CDP TEXTURE Functions

Timing & Shaping

Usage

texture grouped mode infile [infile2...] outfile notedata outdur packing scatter tgrid
sndfirst sndlast mingain maxgain mindur maxdur minpich maxpich phgrid
grpspace gpsprange amprise contour
grpsizelo grpsizehi gppaklo gppakhi gpranglo gpranghi
[-aatten] [-pposition] [-sspread] [-rseed] [-w] [-d] [-i]

Modes

1 On a given harmonic field
2 On changing harmonic fields
3 On a given harmonic set
4 On changing harmonic sets
5 None

Parameters

infile – input soundfile to use as source material
infile2 ... – optional soundfile(s) to use as additional inputs
outfile – output soundfile
notedata – textfile, containing:

assumed MIDI 'pitch' of each input sound, specified on the 1^st line. In Mode 5 this is all that is needed.

In Modes 1 - 4 there is also a NOTELIST to define a Harmonic Field/Set, specified thus:

#N (where N is the number of pitches in the notelist).

This is followed by N lines in the format:
time (secs) infile_no pitch (MIDI) amp (MIDI) dur (secs)

Amp and dur are inactive.

Any times within the field must increase (or remain the same, during chords)

Form: MPV/–/–/– Form: MPV/HF-S/–/–

Mode 5 format Comments Modes 1-4 format Comments

60 MIDI pitch value(s) 60
MIDI pitch value(s)

#N No. of lines to follow

time instr pitch amp dur List of Harmonic Field/Set

outdur – minimum duration of the outfile
packing – (average) time in seconds between group onsets
scatter – randomisation of group onsets (Range: 0 to 10)
tgrid – minimum step in milliseconds for quantised timegrid (for group start times) (Default: 0)
sndfirst, sndlast – first and last soundfiles to use from a list of soundfiles for input (Range: 1 to the number of sounds)
mingain, maxgain – minimum and maximum level of input sounds (Range: 1 to 127; Default: 64 and 64)
mindur, maxdur – minimum and maximum duration of events in texture
minpich, maxpich – minimum and maximum pitch (MIDI note value)
phgrid – a timegrid in milliseconds applying WITHIN the groups (Range: 0.0 to 1000.0)
gpspace – spatialisation of event-groups (Range: 0 to 5; Default: 1)

0 no change
1 scattered (Default)
2 decorations will move towards where the event is
3 decorations move away from where the event is
4 decorations follow the texture motion from Left to Right
5 decorations follow the texture motion from Right to Left
gpsprange – spatial range of event-groups (Range: 0 to 1; Default: 1)
amprise – amplitude change within groups (Range: 0 to 127; Default: 0)
contour – amplitude contour of groups (Range: 0 to 6; Default: 0)
0 mixture of the other types (Default)
1 crescendo
2 flat (no change)
3 decrescendo
4 crescendo or flat
5 crescendo or decrescendo
6 decrescendo or flat
gpsizelo, gpsizehi – smallest & largest number of events in any given group
gppaklo, gppakhi – shortest & longest time between event-onsets within a group (Range in milliseconds: 0.023 to 60000.0 – i.e., 1 minute)
gpranglo, gpranghi – minimum & maximum pitch range for the note events in any given group
OR, for harmonic fields, the number of notes in the range of the harmonic field
-aatten – overall attenuation of the output
-pposition – centre of sound output image (Range: 0 to 1, where 0 is Left and 1 is Right; Default: 0.5)
-sspread – spatial spread of texture events (Range: 0 to 1, where 1 is full spread)
-rseed – the same seed number will produce the same result on rerun (Default: 0, where 0 is different result each time)
-w – always play whole input sound, ignoring duration values
-d – fixed timestep between groupnotes
-i – each group not confined to a fixed instrument (Default: fixed)

All parameters except notedata, outdur and seed may vary over time.

Form: MPV/–/–/–	Form: MPV/HF-S/–/–
Mode 5 format	Comments	Modes 1-4 format	Comments
60	MIDI pitch value(s)	60	MIDI pitch value(s)
		#N	No. of lines to follow
		time instr pitch amp dur	List of Harmonic Field/Set

Understanding the TEXTURE GROUPED Process

Please refer to TEXTURE SIMPLE if you are not already familiar with the Texture functions, and also make sure you have gone through the background information before continuing. The following text will focus on what is specific to TEXTURE GROUPED.

The idea behind TEXTURE GROUPED is easily grasped by imagining several quick bursts of note events separated by silence. A 'group' is a 'burst of notes', and the program handles creating silences inbetween bursts. The program is, however, more flexible than that because:

the note groups can in fact overlap
the timing of the note onsets within a group doesn't have to be rapid
the pitch location where each group begins can vary

You can easily understand, therefore, how the program makes it possible to create textures which are more varied than those of TEXTURE SIMPLE, and, if desired, punctuated by note groups which form gestural shapes.

When using a command line rather than a graphic interface, to help with remembering all the parameters, I find it helpful to use a batch file which starts with 'rem' lines which list the parameters in groups:

rem minoutdur pack scat tgrid rem sndf sndl ming maxg mind maxd minp maxp rem phgrid gpspace gpsprange amprise contour rem gpsizelo gpsizehi gppaklo gppakhi gpranglo gpranghi rem -aatten -ppos -ssprd -rseed -w -d -i

Unfortunately, Carriage Returns are not acceptable in the command line itself, so this memory aid is still not as helpful as one might wish. Also, when exploring a program of this complexity, it can be helpful to make use of the CDP environment variable which enables you to overwrite a soundfile of a specific name: set CDP_OVERWRITE_FILE= aname. Then you can do several of versions without having to rename them, and when you find one that you want to keep, just save it to a new name.

As before, let's start with an example we can hear. Example 1 produces separated groups of rapid-fire note events; the groups start two seconds apart. We are using Mode 3 ('on a given harmonic set'), with the note data file ndfgrp1.txt, which is:

GROUPED Example 1 (Preset/Patch grouped1/groupex1):
... minoutdur (10) packing (2) scatter (0) tgrid (0)
sndf (1) sndl (1) ming (30) maxg (64) mind (0.25) maxd (1.25) minp (36) maxp (84)
phgrid (0) gpspace (1) gpsprange (1) amprise (0) contour (0)
gpsizelo (10) gpsizehi (20) gppaklo (25) gppakhi (50) gpranglo (4) gpranghi (4)
texture grouped 3 horn groupex1 ndfgrp1.txt 10 2 0 0 1 1 30 64 0.25 1.2 36 84 0 1 1 0 0 10 20 25 50 4 4

All the examples for TEXTURE GROUPED can be made by running groupexs.bat from the DOS prompt. The soundfiles produced can be deleted with groupdel.bat.

Timing from group to group
TEXTURE GROUPED builds on TEXTURE SIMPLE by dealing with groups of notes where formerly there would have been only one. Packing determines the amount of time from the onset of one group to the onset of the next group, scatter randomises this timing, and tgrid quantises it, i.e, introduces regularity. In the above example, there are 2 seconds between the onsets of each group. Note that in the note data file, the start times, velocities and durations are set to zero. The start times become relevant when using changing harmonic fields or sets.

Shaping each group – number of events & pitch range
The number of events allowed in any given group is set with the gpsizelo & gpsizehi parameters, 10 – 20 in the above example.

Note that these can both be set to 1 so that there will only be one event in each group. This can be a useful way to observe the time gaps between groups, and the effect that scatter and tgrid have on this timing.

Similarly, the size of the pitch range allowed in any given group is set with gpranglo & gpranghi. In the above example, each group will remain within a range of only 4 notes (matching the note data file).

The pitch start point of a group is selected from within minpich & maxpich. Thus, the overall pitch range, set by minpich & maxpich may, for example, be an 8^ve; but the pitch range in any given group, set by gpranglo & gpranghi, could be a minor 3^rd.

Shaping each group – durations
Since we are dealing with groups, however, the next salient question is how do we control the timing of events within the groups? Let's look at the following parameters:

mindur & maxdur set a note event duration range; each note event in the group (in the texture) will be a random length chosen at random within this range. What happens here is indicated by a range for example of 0.25 to 1.2: we hear overlapping among the note events simply because some are considerably longer than others. As with TEXTURE SIMPLE, none of the Modes actually use the duration parameter in the note data file. Therefore, these can all be set to zero. The note data durations are used for ornaments and decorations.

phgrid handles a timegrid in milliseconds applied within each group – note that it can be 0. You will probably need to think carefully about the relationship of the groups onset times (packing), the duration of the note events (mindur & maxdur), and the number of events in the group (grpsizelo & grpsizehi). The packing may need to be longer if the note durations are relatively long and you do want to retain a gestural separation between the groups. Note that phgrid (milliseconds) is a quantisation factor. The packing within the group (gppaklo & gppakhi is what mainly controls the note event onset timing – milliseconds! NB: The gppakhi parameter must be at least equal to phgrid for the latter to have the desired effect; i.e., the phgrid parameter must lie within the packing range within the group.

gppaklo & gppakhi handles the onsets of events within groups. Note that very small values for the packing can be used, and consider what might be appropriate in each instance.

Musical Applications

Here are some suggestions for different types of texture that can be created with TEXTURE GROUPED.

