Computer Music History

We are learning about wave forms today. This is the most basic unit of sound. The sine wave is the most famous.

A record player uses waves to mimic this natural sound.

The Theremin plays sounds that are close to sine waves. Here is a video, and an online demo of how it works.

Max programming

We can create these waves in Max, and listen to them. This patch plays a triangle wave, a sawtooth wave, and a sine wave.

There are two kinds of cords in Max, green for signals (repeated numbers) and grey for discrete data (single numbers).

When using signals, we will need some new objects. Look at the help files for the following

• cycle~
• *~
• +~
• buffer~
• groove~

Also try looking at the first MSP tutorial on Recording and Playback

Homework

Make a recording of a wave form you like and post it to soundcloud.