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Design of a nonlinear music playback system for nonprogrammer musicians

Title Design of a nonlinear music playback system for nonprogrammer musicians
Publication Type Master Thesis
Year of Publication 2012
Authors Casanovas, O.
Abstract In this Master thesis we start by analysing the state of the art of nonlinear music systems (music pieces that sound more or less different every time they are played), which are currently being used mainly by the video-game industry and on some generative music applications. We focus on the technical and aesthetic pros and cons of the use of such techniques for standard music composition and playback, and then proceed to the design, implementation and evaluation of a platform that allows user-friendly use of such a format by non-programming-skilled musicians. We also develop a playback interface for music listeners to play these songs through the internet, only by using the web browser on a custom website built with HTML 5, JavaScript and the Web Audio API. We shed some light on the effects on music listeners to see how the repeated exposure to the same nonlinear music piece affects different parameters of our music perception and cognition. We also try to carry out a comparative analysis with well known studies on traditional linear music playback.