GROUPED Example 1 (Preset/Patch grouped1/groupex1): – We can start with the example used at the beginning of the TEXTURE GROUPED documentation: rapid-fire note events within a group separated by silence. Thus each group becomes a musical gesture. Reminder: the initial command set was:
rem minoutdur (10) packing (2) scatter (0) tgrid (0)
rem sndf (1) sndl (1) ming (30) maxg (64) mind (0.25) maxd (1.25) minp (36) maxp (84)
rem phgrid (0) gpspace (1) gpsprange (1) amprise (0) contour (0)
rem gpsizelo (10) gpsizehi (20) gppaklo (25) gppakhi (50) gpranglo (4) gpranghi (4)
texture grouped 3 horn groupex1 ndfgrp1.txt 10 2 0 0 1 1 30 64 0.25 1.2 36 84 0 1 1 0 0 10 20 25 50 4 4
GROUPED Example 2 (Preset/Patch grouped2/groupex2): – The time between group onsets gradually decreases from 2 to ½ second, as set by grppack.brk: 0 2, 10 0.5.
texture grouped 3 horn groupex2 ndfgrp1.txt 10 grppack.brk 0 0 1 1 30 64 0.25 1.2 36 84 0 1 1 0 0 10 20 25 50 4 4
GROUPED Example 3 (Preset/Patch grouped3/groupex3): – A regularly timed sequence of random notes taken from within the group range can be achieved by adapting the initial example by setting, for example, phgrid to 200, and raising gppakhi also to 200.
texture grouped 3 horn groupex3 ndfgrp1.txt 10 2 0 0 1 1 30 64 0.25 1.2 36 84 200 1 1 0 0 10 20 25 200 4 4
GROUPED Example 4 (Preset/Patch grouped4/groupex4): – Experiment with more overlap by changing mindur to 0.75 (all other parameters kept the same).
texture grouped 3 horn groupsex4 ndfgrp1.txt 10 2 0 0 1 1 30 64 0.75 1.2 36 84 200 1 1 0 0 10 20 25 200 4 4
GROUPED Example 5 (Preset/Patch grouped5/groupex5): – Alternatively, we could go for a staccato effect by using a very small note duration range: mindur 0.1 & maxdur 0.2 and making the inter-group packing range wider than the durations: gppaklo 25 & gppakhi 300.
texture grouped 3 horn groupsex5 ndfgrp1.txt 10 2 0 0 1 1 30 64 0.1 0.2 36 84 200 1 1 0 0 10 20 25 300 4 4
GROUPED Example 6 (Preset/Patch grouped6/groupex6): – Now overlap the groups themselves by changing packing to 0.5. Reset phgrid to 0 and reduce gppakhi to 50 to restore the initial rapid-fire group note events.
texture grouped 3 horn groupex6 ndfgrp1.txt 10 0.5 0 0 1 1 30 64 0.2 0.3 36 84 0 1 1 0 0 10 20 25 50 4 4

End of TEXTURE GROUPED
Return to list of TEXTURE functions at top of this file
Return to Main Index for the CDP System.
Return to 'Groucho' Time-Domain Index

TEXTURE DECORATED|PREDECOR|POSTDECOR – A texture of 'decoration' events shaped by internal grouping parameters, selected at random from a pitch range or from a Harmonic Field/Set and attached to an underlying 'line'; one or more input sounds

Usage

texture decorated|predecor|postdecor mode infile [infile2 ..] outfile notedata outdur skiptime
sndfirst sndlast mingain maxgain mindur maxdur
phgrid grpspace gpsprange amprise contour
grpsizelo grpsizehi gppaklo gppakhi gpranglo gpranghi centring
[-aatten] [-pposition] [-sspread] [-rseed]
[-w] [-d] [-i] [-h] [-e] [-k]

Modes

1 On a given harmonic field
2 On changing harmonic fields
3 On a given harmonic set
4 On changing harmonic sets
5 None

Parameters

infile – input soundfile to use as source material
infile2 ... – optional soundfile(s) to use as additional inputs
outfile – output soundfile
notedata – textfile, containing:

assumed MIDI 'pitch' of each input sound, specified on the 1^st line

followed by a 'line' substructure NOTELIST, specified thus:

#N (where N is the number of pitches in the notelist).

This is followed by N lines in the format:
time (secs) infile_no pitch (MIDI) amp (MIDI) dur (secs); amp and dur are inactive fields in TEXTURE DECORATED.

different times must be given, and they must must increase; all 0's for chords are not allowed.
this is all that is needed for Mode 5.

in Modes 1 to 4, you need an additional set of lines for the decoration definition; these are also introduced by the number of lines (#N, which acts as a separator). The decoration is 'tied into' the above 'line' substructure set by providing the same start time (may be several decoration notes at the same time) and by duplicating the MIDI note value for one of the decoration notes. (See illustrations below.)

Form: MPV/NS/–/– Form: MPV/NS/HF-S/–

Mode 5 format Comments Modes 1-4 format Comments

60 MIDI pitch value(s) 60
MIDI pitch value(s)

#N No. of lines to follow #N No. of lines to follow

time instr pitch amp dur List of 'line' (Nodal Substructure) time instr pitch amp dur List of 'line' (Nodal Substructure)

#N No. of lines to follow

time instr pitch amp dur List of Harmonic Field/Set

outdur – minimum duration of the outfile
skiptime – time between repeats of motif-to-decorate in notedata, i.e., between runs of the 'line' substructure notelist
sndfirst, sndlast – first and last soundfiles to use from a list of soundfiles for input (Range: 1 to the number of sounds)
mingain, maxgain – minimum and maximum level of input sounds (Range: 1 to 127; Default: 64 and 64)
mindur, maxdur – minimum and maximum duration of events in texture
phgrid – a timegrid in milliseconds applying WITHIN the decorations (Range: 0.0 to 1000.0)
gpspace – spatialisation of decoration-groups (Range: 0 to 5; Default: 1)
0 no change
1 scattered (Default)
2 decorations will move towards where the event is
3 decorations move away from where the event is
4 decorations follow the texture motion from Left to Right
5 decorations follow the texture motion from Right to Left
gpsprange – spatial range of decoration-groups (Range: 0 to 1; Default: 1)
amprise – amplitude change within decorations (Range: 0 to 127; Default: 0)
contour – amplitude contour of decorations (Range: 0 to 6; Default: 0)
0 mixture of the other types (Default)
1 crescendo
2 flat (no change)
3 decrescendo
4 crescendo or flat
5 crescendo or decrescendo
6 decrescendo or flat
gpsizelo, gpsizehi – smallest & largest number of events in the decorations
gppaklo, gppakhi – shortest & longest time between event-onsets in the decorations (Range in milliseconds: 0.023 to 60000.0 – i.e., 1 minute)
gpranglo, gpranghi – minimum & maximum pitch range of the decorations, given not in MIDI note values but as the number of adjacent tones to be used: from the full chromatic field in Mode 5, OR from the members of the harmonic field/set defined in the other Modes)
centring – how the decoration pitches centre on line pitches (Range: 0 to 7; Default: 0)
0 centred (default)
1 above
2 below
3 centred and above
4 centered and below
5 above and below
6 centred and above and below
-aatten – overall attenuation of the output
-pposition – centre of sound output image (Range: 0 to 1, where 0 is Left and 1 is Right; Default: 0.5)
-sspread – spatial spread of texture events (Range: 0 to 1, where 1 is full spread)
-rseed – the same seed number will produce the same result on rerun (Default: 0, where 0 is different result each time)
-w – always play whole input sound, ignoring duration values
-d – fixed timestep between groupnotes
-i – each group not confined to a fixed instrument (Default: fixed)
-h – decorate topnote of chord (Default: decorate first note listed)
-e – decorate all the notes of chords
-k – discard original line, after decoration

All parameters except notedata, outdur, skiptime and seed may vary over time.

Form: MPV/NS/–/–	Form: MPV/NS/HF-S/–
Mode 5 format	Comments	Modes 1-4 format	Comments
60	MIDI pitch value(s)	60	MIDI pitch value(s)
#N	No. of lines to follow	#N	No. of lines to follow
time instr pitch amp dur	List of 'line' (Nodal Substructure)	time instr pitch amp dur	List of 'line' (Nodal Substructure)
		#N	No. of lines to follow
		time instr pitch amp dur	List of Harmonic Field/Set

Understanding the TEXTURE DECORATED Process

The key to TEXTURE DECORATED is that the (ascending) start times defining the the 'line' of nodes to be decorated are important. The decorations are connected to the line centred (DECORATED), before and ending on (PREDECOR), and starting precisely on (POSTDECOR), these time points. Breakpoint times also have to tie in with these times or nothing will happen. Musically, this means that the decorations on a series of nodes can be varyingly constructed. Remember that a 'decoration' consists of notes chosen randomly from the decoration field, which can be more or less harmonic. This randomness is what differentiates DECOR and ORNATE. In ORNATE, there can be figures with internal rhythm and velocity fully defined and also attached to nodes. In MOTIFS, fully defined figures are used, but not a defined nodal substructure.

The TEXTURE DECORATED node data file, then, uses two groups of data:

a 'line' of note events with start times to define a substructure on which to build the decorations, and
the decorations themselves.

In Mode 5 these are defined only by the parameters: group size, group packing and group range: i.e., not in the note data file. Thus, in Mode 5 there is no second (or third) section in the note data file.
In Modes 1–4 the decorations are defined as a second set of data in the note data file, beginning with the number of lines of data to come, e.g, #5. We will see examples of this below.

