UTEMS Research Projects

Brief Summaries and Links to Materials

Touch Sensitive Dance Floor and MIDI Controller  - this system consists of a portable dance surface containing 128 24" Force Sensing Resistors and a 64-channel analog/digital interface based on the Motorola MC68HC11 microprocessor, that converts the electrical signals coming from the dance floor into MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) messages. [Pinkston,  Kerkhoff, McQuilken]

The Accelerando System - A real-time digital signal processing system based on the Motorola DSP56001. The device features stereo 24-bit analog inputs, quad 20-bit analog outputs, AES/EBU digital audio I/O, serial and parallel I/O, and MIDI. The first hardware prototype was demonstrated at the 1989 International Computer Music Conference and the system described in Computer Music Journal 13:4 (1989). The technology was subsequently licensed to White Instruments, Inc., and incorporated into their DSP 4700s.[Lent, Pinkston, Silsbee] 

AudioVisualization - An early Microsoft Windows-based digital audio recording & editing program. Originally designed for use with the Accelerando System via the standard IBM printer port, it was subsequently revised to use the Windows Multimedia System. And then, along came Sound Forge... It does have a couple of unique features though, including the fact that it can read and write IRCAM headers. [Pinkston]

DSP-Sound - A comprehensive, MIDI-controlled, real-time synthesis language for the IBM Audio Capture and Playback Adaptor, which utilized the TMS320C25 DSP chip. Written entirely in TMS320 assembly language, algorithms constructed using DSP-Sound macros performed comparably with dedicated DSP routines, hand-coded in assembly language. [Pinkston]

Fgenie - An interactive graphical program for use in generating, displaying, and editing digital functions. Audio waveshapes and control functions can be generated by algorithm or drawn by hand. Functions can be exported in a form compatible with the Csound computer music language. [Pinkston]

MIDIMaster - A multi-purpose utility for recording, editing, and graphically controlling MIDI data under Microsoft Windows. Designed for use with MIDI-controlled real-time synthesis and processing systems, it is compatible with any MIDI interface supported by the Windows Multimedia System.[Pinkston]

Patchwork - A general-purpose graphical user interface for digital signal processing, the program was originally written by U. T. engineering student, Keith Lent, for use with the Accelerando system. It allows DSP algorithms to be designed graphically, in the form of flowcharts. Dr. Pinkston subsequently ported the program to Windows, converted it for use with the Csound computer music language, and significantly enhanced its functionality. [Lent, Pinkston]

IBM ACPA Device Driver for Voyetra MAPI – Developed the DSP assembly language portion of Voyetra’s MAPI device driver for the IBM Audio Capture and Playback Adaptor (ACPA). Voyetra’s Multimedia Application Programming Interface (MAPI) provided MS Windows audio developer’s with a standardized access method to most commercial audio cards prior to the introduction of Microsoft’s own MM System with Windows 95. [Pinkston]

Csound Instrument Library  – A world-famous collection of more than 120 original Csound orchestras and scores. Primarily written for use as examples in Dr. Pinkston’s own computer music courses, some of these instruments have been widely anthologized and disseminated via the internet. Examples from the collection are available at numerous international Csound ftp sites; the complete collection is available at the U. T. Electronic Music Studios home web site: http://www.utexas.edu/cofa/music/ems.

Interactive Max/MSP Pieces

• Gerrymander
• Lizamander