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%5proposal:	%ACENTER FOR COMPUTER RESEARCH IN MUSIC AND ACOUSTICS%1

%5from:     %1Leland C. Smith and John M. Chowning	
              February 12, 1974

.SELECT 3
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The Departments of Music and Computer Science, ten years ago,
began their support of computer music at a time when many universities
considered such work to be anti-humanistic and/or trivial.  At the time
it was an open question as to the contribution technology could make to
music; however, we believed that the audio-loudspeaker was indeed the
"instrument" of the future and that the most promising method of control was by
means of computers.

The desire of the composer to expand and control his material is unbounded and it
was such a quest which led to the development of electronic music following
WW II.  Studios in Europe and America have proliferated as analog synthesizers
have become ever more sophisticated.  The deficiency of analog synthesis, however,
is that it is not sufficiently general to allow the composer to control
his material from the elemental level of the sound itself to the higher levels
of form.  The hybrid system, a computer controled synthesizer, is a solution
to the control on a formal level, but it will not allow the composer to
"get his hands on" the structure of the sound itself.  Digital synthesis
techniques are now seen to be the general solution for the composition of
electronic music - at least they can theoretically produce any perceivable sound.
The remaining difficulty is that very little is known about sound
that is of sufficient
complexity (interest) to be useful to composers: which is to say, sound no
less complex than that of musical instruments.  Composers are doing research
in acoustics and psychoacoustics because it is critical to the development
of the art, but the problems are complex and will only be solved through
inter-disciplinary research.

Stanford was the first to develop a self-contained, interactive system for
direct digital synthesis using computers supported by powerful
synthesis and composition programs.  There are two particularly visible
indicators which affirm both the initial foresight of the Department
of Music and our success at achieving what we set out to do; first,
we have been supplying in recent years a growing number of universities
with our programs and special knowledge
(including Columbia, Princeton, Carnegie-Mellon, Michigan State, and Colgate);
second, we have been asked by
Pierre Boulez, composer-conductor and a major international figure,
to participate in the planning for, and research within, the
Institute de Recherche et de Coordination Acoustique/Musique which
is being built as part of the Centre Beaubourg in Paris and which Boulez
will direct beginning in 1975.  It is significant that in the plans for this
institute and in an increasing number of universities, the primary research tools
for acoustics and composition are computers rather than analog synthesizers.

At the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory we have developed programs and
techniques for the simulation of moving sound sources in reverberant spaces,
the composition of music, the editing of manuscripts, and the analysis and
synthesis of complex signals, some of which are startlingly simple in their
implementation and novel in conception.  While the progress of this research
has certainly been enhanced by the high level of technological expertise at
the A.I. Lab., it has been equally dependent upon the cross-disciplinary
skills of the researchers themselves.  It is this inter-disciplinary aspect
which has given our research its particular character and which circumscribes
our interests.

We have certainly benefited from our association with the A.I. Lab.;
however, we are a burden to the computer system.  It is clear that in order to
continue
our work on a substantive basis we must become, to some extent, independent.
Independence requires support which requires an idea - therefore, this proposal.
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ORGANIZATION
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We propose that the Department of Music continue the work with computers
by organizing a center for research in acoustics and music, contingent upon
our success at finding support outside of the university.  For the
following reasons the center would have a logical existence at Stanford:
.END

	1. Our work in this area is already well-established and highly
	   regarded,
	2. We have the research momentum and a staff which reflects the
	   inter-disciplinary nature of the research,
	3. Stanford's balance between the technological and the humanistic
	   disciplines would provide an ideal nutrient environment for
	   such a center.
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The center should be organized in such a way that it has a direct
relationship to the academic program of the department, but should be
to some degree automonous in determining its research projects and staff.
.END
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ACADEMIC CONTRIBUTION

	%5teaching%3
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Since 1966 the department has included in its curriculum the 220 series,
computer sound synthesis and composition.  These courses have been necessarily
small because of the limited computer time available to the students.
The center could provide the facilities and teaching staff for expanding
this program into a number of courses and seminars for both the general
student and the graduate student who has a special interest in acoustics and
electronic music.  Within the competence of the proposed staff are the
following courses and seminars.
.END