In all cases, the decorations are randomly selected from the pitch range or note lists provided – a 'decoration' is here defined as a random assembly of pitches. When harmonic sets are used, only the notes listed are used (in random order). When harmonic fields are used, all octaves of the notes listed are used (in random order). Thus the decorations can be given a harmonic quality. Longer timings between the notes of the decorations may cause new decorations to come in (on the next specified substructure node) before the previous one has finished. Such overlapping can be musically useful.

The decorations are by default located around (centred on) the 'line' substructure nodes. The centring parameter setting enables the decorations to be located above, below etc. the 'line' substructure nodes.

Similarly, with TEXTURE DECORATED the decorations are centered on the start times listed for the main substructure nodes, i.e., they will tend to come in a little before the node start time and finish a little after this time. When TEXTURE PREDECOR is invoked, the decorations happen before the main substructure nodes, ending at the node start time. The decorations start precisely on the node start time and therefore come after the node with TEXTURE POSTDECOR. Larger group packing times will spread out the decoration, however, and may cause it to overlap (still be unfolding) when the next node begins. By having a lower group size or shorter durations for the group packing, it is possible to have the decoration end before the next node begins, in which case there will be a silence until the time for that node is reached.

In the introductory notes about the note data file, the order of placement of the data was mentioned. First is the line, then the data for harmonic fields/sets – which is also the data used for decorations. Thus, this second set of data can be any group of notes: it doesn't have to be 'harmonic'. Thirdly, there is the data for ornaments/motifs, which we shall cover in TEXTURE ORNATE etc.

Basically, what happens in the note data file for TEXTURE DECORATED is this:

First, the notes in any timed, ornamented or decorated line in the texture are defined. 'Line' here is taken to mean just that: the basic linear substructure for the textural additions. This list of notes begins by defining the number of notes in this 'line', e.g., #5.
This list is required in ALL modes of TEXTURE DECORATED, with start times which must increase from note to note. In Mode 5 it is the only field that is needed.
Secondly, the notes in any harmonic fields or sets are defined. This is the list which forms the basis of the decoration, which is in fact a 'random assembly' of these notes. This list of notes begins by defining the number of notes in this field or set.e.g., #5 – thus the number-of-notes definitions act as separators in the note data file. The actual note event data, i.e., the 'field' of notes for the decorations, follows. All start times in this 'decoration field' are 0.
What happens is this: gpranglo/hi define how many notes of this field to use for any given decoration. It then draws that number of notes from this field (and no other notes), with each node note of the substructure list as the time and pitch point of reference, and plays them in random order ('random assembly'). Note that the overall pitch range as well as the top of the field itself must be able to must accommodate gpranglo/hi number of field notes around, above, or below the lowest/ highest node in the substructure, according to the centring parameter.
Thirdly, the notes or any ornaments or motifs are specified. Again, this list of notes begins by defining the number of notes in this ornament or motif, e.g., #3.
This third list is not required by / used in TEXTURE DECORATED.

While similar to TEXTURE GROUPED, we notice that TEXTURE DECORATED lacks the trio of parameters which defined the timing between groups (packing scatter tgrid). Rather, we find the new parameters skiptime and centring. This is because it is building its texture on a linear substructure, which is what is first defined in the note data file. So let us focus our attention on these parameters.

skiptime – The first list of 'line' substructure notes in the note data file form the core outline of the decoration. Remember that this list includes start times for each note event, such that the whole list forms a single musical unit. If the output duration is longer than this unit, the whole sequence will repeat. Skiptime is the time between these repeats.

centring – A decoration will usually have several notes, though it may also consist of repeated notes only. Centring deals with how these several notes lie against the substructure node of the 'line': centred on it, lying below or above it, etc.

We are now ready to look at some examples and will do so directly in the 'Musical Applications' section below.

Musical Applications

All the examples for TEXTURE DECORATED can be made by running decorexs.bat from the DOS prompt. The soundfiles produced can be deleted with decordel.bat.

See decorexs.bat for a listing of the examples in the TEXTURE DECORATED section. You can run this batch file to create the examples. You will find it and the various note data and breakpoint files in your Texture Pack. (NB - command line use only, though it is a useful reference for all systems).

Example 1a
Our first example for TEXTURE DECORATED uses Mode 5, where only the 'line' substructure note list is needed. We shall create 4 nodes and place a decoration consisting of 5 repeating notes on each of these nodes. In Mode 5 we don't have to specify the decoration as the information required is supplied by the parameters. Here is a note data file which specifies these four 'line' substructure nodes, ndfdec1.txt:


	60
	#4
	0.0 1 60 0 0
	2.0 1 67 0 0
	4.0 1 63 0 0
	6.0 1 62 0 0

This will create a line of substructure nodes C-G-Eb-D, where C is Middle C, at 0, 2, 4 and 6 seconds respectively. With an outdur of 20 seconds, this 4-node musical unit will repeat after 2 skiptime seconds. Skiptime begins at the start time of the last substructure node. As the time between nodes is a regular two seconds, the node sequence will repeat without breaking that regularity.

The decoration of 5 micro-trills (which may sound like just notes which repeat) is set by making both gpsizelo and gpsizehi equal to 5, and we'll have a reasonably quick, but not too fast, and regular, note speed within the decoration by making both gppaklo and gppakhi equal to 60 ms. The trills are very small (equal to or less than a semitone) because gpranglo/hi are both set to 1.

Here is the command line which summarises this data:

DECORATED Example 1a (Preset/Patch decor1a/decorex1a):
... minoutdur (20) skiptime (2.0)
sndf (1) sndl (1) ming (36) maxg (64) mind (1.0) maxd (1.0)
phgrid (0) gpspace (1) gpsprange (1) amprise (0) contour (0)
gpsizelo (5) gpsizehi (5) gppaklo (60) gppakhi (60) gpranglo (1) gpranghi (1) centring (0)
texture decorated 5 horn decorex1a ndfdec1.txt 20 2.0 1 1 36 64 1.0 1.0 0 1 1 0 0 5 5 60 60 1 1 0

The role of the group pitch range gpranglo/hi is instructive:

In the above example, we hear the substructure pitch shape very clearly because these are the only pitches used (gpranglo/hi are 1); the nodes are textured by rapid micro-trils due to the very short group packing. The whole shape repeats after 4 (skiptime) seconds.

If we make gpranglo/hi both 2, we hear semitone trills starting on the note below and ending on and sustaining the final (substructure) node after the 5 notes of the decoration until the full 1 second has finished (centring is 0). If centring is then changed to 1 (i.e., 'above'), the trill begins on the node, trills with and ends on the note above (which in this case is harmonically odd). If we make centring 2 (i.e., 'below'), in this case the trilling effect starts below the node.

If we make gpranglo/hi both 3, we get whole tone trills (centring back to 0). This tells us that the interval count seems to start at 1 for the same note (which will be repeated at group packing rates), 2 for a semitone, 3 for a whole tone, 4 for a minor third, etc., i.e., one more than the usual way we tend to count intervals. Actually, the numbers do refer to semitones in the normal way. It's just that, if you specify a maximum range of a semitone, for example, the notes generated (in the Mode 5 Neutral case) will all fall within a semitone range. The interval of a semitone (1) that you specify is the maximum distance a note might land on. In general most notes (in this case) will be less than a semitone away from the base pitch (0). What you hear, then, is not repeated notes, but 'micro-trills' on intervals within a semitone – and they are not exactly trills either, because no note is repeated! When larger intervals are specified, many of the notes will fall within this range, often far short of the full interval specified.

If we make gpranglo/hi both 4, we get a wash of all the notes within a minor third, centred on the nodes. This wash illustrates the 'random assembly' aspect of TEXTURE DECORATED.

If we make gpranglo = 1 and gpranghi = 4, we get a mixture of the above possibilities on the various nodes: i.e., the program will make a random selection of anywhere from 1 to 4 notes for the decoration range.

if we make gpranglo = 1 and gpranghi = the breakpoint file dm5gprhi.brk, we hear the number of notes in the decorations alternating between 1 and several on each of the nodes. We present this as Example 2. Note that the breakpoint times in dm5gprhi.brk match those in the note data file (every 2 seconds), and skiptime is still 0.01 so that there is no appreciable delay between repeats of the substructure musical unit. (The timings in the breakpoint files must increase, but do not have to match the node times. The parameter values used at nodes will be those in force at the time of the nodes. If nodes lie between times specified in the breakpoint file, you will pick up the intermediate value at that time.)

The first substructure note does not receive a decoration with PREDECOR (this is because the first event in the line is assumed to be at time zero – so no decoration can happen before this). In mode DECORATED, a random mixture of pre- and post- decorations is produced, so the first note is sometimes decorated and sometimes not.

