ratio. You need therefore to
know what each rules is expected to do. There is a table of all rules in the Director Musices
manual.

Which rules did you find were the most effective for changing the expression?

You are now ready to enhance the expression of your music examples. You are free to
make your own interpretation but it is advisable to try to enhance the expression given by
the composition according to what you wrote above. This is the easiest way to obtain a
good musical result. Another tip is to do it “top-down”, that is, start with the overall tempo
(on the edit menu) and continue with rules with a large context such as the phrasing rules.
Please consult the Director Musices manual for a complete list of available rules. If a rule is
not available in the default menu you can add it by writing its name instead of an existing
rule. Note that the rules melodic and harmonic tension cannot be used since the harmonic
analysis such as chords and key has not been inserted in the score. Save the resulting
performances as MIDI files type 1.

Rules used for Beethoven1 (including tempo):

Rules used for Beethoven2 (including tempo):

Was there something you thought was missing?

4. DAW/Cubase mix-down
Start your DAW/Cubase and load one of the MIDI files (menu command:
file/import/midi file…). In Cubase, The Halion synthesizer plug-in is automatically loaded
and connected to each MIDI track (in other DAWs this might work differently). The
synth is following the General MIDI specification. This means, for example, that normally
all instruments are mapped correctly according to the program change MIDI command in
the file. If this does not happen you have to manually select the instrument for each track
DT2213 Music Communication and Music Technology Lab A: Music performance modelling

in the Halion window.

We are now ready to make fine adjustments to the performance. Most of these edits can
be done within the Halion window. It can be opened by clicking the small white icon in the
track info to the left in the main screen:
An important thing before starting is to clear the midi tracks for MIDI control messages
in the beginning that will set for example the the MIDI volume back to the original setting
when you start the music from the beginning. This can be done by selecting all tracks and
enter the MIDI event list window.
Are you happy with all the instrument sounds? There are for example several string
sounds available. Try some variations. Maybe one sound is appropriate for one piece and
another sound for the other. Use then the volume, pan, and reverb controls to make a
good overall mix. Notice that there is a timbre difference for some sounds when the
velocity is changed rather than the volume. In this case the instrument respond more
naturally to different dynamics and the instrument may be multisampled in velocity
(different samples for different velocity ranges). The resulting setup can be saved using the
“normal” format (extension “.cpr”).

Describe the main modifications that you did:

*Optional task if time allows*

You probably feel that you want to change the dynamics during the performance at
different sections in the music or add an extra crescendo or something similar. This can be
achieved in a couple of ways.
For the volume (and all other MIDI controls) envelopes can be added and edited in
each track. It is, for example, very effective to make a crescendo/decrescendo during long
sustained melody notes (first part of Beethoven2). In the bottom of the piano roll window
a set of different MIDI control parameters can be edited. Change drawing tool using the
right-click popup menu. The expression control (CC 11) can be used with the Halion synth
to get an independent control of dynamics keeping the volume control (CC 7) for the main
track volume.

Describe some of your changes:

In the final step you will convert the final mix to a 2-channel audio file. Since we are using
a plug-in synthesizer this is a very simple operation. Make sure that all tracks are activate
(no solo or mutes active), select a track region (drag by shift-clicking in the bar above the
tracks), export using the menu File/Export/Audio mixdown… and save to a wave file.
Test it by playing it in a media player.