Orchestration and Performance

When we played our first composition in tutorial 1 we relied on the instrument settings provided by the templates and presets. Of course you will want to be able to change instrument settings.

In this tutorial we will learn how to change instrument settings. Specifically we will change the feel of a template piece by changing the MIDI instrumentation.

Instruments

Instruments are the link between a track component’s note data and a particular output device; tracks output their note data using Instruments.

Currently ArtSong provides only a MIDI output device so we will focus on MIDI here and demonstrate some of the MIDI Instrument controls that are accessible from an Editor.

A Second Look at the Workspace

Please launch ArtSong:

There are two access points to the Instrument Editors. The first is the Component Pane pop-up menu-> Instrument... menu item; we used this popup menu in Tutorial 1 to load track presets.

The second access point is the Instrument Pane (A) shown below: New areas and controls used in this tutorial are labeled in red.

A – Instrument Pane: This pane, residing between the Component Pane and the Data Pane, holds instrument controls and component composition mode buttons.

B – Instrument Button: Each component with an Instrument has an Instrument Button with Mute (M), Solo (S), and Record (R) buttons.

Instrument Button Magnified

C – All Mute Off, All Solo Off buttons: These buttons clear all ‘Mute’ and ‘Solo’ instrument settings respectively.

About `TutorialEx2' Template

The TutorialEx2 template is a 4-part chromatic-scale composition that uses the TextMapper algorithm to convert a ‘fractal’ L-System character string into pitch, duration, volume, and voice-count variable values.

The TextMapper algorithm was also used to both generate the character string as well as convert it into musical values. The character string was generated by starting with a randomly generated string followed by several iterations of ‘string-rewriting’. String-Rewriting replaces single characters with a new character string; the algorithm provides several ‘rewrite’ string patterns that will typically produce a self-similar string.

The harmonic environment is generated using two algorithms: 1) the Algorithmic Scales and 2) Algorithmic Chords algorithms.

• The Algorithmic Scale essentially is used to algorithmic create ‘key’ changes.
• The Algorithmic Chords is setup to generate a diatonic chord progression within that ‘key’.
• A hierarchical meter algorithm is used only to provide accentual emphasis on the beat.
• The final algorithm ‘Hold at End’ simply produces an extended duration for the final note in the sequence; a simple ending

Load `Tutorial_2' Template

This tutorial also uses a template to simplify setup.

• Load Template
  • Click on the Import Composition Template button on the left toolbar to open the New Components Dialog Window.
  • Select the ‘Templates’ Tab to display the list of currently available Templates.
  • Select the ‘TutorialEx2.apr’ template and click on the ‘OK’ button to load the template.
• Compose and Play
  • Click the Compose button to begin the composition process.
  • When composition is finished click the Play button to hear the results.
  • You can stop playback at any time with the Stop button.

Initially all MIDI instruments use the default settings.

In the remainder of this tutorial we will change the sound and feel of the piece by changing the MIDI instrumentation.

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