Example 1b
Still in Mode 5 and using the same note data file as in Example 1a (ndfdec1.txt), Example 1b also employs the breakpoint file dm5gprhi.brk for the parameter gpranghi:

POST-DECORATED Example 1b (Preset/Patch decor1b/ decorex1b):
... minoutdur (20) skiptime (2.0)
sndf (1) sndl (1) ming (36) maxg (64) mind (1.0) maxd (1.0)
phgrid (0) gpspace (1) gpsprange (1) amprise (0) contour (0)
gpsizelo (5) gpsizehi (5) gppaklo (60) gppakhi (60) gpranglo (1) gpranghi (dm5gprhi.brk) centring (0)
texture postdecor 5 horn decorex1b ndfdec1.txt 20 2.0 1 1 36 64 1.0 1.0 0 1 1 0 0 5 5 60 60 1 dm5gprhi.brk 0

POSTDECOR is used so that the decorations will begin precisely on the node start time: because in POSTDECOR the decorations come after the node. We hear little burbles on every other node because in dm5gprhi.brk every other node has a pitch range greater than 1.

Example 2a
If we now move on to the harmonic set/field modes, we will see how the 'random assembly' feature is still present, but tied into specifically named pitches. We start with Mode 3 and here we need to define the pitches from which the decoration will be formed, so a second note list is needed in the note data file. In the following example, the substructure nodes form a rising G-minor shape: G4-Bb4-D5-G5, where C5 is Middle C. Each note of this shape is then decorated with a whole tone trill. Gpranglo/hi is set to 2, meaning in this case how many notes from the decoration field to use at any one time – and only these notes are used, not any of the inbetween ones as in Mode 5. Note that all the times of the decoration field are set to 0. Here is the note data file for this example, ndfdec2a.txt:


	60
	#4
	0.0 1 60 0 0
	2.0 1 67 0 0
	4.0 1 63 0 0
	6.0 1 60 0 0
	#3
	0.0 1 60 0 0
	0.0 1 64 0 0
	0.0 1 67 0 0

POST-DECORATED Example 2a (Preset/Patch decor2a/ decorex2a):
... minoutdur (12) skiptime (2.0)
sndf (1) sndl (1) ming (36) maxg (64) mind (1.0) maxd (1.0)
phgrid (0) gpspace (1) gpsprange (1) amprise (0) contour (0)
gpsizelo (5) gpsizehi (9) gppaklo (60) gppakhi (60) gpranglo (3) gpranghi (3) centring (1)
texture postdecor 3 horn decorex2a ndfdec2a.txt 20 2.0 1 1 36 64 1.0 1.0 0 1 1 0 0 5 9 60 60 3 3 1

Note that gpranglo/hi is set to 3, to use all three notes in the decoration field. The same three decoration notes decorate each of the substructure nodes. In this case, all the notes match except for the Eb/E-natural. Thus only the third node sounds different. Using the '1' option for centring did NOT result in the notes of the decoration being transposed to build on (above) each of the substructure nodes. All the nodes are decorated with the same chord because those are the only (3) notes given in the decoration field in Mode 3 in which only the notes in the defined harmonic set are used. If we provide more notes, in fact the pitches needed to place a triad on each node, we find that this is indeed what happens. Thus we can hear that TEXTURE DECORATED does use each node as a tonal centre for each decoration on it.

Example 2b
Example 2b illustrates constructing a decoration field that will enable building different triads on the substructure nodes. The note data file ndfdec2b.txt is as follows. Note that all start times are still 0 – the decoration start times come from the node itself.


	60
	#8
	 0.0 1 60 0 0
	 2.0 1 63 0 0
	 4.0 1 67 0 0
	 6.0 1 70 0 0
	 8.0 1 74 0 0
	10.0 1 70 0 0
	12.0 1 67 0 0
	14.0 1 63 0 0
	#7
	0.0 1 60 0 0
	0.0 1 63 0 0
	0.0 1 67 0 0
	0.0 1 70 0 0
	0.0 1 74 0 0
	0.0 1 77 0 0
	0.0 1 81 0 0

POST-DECORATED Example 2b (Preset/Patch decor2b/ decorex2b):
... minoutdur (28) skiptime (2.0)
sndf (1) sndl (1) ming (36) maxg (64) mind (1.0) maxd (1.0)
phgrid (0) gpspace (1) gpsprange (1) amprise (0) contour (0)
gpsizelo (5) gpsizehi (9) gppaklo (60) gppakhi (60) gpranglo (3) gpranghi (3) centring (1)
texture postdecor 3 horn decorex2b ndfdec2b.txt 20 2.0 1 1 36 64 1.0 1.0 0 1 1 0 0 5 9 60 60 3 3 1

Now we have different decorations (all of which are triads) coming in on each time-specified node. We have also used centring = 1 so that the node is the root (bottom note) of each decoration.

The key to achieving decorations restricted to triadic formations on the various nodes lies in the design of the harmonic field/set. The set used here moves up steadily in 3^rds so that all adjacent members of the set remain a 3^rd apart (major or minor): C - Eb - G - Bb - D' - F' - A'. The highest node is D' (74) so that the F' and A' are available to form the triad. Thus, when the triads are built on each of the nodes, we get the following triads: Cm, Ebmaj, Gm, Bbmaj, and Dm.

Note that if we tried to have major and minor versions of the same triad, this would introduce adjacent semitones into the field, e.g., C - Eb - E-natural - G. The program can only select grprange adjacent events, so in this case the first group would use C - Eb - E-natural and not form a triad.

Mode 4 used with this note data file produces the same results because no times are specified in the harmonic field/set. It is quite possible to have changing fields, in which case the grprange adjacent notes would change their harmonic character each time a new field came in. Modes 1 and 2 introduce note-events at different octaves, as permitted by the overall pitch range.

Example 2c
The next example illustrates the same process, this time with a note data file designed to produce dyads (pairs of notes around a single interval). Here the pitches in the decoration field are selected so that they will harmonise with the nodal tones. Then they are all set to begin at time zero, and we rely on gpranglo/hi (set to 2) to select pairs of notes from this field.

The idea of the example is to build dyads on each of the substructure nodes. We use centring = 1 to get the decoration to start on and lie above the substructure node. This time all the nodes of the substructure are decorated. Ndfdec2c.txt follows, and we are running it first in Mode 3.


	60
	#4
	0.0 1 55 0 0
	2.0 1 58 0 0
	4.0 1 62 0 0
	6.0 1 65 0 0
	#8
	0.0 1 55 0 0
	0.0 1 58 0 0
	0.0 1 62 0 0
	0.0 1 65 0 0
	0.0 1 67 0 0
	0.0 1 70 0 0
	0.0 1 74 0 0
	0.0 1 77 0 0

POST-DECORATED Example 2c (Preset/Patch decor2c/ decorex2c):
... minoutdur (20) skiptime (2.0)
sndf (1) sndl (1) ming (36) maxg (64) mind (1.0) maxd (1.0)
phgrid (0) gpspace (1) gpsprange (1) amprise (0) contour (0)
gpsizelo (5) gpsizehi (5) gppaklo (60) gppakhi (60) gpranglo (2) gpranghi (2) centring (1)
texture postdecor 3 horn decorex2c ndfdec2c.txt 20 2.0 1 1 36 64 1.0 1.0 0 1 1 0 0 5 5 60 60 2 2 1

Now this is important: We set gpranglo/hi to 2 to specify that we should use pairs of notes from the decoration field. What we hear, then, are the notes of the dyads selected from the decoration field and only these notes played in random order above each of the respective nodes. The decoration field has to be carefully constructed so that the desired harmonic effect is achieved.

Mode 4 used with the same data produces the same results. Modes 1 and 2 introduce octave notes, as permitted by the overall pitch range.

Building on these foundations, we can achieve more varied and 'plastic' results by employing ranges and time-varying breakpoint files for the various parameters. But recall what was observed above, that the effect of the times in breakpoint files seems constrained by the start times of the nodes: pending further experimentation, it appears that the parameter value in force when a node begins is what is used: the breakpoint times do not override the node times and therefore cannot bring the parameter value in at a breakpoint time which differs from a node time.

Example 3
Example 3 illustrates a more flexible use of TEXTURE DECORATED. The note data file ndfdec3.txt defines five nodes each 5 seconds apart. These are then decorated from a field of 15 notes, with a time-varying set of values for gprangehi.


	[ndfdec3.txt]
	60
	#5
	0  1 60 0 0
	5  1 64 0 0
	10 1 67 0 0
	15 1 70 0 0
	20 1 60 0 0
	#15
	0 1 49 0 0
	0 1 52 0 0
	0 1 54 0 0
	0 1 55 0 0
	0 1 58 0 0
	0 1 60 0 0
	0 1 61 0 0
	0 1 64 0 0
	0 1 66 0 0
	0 1 67 0 0
	0 1 70 0 0
	0 1 72 0 0
	0 1 73 0 0
	0 1 76 0 0
	0 1 78 0 0

The breakpoint file for gprangehi is dx3gprhi.brk:

Note that the times match those for the 'line' nodes in the note data file. When we hear the resultant sound, we can also observe that each decoration is centred on the node pitch – i.e., they move up and down in pitch according to the underlying node. The group pitch range low is set at a constant 2, so the range of decoration field notes used in each burst will vary between 2 and 8, 2 and 10, 2 and 15, etc.

The gpsize is set to give a relatively low number of events: from 10 to 25. The gppak range is fast, but varied: between 40 and 125 ms. The overall effect is little bursts of note events, with gaps inbetween. These gaps are those between the end of the decoration and the start of the next node – not skiptime, which occurs at the end of the whole sequence. We are using POSTDECOR so that the decorations begin with the node.