		General Courses-
			Musical Acoustics
			Psychoacoustics
			Electronic music (repertory and analysis)
		Specialized Courses and Seminars-
			Digital sound synthesis
			Composing programs and algorithms
			Digital Processing and pertinent mathematics

	%5research%3
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In addition to the research projects of the staff,
the center should support research projects of
specially interested graduate and undergraduate students
from the university at large.
It has not been unusual in the past, for students from other departments, e.g.
computer science, psychology, engineering, to make significant contributions in
the field and this interaction should surely be encouraged.
.END
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	%5composition%3
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One of the very real difficulties in the past has been the acquisition of
sufficient computer time to compose works of large proportions.  Here,
the new technology can certainly help us.  As noted below (Budget),
a special purpose processor can generate in real-time, complex musical
works which take tens of hours of computation on the current PDP-10 system.
The center would be an open facility for composers in the Department of
Music.

We would propose a program where major guest composers are invited to
work at the center for specific periods of time.  This program would not
only aid the dissemination of our research results to the outside,
but would contribute to the general level of artistic activity on campus
in the form of concerts and lectures.  For example, Gyorgy Ligeti, a
well-known European composer, has expressed interest in working at Stanford. 
.END
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STAFF
.SELECT 3

	Leland C. Smith, Professor of Music, Faculty advisor

	1.	John M. Chowning	music composition
	2.	Loren Rush      	music composition
	3.	John M. Grey    	psychology	
	4.	James A. Moorer 	computer science
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LOCATION

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There are advantages in maintaining our association with the A.I. Lab.

	1. There is no requirement for additional space
	2. We can buy a `piece' of a hardware engineer's time
	3. Our system can be an `invisible peripheral' to the PDP-10 system
	4. We have available to our system the PDP-10 software
	5. We benefit from the high level of technological expertise
	   and insights - ideas breed ideas
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We have discussed this matter with John McCarthy and he has agreed in principle
to our continued association, subject to the condition that we pay in
proportion to our use of the system.  Any proposals for support
which we submit, therefore, must first be perused and approved by him.
.END
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EQUIPMENT
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The department now owns some excellent audio equipment which is kept
at the A.I. Lab.  Most of this was bought from the license income of
the spatial processing invention.
.END
.SELECT 1

	1. 4-channel Scully recorder			value	$4,000.
	2. 4-channel Sony recorder				 1,300.
	3. 4-channel Dolby noise suppressor			 2,400.
	4. 4-channel amplifier speaker system			 1,000.
	5. 1/2 and 1/4 in. audio tape supply			   500.
  	6. reserve for equipment repair etc.			 1,000.
					Total		   $10,200.
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BUDGET - less indirect costs
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The budget presented here is what we consider to be a workable minimum.
Additional equipment, (e.g. an acoustic-isolation module, larger computer
system) and part-time staff, (e.g. programmer and graduate student
support) would be desirable.

There are two additional pieces of equipment we need in order to become
invisible to the PDP-10 system.
.END

%1One-time costs
	1. PDP-11 45 mini-computer				$45,000.
	2. Special purpose acoustical processor		      c. 20,000.
	3. Interface to the PDP-10				  5,000.
					Total		ca $70,000.
Per year costs
	1. Disk rental (file storage)			 	  8,500.
	2. Mag tape and audio tape				    500.
	3. Equipment maintainence				  1,000.
	4. 1/4 system engineer					  2,500.
	5. 1/5 secretarial help					  1,800.
	6. 4 staff salaries				      ca 52,000.
					Total/year	ca $66,000.
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In order to continue our research and buy the above capital equipment
we are preparing a proposal for NSF to cover the costs for a two-year
period.  We would approach foundations as well, given the university's
approval.  M.V. Mathews, Director of the Behavioral Research and Acoustics
Laboratory, Bell Telephone Laboratories, has offered his help in finding
support for the research and/or the center.
.END