POST-DECORATED Example 3 (Preset/Patch decor3/ decorex3):
... minoutdur (20) skiptime (1)
sndf (1) sndl (1) ming (36) maxg (64) mind (1.0) maxd (1.0)
phgrid (0) gpspace (1) gpsprange (1) amprise (0) contour (0)
gpsizelo (10) gpsizehi (25) gppaklo (40) gppakhi (125) gpranglo (2) gpranghi (dx3gprhi.brk) centring (0)
texture postdecor 3 horn decorex3 ndfdec3.txt 20 1 1 1 36 64 1.0 1.0 0 1 1 0 0 10 25 40 125 2 dx3gprhi.brk 0

In Example 3, skiptime is in fact never used because the node times are spread out to fill the whole outdur, so the node sequence doesn't get a chance to repeat.

End of TEXTURE DECORATED / PREDECOR / POSTDECOR
Return to list of TEXTURE functions at top of this file
Return to Main Index for the CDP System.
Return to 'Groucho' Time-Domain Index

TEXTURE MOTIFS – A texture of fully defined motifs attached to pitches selected at random from a pitch range or from a Harmonic Field/Set
(MOTIFS: only first note of motif constrained, MOTIFSIN: all notes of motif constrained); one or more input sounds

Usage

texture motifs|motifsin mode infile [infile2 ..] outfile notedata outdur packing scatter tgrid
sndfirst sndlast mingain maxgain minpich maxpich
phgrid grpspace gpsprange amprise contour multlo multhi
[-aatten] [-pposition] [-sspread] [-rseed]
[-w] [-d] [-i]

Modes

1 On a given harmonic field
2 On changing harmonic fields
3 On a given harmonic set
4 On changing harmonic sets
5 None [not used by MOTIFSIN]

Parameters

infile – input soundfile to use as source material
infile2 ... – optional soundfile(s) to use as additional inputs
outfile – output soundfile
notedata – textfile, containing:

assumed MIDI 'pitch' of each input sound, specified on the 1^st line; a pitch value must be given for each infile (separated by a space).

In Mode 5 this is followed by a NOTELIST defining a motif, specified like this:

#N (where N is the number of pitches in the motif).

a motif specified thus: time (secs) infile_no pitch (MIDI) amp (MIDI) sustain (secs).
Different start times must be given, and they must must increase; all 0's for chords are not allowed.
This is all that is needed in Mode 5. There may be more than one motif defined in this way.

ALTERNATIVELY: In Modes 1 – 4, a harmonic field/set notelist must be defined BEFORE the motifs are listed. This is in the format:

#N (where N is the number of pitches in the notelist).

a harmonic field specified thus: time (secs) infile_no pitch (MIDI) amp (MIDI) sustain (secs).
In the harmonic set/field(s) amp and sustain are inactive fields. Also, in the harmonic field/set definition, time can be all zeros in Modes 1 and 3, whereas in Modes 2 and 4 different times are given when the field's pitch contents change at specified times.

The motif(s) themselves must now be defined, exactly as above.

In the motifs, time, amp and sustain and all active fields. Thus the motif is able to be very precisely defined.

Any number of motifs may be defined in this way, which is also true in Mode 5.

Form: MPV/M/–/– Form: MPV/HF-S/M/–

Mode 5 format Comments Modes 1-4 format Comments

60 MIDI pitch value(s) 60
MIDI pitch value(s)

#N No. of lines to follow #N No. of lines to follow

time instr pitch amp dur List of Motifs time instr pitch amp dur List of Harmonic Field/Set

#N No. of lines to follow

time instr pitch amp dur List of Motifs

outdur – minimum duration of the outfile
packing – (average) time between motif onsets
scatter – randomisation of event onsets (Range: 0 to 10)
tgrid – minimum step in milliseconds for a quantised time grid for motif start times (Default: 0)
sndfirst, sndlast – first and last soundfiles to use from a list of soundfiles for input (Range: 1 to the number of sounds)
mingain, maxgain – minimum and maximum level of input sounds (Range: 1 to 127; Default: 64 and 64)
minpich, maxpich – minimum and maximum pitch (MIDI note value)
phgrid – a timegrid in milliseconds applying WITHIN the motifs (Range: 0.0 to 1000.0)
gpspace – spatialisation of event-groups (Range: 0 to 5; Default: 1)
0 no change
1 scattered (Default)
2 motifs will move towards where the event is
3 motifs move away from where the event is
4 motifs follow the texture motion from Left to Right
5 motifs follow the texture motion from Right to Left
gpsprange – spatial range of event-groups (Range: 0 to 1; Default: 1)
amprise – amplitude change within motifs (Range: 0 to 127; Default: 0)
contour – amplitude contour of groups (Range: 0 to 6; Default: 0)
0 mixture of the other types (Default)
1 crescendo
2 flat (no change)
3 decrescendo
4 crescendo or flat
5 crescendo or decrescendo
6 decrescendo or flat
multlo, multhi – smallest & largest multiplier of total input duration of motif
-aatten – overall attenuation of the output
-pposition – centre of sound output image (Range: 0 to 1, where 0 is Left and 1 is Right; Default: 0.5)
-sspread – spatial spread of texture events (Range: 0 to 1, where 1 is full spread)
-rseed – the same seed number will produce the same result on rerun (Default: 0, where 0 is different result each time)
-w – always play whole input sound, ignoring duration values
-d – motif notes all have the same duration as the ornamented note
-i – motifs are not confined to the instrument of the ornamented note (Default: same note)

All parameters except notedata, outdur and seed may vary over time.

Form: MPV/M/–/–	Form: MPV/HF-S/M/–
Mode 5 format	Comments	Modes 1-4 format	Comments
60	MIDI pitch value(s)	60	MIDI pitch value(s)
#N	No. of lines to follow	#N	No. of lines to follow
time instr pitch amp dur	List of Motifs	time instr pitch amp dur	List of Harmonic Field/Set
		#N	No. of lines to follow
		time instr pitch amp dur	List of Motifs

Understanding the TEXTURE MOTIFS Process

TEXTURE MOTIFS creates fully defined figures like the ornaments of TEXTURE ORNATE, but does not attach them to a user-defined Nodal Substructure. It attaches them either to pitches randomly selected from a pitch range, or from the pitches defined in a Harmonic Field/Set, again making a random selection of which pitches to use. There are interesting and useful differences between Mode 5 and Modes 1-4 and between MOTIFS and MOTIFSIN.

The note data file

In Mode 5 there is no Harmonic Field/Set, and so the first section of the note data file is used for the motif itself, in which all fields are active. There can be more than one motif by adding another #N and the motif note events. The pitches for each note event are selected at random from the range defined by minpich - maxpich (the pitch range parameters).

In the other Modes, the Harmonic Field/Set comes first, followed by the motif(s). In the Harmonic Field/Set, the time field uses zeros for Modes 1 and 3 (the motif, with its own internal timing, repeats after skiptime seconds, and the pitches are selected at random from the field). Changing times (ascending) are used for Modes 2 and 4 (only the pitches given for a certain time will be used during that time period – Example 4 illustrates this).

The difference in how the motif notes are attached by MOTIFS and MOTIFSIN

MOTIFS – Only the first note of the motif is 'forced onto the harmonic Field/Set'. This means that only the first note of the motif need be specified in the field – all the other notes of the motif are accurately transposed to follow on from there. You hear the first note of the motifs moving about in the field, and the rest of the motif flowing nicely from it, with nothing missed out. This feature can be musically useful when intense repetitions of a (whole) motif are desired. This was not the case with DECORATED or ORNATE, where the Harmonic Field/Set had to contain all the notes which might be used when the decoration or ornament was transposed.

MOTIFSIN – In this case, all the notes of the motif are 'forced' onto the field (MOTIFSIN does not have a Mode 5). The result of this is that all the other notes in the motif will come from the field. The software is very clever about this, and nothing is left out when a transposed motif calls for a pitch which isn't in the field – but the motif is altered in the process. What happens is that there are transpositions and repetitions of the motif pitches in order to recast the motif to use exclusively the pitches of the field. This muddles the shape of the motif quite a bit, which can be musically useful when you want to develop a texture using a motif which transforms in unpredictable ways.

Musical Applications

All the examples for TEXTURE MOTIFS can be made by running motifexs.bat from the DOS prompt. The soundfiles produced can be deleted with motifdel.bat.

EXAMPLE 1

Our first example illustrates Mode 5 by playing a defined motif on pitches randomly selected from a pitch range. There is therefore no Harmonic Field/Set, so the note data file ndfmot1.txt gets straight to the definition of the motif itself:
	60
	#10			(10-event motif)
	0.0 1 60 70 0.3
	0.1 1 61 50 0.3
	0.2 1 66 50 0.3
	0.3 1 67 50 0.3
	0.4 1 66 70 0.3
	0.5 1 67 60 0.3
	0.6 1 70 60 0.3
	0.7 1 66 60 0.3
	0.8 1 72 80 0.3
	0.9 1 66 50 0.3
	
MOTIFS Example 1 (Preset/Patch motif1/motifex1):
... outdur (12) packing (1) scatter (0) tgrid (0)
snd1st (1) sndlast (1) ming (30) maxg (90)
minp (48) maxp (84) phgrid (0) grpspace (1) gpsprange (1)
amprise (0) contour (0) multlo (1) multhi (1)
[-aatten -pposition -sspread -rseed -w -d -i]
texture motifs 5 marimba motifex1 ndfmot1.txt 12 1 0 0 1 1 30 90 48 84 0 1 1 0 0 1 1
What we hear is the defined motif repeating every second, beginning on different pitches selected from the pitch range 48 to 84 (3 octaves). By using the seed option, you can produce different but reproduceable outputs each time, if you want to explore different random selections from the pitch range. You can add more motifs in the note data file, and the program will select among them as it builds the output soundfile.

EXAMPLES 2a/b/c

These three examples make use of Mode 3. The note data file ndfmot2.txt starts by defining a Harmonic Field/Set and then defines a quick-note motif which lasts for 1 second. Skiptime is set to 1 second, so the repeats (at different transpositions) follow on without a break.
	60
	#9			(Harmonic Field/Set)
	0.0 1 60 0 0
	0.0 1 61 0 0
	0.0 1 63 0 0
	0.0 1 64 0 0
	0.0 1 66 0 0
	0.0 1 67 0 0
	0.0 1 68 0 0
	0.0 1 70 0 0
	0.0 1 72 0 0
	#10			(10-event motif)
	0.0 1 60 70 0.3
	0.1 1 61 50 0.3
	0.2 1 66 50 0.3
	0.3 1 67 50 0.3
	0.4 1 66 50 0.3
	0.5 1 67 70 0.3
	0.6 1 70 50 0.3
	0.7 1 66 50 0.3
	0.8 1 72 80 0.3
	0.9 1 66 60 0.3
	
MOTIFS Examples 2a/b/c (Preset/Patch motif2a, b, &c /motifex2a, b, &c – 2b uses MOTIFSIN: harmonic):
... outdur (12) packing (1) scatter (0) tgrid (0)
snd1st (1) sndlast (1) ming (30) maxg (90)
minp (48) maxp (84) phgrid (0) grpspace (1) gpsprange (1)
amprise (0) contour (0) multlo (0.5) multhi (2)
[-aatten -pposition -sspread -rseed -w -d -i]
texture motifs 3 marimba motifex2a ndfmot2.txt 12 1 0 0 1 1 30 90 48 84 0 1 1 0 0 0.5 2 texture motifsin 3 marimba motifex2b ndfmot2.txt 12 1 0 0 1 1 30 90 48 84 0 1 1 0 0 0.5 2 texture motifs 3 marimba motifex2c ndfmot2.txt 12 0.25 0 0 1 1 30 90 48 84 0 1 1 0 0 0.5 2
What we hear:

We hear a defined motif play, at varying tempos, on a random selection from the notes of a defined harmonic set. The first note of the motif is taken (at random) from the field, and (all) the rest of the motif follows on as is expected (i.e., transposed).

The 'b' version uses MOTIFSIN with the same parameters, and we hear the motif being warped as it is recast to use only the pitches of the defined harmonic set. Some pitches may be omitted or repeated as a result of the warping. Note how this differs from the use of Mode 3 in MOTIFS.

The 'c' version creates overlaps with a skiptime of 0.25.

Further work done in 2001 sheds a little more light on the above examples. It is important to realise that in both the 'a' and the 'b' versions, the start note is drawn at random from the harmonic field or set: that is, the motifs will repeat with transpositions. If there are overlaps, the motif and field/set need to be coordinated so that desired results are obtained.

I was seeking to have the motif repeat, always beginning on the same pitch, the pitch defined as the start-pitch of the motif itself, with or without overlaps. This can be done, I found, by defining the harmonic set, defining the motif with pitch and velocity (important to bring out rhythmic groups), and then giving the start pitch of the motif as both the lower and upper pitch range values. I expected it to play the motif by repeating only one pitch, but in fact all the pitches of the motif are used.

TMOTIFS Preset Examples 2a and 2b appear to be doing this (starting on the same pitch), but this is not in fact happening. It appears to be happening because both the harmonic set and the motif are constructed with intervals of a minor-3^rd, so it all harmonises no matter which start pitch of the harmonic set is used. One must use the same technique described above (both low and high pitch range = the start pitch of the motif) for the motif to repeat starting each time on the same pitch. A motif structured with different intervals would reveal this. (AE)

EXAMPLES 3a/b/c

We now introduce two inputs (marimba & horn) and two motifs. The second motif uses longer note values than the first. The marimba is slightly lower than the horn in pitch, so we lower its reference MIDI note value to 59. The note data file ndfmot3.txt below defines the Harmonic Field/Set first, and then the two motifs. Again the times in the field are all zero for use with Mode 3 and skiptime determines the time between repetitions of the motif.
	59 60
	#9			(Harmonic Field/Set)
	0.0 1 60 0 0
	0.0 1 61 0 0
	0.0 1 63 0 0
	0.0 1 64 0 0
	0.0 1 66 0 0
	0.0 1 67 0 0
	0.0 1 68 0 0
	0.0 1 70 0 0
	0.0 1 72 0 0
	#10			(motif 1)
	0.0 1 60 70 0.3
	0.1 1 61 50 0.3
	0.2 1 66 50 0.3
	0.3 1 67 50 0.3
	0.4 1 66 50 0.3
	0.5 1 67 70 0.3
	0.6 1 70 50 0.3
	0.7 1 66 50 0.3
	0.8 1 72 80 0.3
	0.9 1 66 60 0.3
	#3			(motif 2)
	0.0  1 60 40 1.5 
	0.34 1 67 45 1.5 
	0.67 1 72 50 1.5 
	
MOTIFS Examples 3a/b/c (Preset/Patch motif3a, b, &c /motifex3a, b, &c)
... outdur (12) packing (1) scatter (0) tgrid (0)
snd1st (1) sndlast (1) ming (30) maxg (90)
minp (48) maxp (84) phgrid (0) grpspace (1) gpsprange (1)
amprise (0) contour (0) multlo (0.5) multhi (2)
[-aatten -pposition -sspread -rseed -w -d -i]
texture motifs 3 marimba horn motifex3a ndfmot3.txt 12 1.0 0 0 1 2 30 90 48 84 0 1 1 0 0 0.5 2 texture motifs 3 marimba horn motifex3b ndfmot3.txt 12 0.5 0 0 1 2 30 90 48 84 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 texture motifs 1 marimba horn motifex3c ndfmot3.txt 12 0.5 0 0 1 2 30 90 48 84 0 1 1 0 0 1 1
We hear:

Our 'a' version plays the two motifs in varying orders and tempos, with the instrument playing each motif selected at random. The duration field of the second motif specifies 1.5 sec., which doesn't have any audible effect on the marimba sound, but when the horn plays, the sound continues. overlapping the entry of the next motif, even though each motif starts regularly at the start of each second (skiptime) is one, and each motif is 1 second long.

The 'b' version takes away the tempo change (multlo and multhi are restored to 1) and introduces a 1/2 sec overlap. We begin to hear a bit of counterpoint as the two different rhythms overlap each other, sometimes with the same and sometimes with different instruments.

The 'c' version repeats the previous command with Mode 1, which opens up different octaves, further enriching the texture in a way which seems to allow more motivic repetitions.

EXAMPLE 4

The final example for MOTIFS calls upon Mode 4 to illustrate how the start pitches of the motifs can be controlled by timing information in the Harmonic Field/Set. Only C-60 is allowed for the first two seconds, then only pitches C-61 and C-62 can be used (to attach the motifs to) during the next two seconds, etc. Ndfmot4.txt contains these alteraions. The tempo is increased (0.75) and a little overlap put in (skiptime = 0.5) to allow more entries/repetitions of the motifs within each time period.
	59 60
	#9			(Harmonic Field/Set – changing times) 
	0.0 1 60 0 0
	2.0 1 61 0 0
	2.0 1 63 0 0
	4.0 1 64 0 0
	4.0 1 66 0 0
	4.0 1 67 0 0
	6.0 1 68 0 0
	6.0 1 70 0 0
	6.0 1 72 0 0
	#10			(motif 1)
	0.0 1 60 70 0.3
	0.1 1 61 50 0.3
	0.2 1 66 50 0.3
	0.3 1 67 50 0.3
	0.4 1 66 50 0.3
	0.5 1 67 70 0.3
	0.6 1 70 50 0.3
	0.7 1 66 50 0.3
	0.8 1 72 80 0.3
	0.9 1 66 60 0.3
	#3			(motif 2)
	0.0  1 60 40 1.5
	0.34 1 67 45 1.5
	0.67 1 72 50 1.5
	
MOTIFS Example 4 (Preset/Patch motif4/motifex4):
... outdur (12) packing (0.5) scatter (0) tgrid (0)
snd1st (1) sndlast (2) ming (30) maxg (90)
minp (48) maxp (84) phgrid (0) grpspace (1) gpsprange (1)
amprise (0) contour (0) multlo (0.75) multhi (0.75)
[-aatten -pposition -sspread -rseed -w -d -i]
texture motifs 4 marimba horn motifex4 ndfmot4.txt 12 0.5 0 0 1 2 30 90 60 72 0 1 1 0 0 0.75 0.75
We hear a fast moving texture of motifs with a lot of repetition on the same or nearby pitches, the whole texture moving upwards in pitch every two seconds. This provides a mechanism for designing overall pitch movement in a motif-based texture.

End of TEXTURE MOTIFS / MOTIFSIN
Return to list of TEXTURE functions at top of this file
Return to Main Index for the CDP System.
Return to 'Groucho' Time-Domain Index

TEXTURE ORNATE|PREORNATE|POSTORNATE – A texture of events with fully user-specified ornaments placed on a 'line', optionally with pitches restricted to a Harmonic Field/Set; one or more input sounds

Usage

texture ornate|preornate|postornate mode infile [infile2 ..] outfile notedata outdur skiptime
sndfirst sndlast mingain maxgain mindur maxdur
phgrid grpspace gpsprange amprise contour
multlo, multhi
[-aatten] [-pposition] [-sspread] [-rseed]
[-w] [-d] [-i] [-h] [-e]

Modes

1 On a given harmonic field
2 On changing harmonic fields
3 On a given harmonic set
4 On changing harmonic sets
5 None

Parameters

infile – input soundfile to use as source material
infile2 ... – optional soundfile(s) to use as additional inputs
outfile – output soundfile
notedata – textfile, containing:

assumed MIDI 'pitch' of each input sound, specified on the 1^st line; a pitch value must be given for each infile (separated by a space).

followed by a 'line' substructure NOTELIST, specified thus:

#N (where N is the number of pitches in the notelist).

In all Modes, this is followed by N lines to define the nodal substructure on which the ornaments will be placed. These are in the format time (secs) infile_no pitch (MIDI) amp (MIDI) dur (secs). Amp and dur are inactive fields in TEXTURE ORNATE in the node substructure section.

different start times must be given, and they must must increase; all 0's for chords are not allowed.

In Modes 1–4 this is followed by N lines to define the harmonic field/set in the format:
time (secs) infile_no pitch (MIDI) amp (MIDI) dur (secs). Starttime, Amp and dur are inactive fields in TEXTURE ORNATE in the harmonic field/set section. This section is omitted for Mode 5.

Now the ornament itself must be defined. Again, this is in the form time (secs) infile_no pitch (MIDI) amp (MIDI) dur (secs) – in which time, amp and dur and all active fields. Thus the ornament is able to be very precisely defined.

Form: MPV/NS/O/– Form: MPV/NS/HF-S/O

Mode 5 format Comments Modes 1-4 format Comments

60 MIDI pitch value(s) 60
MIDI pitch value(s)

#N No. of lines to follow #N No. of lines to follow

time instr pitch amp dur List of 'line' (Nodal Substructure) time instr pitch amp dur List of 'line' (Nodal Substructure)

#N No. of lines to follow #N No. of lines to follow

time instr pitch amp dur List of Ornaments time instr pitch amp dur List of Harmonic Field/Set

#N No. of lines to follow

time instr pitch amp dur List of Ornaments

outdur – minimum duration of the outfile
skiptime – time between repeats of motif-to-ornament in notedata, i.e., between runs of the 'line' substructure notelist
sndfirst, sndlast – first and last soundfiles to use from a list of soundfiles for input (Range: 1 to the number of sounds)
mingain, maxgain – minimum and maximum level of input sounds (Range: 1 to 127; Default: 64 and 64)
mindur, maxdur – minimum and maximum duration of events in texture
phgrid – a timegrid in milliseconds applying WITHIN the ornaments (Range: 0.0 to 1000.0)
gpspace – spatialisation of event-groups (Range: 0 to 5; Default: 1)
0 no change
1 scattered (Default)
2 ornaments will move towards where the event is
3 ornaments move away from where the event is
4 ornaments follow the texture motion from Left to Right
5 ornaments follow the texture motion from Right to Left
gpsprange – spatial range of event-groups (Range: 0 to 1; Default: 1)
amprise – amplitude change within ornaments (Range: 0 to 127; Default: 0)
contour – amplitude contour of groups (Range: 0 to 6; Default: 0)
0 mixture of the other types (Default)
1 crescendo
2 flat (no change)
3 decrescendo
4 crescendo or flat
5 crescendo or decrescendo
6 decrescendo or flat
multlo, multhi – smallest & largest multiplier of total input duration of motif
-aatten – overall attenuation of the output
-pposition – centre of sound output image (Range: 0 to 1, where 0 is Left and 1 is Right; Default: 0.5)
-sspread – spatial spread of texture events (Range: 0 to 1, where 1 is full spread)
-rseed – the same seed number will produce the same result on rerun (Default: 0, where 0 is different result each time)
-w – always play whole input sound, ignoring duration values
-d – ornament notes all have the same duration as the ornamented note
-i – ornaments are not confined to the instrument of the ornamented note (Default: same note)
-h – ornaments on highest note of any chord (Default: on first note listed)
-e – ornaments on all the notes of any chord

All parameters except notedata, outdur, skiptime and seed may vary over time.

Form: MPV/NS/O/–	Form: MPV/NS/HF-S/O
Mode 5 format	Comments	Modes 1-4 format	Comments
60	MIDI pitch value(s)	60	MIDI pitch value(s)
#N	No. of lines to follow	#N	No. of lines to follow
time instr pitch amp dur	List of 'line' (Nodal Substructure)	time instr pitch amp dur	List of 'line' (Nodal Substructure)
#N	No. of lines to follow	#N	No. of lines to follow
time instr pitch amp dur	List of Ornaments	time instr pitch amp dur	List of Harmonic Field/Set
		#N	No. of lines to follow
		time instr pitch amp dur	List of Ornaments

Understanding the TEXTURE ORNATE Process

The salient feature in TEXTURE ORNATE is that an ornament is attached to an underlying substructure node. The ornament is a precisely defined musical figure: the start time, amplitude and duration fields in the ornament definition part of the note data file are all active. Individual ornament note durations may be longer than the time until the next ornament note start time, which makes fades and legato effects possible. Amplitude values will be important to shape the ornament rhythmically in an audible way.

All the examples for TEXTURE ORNATE can be made by running ornatexs.bat from the DOS prompt. The soundfiles produced can be deleted with ornatdel.bat.

MODE 5

The ornament has specified start times, amplitude and durations for each of its notes. A 'turn' (upper and lower neighbors around a centre) could look like this, a quintuplet over the time of a crotchet:
	#5
	0.0 1 60 84 0.3
	0.2 1 62 64 0.3
	0.4 1 60 68 0.3
	0.5 1 58 72 0.3
	0.8 1 60 76 0.3
	
In Mode 5 this is all that is needed. This ornament will be automatically transposed in both time and pitch so that it begins on each of the nodes of the substructure melody line defined in the first part of the note data file. Because no harmonic field is defined, the full chromatic set is used by default. Thus the complete file ndforn1.txt could look like this:
	60
	#4			(node substructure)
	0.0 1 60 0 0
	2.0 1 67 0 0
	4.0 1 65 0 0
	6.0 1 62 0 0
	#5			(ornament definition)
	0.0 1 60 84 0.3
	0.2 1 62 64 0.3
	0.4 1 60 68 0.3
	0.5 1 58 72 0.3
	0.8 1 60 76 0.3
	
ORNATE Example 1 (Preset/Patch ornate1/ornatex1):
... minoutdur (12) skiptime (2)
sndf (1) sndl (2) ming (30) maxg (90) mind (1.0) maxd (1.0)
phgrid (0) gpspace (1) gpsprange (1) amprise (0) contour (0)
multlo (1) multhi (1)
texture postornate 5 marimba ornatex1 ndforn1.txt 12 2 1 1 30 90 1.0 1.0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1

The tempo and time-relationship between repeats of the ornament offers many possibilities. In the above file, the ornament lasts 1 second, and there are 2 seconds between substructure nodes. Thus there will be gap of 1 second before the next ornamented node. The speed (tempo) of the ornaments can be altered with multlo/hi: 1 is no change (e.g., crotchet/quarter-note = 60), 0.5 doubles the speed (e.g., crotchet/quarter-note = 120) etc. However, this does not change the time between the ornaments.

Although you can enter ornament timings with any values, I (AE) find it useful to use 1 second (crotchet/quarter-note = 60) as a reference. Then standard values for durations, such as 0.5 for ½ sec (quaver/ eighth-note), can be used, maintaining a conventional musical understanding of beats. This is normally how it is done in Csound, for example, with a tempo control to alter the actual rate of flow. And here in TEXTURE, the formula to calculate a tempo ratio (multiplier) for the ornaments will be 60 divided by the desired tempo. E.g.,

60/72 = 5/6 = 0.833

60/120 = 1/2 = 0.5

60/90 = 2/3 = 0.667

60/84 = 5/7 = 0.714

60/76 = 15/19 = 0.789

etc.

Skiptime is the time between runs of the whole node substructure. It begins at the start time of the last substructure node. For no overlap, the rule of thumb is:
'the last ornament start time plus the length of time after this until the next ornament is to begin'.
The actual duration of this note (in the duration field of the note data file) may be longer/shorter than this to achieve a legato/staccato effect.

In the above example the total ornament time would be 0.8 + 0.2 to make 1 full second so that it will stay 'on the beat'. Thus, for the whole sequence to repeat seamlessly without a break (or an overlap), skiptime would be 1, 1 being the full time we want for the ornament. You can specify any outdur, so the sequence repeats until outdur is reached. Skiptimes less than 1 will, therefore, cause overlaps. We shall explore this in greater detail in Example 3 below.

Modes 1 to 4

You therefore have a great deal of control over the design of your ornaments. In these Modes, you can define a harmonic field or set so that only these pitches will be used. Note that you have to take care that all the pitches are available to enable the ornament to transpose to all nodes. If you hear any missing or incorrectly repeated ornament notes, the cause is usually a pitch missing in the harmonic field/set. The transposition within the program is done by simple addition, not by indexing, which accounts for this restriction.

It is possible to have more than one ornament. These are defined in the same way (starting with the #N separator). The start time of each ornament in the note data file will be zero. They are then attached to nodes at the times when the nodes are set to begin. The program will select from the list of ornaments in random order. If you want this random order to vary on different runs of the program, but be reproduceable, use the seed flag [-r] with specific values greater than 1.

More than one input sound file may be used. Provide a MIDI pitch for each of them in the note data file and adjust last snd-in-list to use accordingly. You can, in all the Texture programs, make the value of the first- and last-sound-to-use vary over time (using a breakpoint file) so you can sweep through a list of input sound files as the texture progresses. Different ornaments will use different sounds. If you specify the Scatter decor instrs flag [-i], the various notes within an ornament will randomly use different sounds. (Specifying specific instruments for specific ornament notes in the note data file has no effect, and specifying instruments for substructure nodes badly confuses the program, although it doesn't complain).

Remember that it will often be very important to shape the ornament with the amplitude field. The notes will just run on together without any aural definition unless accents, crescendos and decrescendos are introduced.

Musical Applications

We shall present three examples here, all of which use Mode 3 so that the full note data file is used (all three sections).

ORNATE Example 2

ORNATE Example 2 defines a harmonic set which enables a little figure to be accurately transposed onto two substructure nodes: C-60 and G-67. The note data file is ndforn2.txt as follows:
	60 59
	#2			(the nodal substructure)
	0.0 1 60 0 0
	2.0 1 67 0 0
	#8			(the harmonic set definition)
	0.0 1 60 0 0
	0.0 1 62 0 0
	0.0 1 63 0 0
	0.0 1 65 0 0
	0.0 1 67 0 0
	0.0 1 69 0 0
	0.0 1 70 0 0
	0.0 1 72 0 0
	#8			(the ornament definition)
	0.0    1 60 30 0.5
	0.25   1 62 30 0.5
	0.5    1 63 30 0.5
	0.8333 1 62 30 0.5
	1.0    1 63 30 0.5
	1.25   1 65 30 0.5
	1.5    1 63 30 0.5
	1.75   1 62 30 0.5
	
Two input soundfiles are used.

ORNATE Example 2 (Preset/Patch ornate2/ornatex2):
... minoutdur (12) skiptime (2)
sndf (1) sndl (2) ming (30) maxg (90) mind (1.0) maxd (1.0)
phgrid (0) gpspace (1) gpsprange (1) amprise (0) contour (0)
multlo (1) multhi (1)
texture postornate 3 marimba horn ornatex2 ndforn2.txt 12 2 1 2 30 90 1.0 1.0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1
What we hear is a series of repetitions of the same ornament, placed alternately on the C and the G nodes. Sometimes the whole ornament is played by the horn and sometimes by the marimba – a random selection of the instrument is being made, but once made, it plays the whole ornament. Were we to use the -i flag, this random selection of instrument would be made for each note of the ornament, an altogether different result not unlike a Medieval hocket. If instr_no is specified for the various ornament notes, this has no effect on these results, with or without the -i flag.

The actual pitch level of the ornaments could be inaccurate if the two source sounds were actually at different pitches and the same MIDI pitches in the note data file were given for each of them. If accuracy is important, you might be able to adjust one of the the MIDI pitch values given in the note data file (remember, you don't have to use whole numbers), or you could retune one of the source sounds.

We should also observe that the various repetitions follow on at regular intervals. The nodes are spaced at two seconds, the ornament takes 2 seconds, and skiptime is set at two seconds, which relates to the period between runs of the whole sequence of the nodal substructure. If we made skiptime 3 seconds, we would hear two ornaments, one on C and one on G, and then a pause of 1 second. Why 1 second? This is important: because the skiptime begins at the start time of the last node of the substructure. The ornament lasts 2 seconds, so there will be one more second of silence before the sequence repeats.

ORNATE Example 3

This example creates several different ornaments and attaches them to a stepwise rising nodal substructure. Again, the ornaments are selected in random order. Again, the harmonic set definition has to have all the notes it needs to play all the ornaments transposed to each of the nodes. This implies a compositional task to consider how to create ornaments which will follow one another in the manner you wish when they occur in various orders at various transposition levels.

The now much longer note data file ndforn3.txt is as follows:
	60
	#5			(node substructure)
	0.0  1 60 0 0
	3.0  1 62 0 0
	6.0  1 63 0 0
	9.0  1 65 0 0
	12.0 1 67 0 0
	#17			(harmonic set definition)
	0.0 1 60 0 0
	0.0 1 62 0 0
	0.0 1 63 0 0
	0.0 1 64 0 0
	0.0 1 65 0 0
	0.0 1 66 0 0
	0.0 1 67 0 0
	0.0 1 68 0 0
	0.0 1 69 0 0
	0.0 1 70 0 0
	0.0 1 71 0 0
	0.0 1 72 0 0
	0.0 1 73 0 0
	0.0 1 74 0 0
	0.0 1 75 0 0
	0.0 1 76 0 0
	0.0 1 77 0 0
	#8			(ornament 1)
	0.0    1 60 60 0.5
	0.25   1 62 55 0.5
	0.5    1 63 65 0.5
	0.8333 1 62 55 0.5
	1.0    1 63 70 0.5
	1.25   1 65 65 0.5
	1.5    1 63 60 0.5
	1.75   1 62 55 0.5
	#8			(ornament 2)
	0.0    1 60 70 0.5
	0.2    1 63 72 0.5
	0.4    1 62 74 0.5
	0.6    1 65 76 0.5
	0.8    1 63 78 0.5
	1.0    1 66 90 0.5
	1.5    1 67 85 0.5
	1.75   1 66 85 0.5
	#6			(ornament 3)
	0.0    1 60 60 0.5
	0.34   1 63 50 0.5
	0.67   1 67 50 0.5
	1.00   1 62 60 0.5
	1.25   1 62 45 0.5
	1.50   1 66 50 0.5
	#6			(ornament 4)
	0.0    1 60 50 0.5
	0.25   1 67 60 0.5
	0.75   1 60 40 0.5
	1.00   1 65 70 0.5
	1.50   1 65 70 0.5
	1.75   1 62 65 0.5
	#14			(ornament 5)
	0.0   1 60 40 0.5
	0.125 1 62 45 0.5
	0.25  1 63 50 0.5
	0.375 1 65 55 0.5
	0.5   1 67 60 0.5
	0.625 1 65 55 0.5
	0.75  1 63 50 0.5
	0.875 1 62 45 0.5
	1.0   1 63 70 0.5
	1.17  1 65 65 0.5
	1.33  1 67 70 0.5
	1.5   1 65 65 0.5
	1.66  1 63 70 0.5
	1.83  1 62 70 0.5
	
To help read it and write out the ornaments in musical notation, here's a quick review of key duration values (and Note Chart lists MIDI note vales):

1.0 = 1 crotchet (quarter note)

0.75 = a dotted quaver (dotted eighth note)

0.5 = 1 quaver (eighth note)

0.25 = 1 semiquaver (16^th note)

0.125 = 1 demisemiquaver (32^nd note)

0.33 = 1 quaver in a triplet (.33 + .33 + .34 in any order)

0.166 = 1 semiquaver in a triplet (.167 + .167 + .166 in any order)

0.66 = 1 crotchet in a triplet (.67 + .67 + .66 in any order)

Note that all the ornaments start at time zero. They take their actual start time from the node to which they become attached. Note that they are also transposed to that node. These are all the parameters in command line format:
ORNATE Example 3 (Preset/Patch ornate3/ornatex3):
... minoutdur (21) skiptime (4)
sndf (1) sndl () ming (30) maxg (90) mind (1.0) maxd (1.0)
phgrid (0) gpspace (1) gpsprange (1) amprise (0) contour (0)
multlo (0.5) multhi (1.2)
texture postornate 3 marimba ornatex3 ndforn3.txt 21 4 1 1 30 90 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0.5 1.2
What we hear is a sequence of different ornaments, probably not in the order in which the appear in they note data file. You will also notice that each ornament is at a slightly different tempo. This is because the mult parameter has been given a range from less than 1 (0.5) to greater than 1 (1.2).

ORNATE Example 4

This example plays with phasing the same ornament with precise rhythmic control, which enables us to create specific interval relationships in the overlapping figures. To do this, we design a single ornament for the purpose, in this case a rising and falling scale. This is note data file ndforn4.txt with one node, a harmonic set and the scale ornament:
	60
	#1			(single node)
	0.0  1 60 0 0
	#8			(scale as harmonic set)
	0.0  1 60 0 0
	0.0  1 62 0 0
	0.0  1 63 0 0
	0.0  1 65 0 0
	0.0  1 67 0 0
	0.0  1 69 0 0
	0.0  1 70 0 0
	0.0  1 72 0 0
	#16			(ornament:  rising and falling scale)
	0.0  1 60 50 0.3
	0.25 1 62 55 0.3
	0.5  1 63 60 0.3
	0.75 1 65 65 0.3
	1.0  1 67 70 0.3
	1.25 1 69 75 0.3
	1.5  1 70 80 0.3
	1.75 1 72 85 0.3
	2.0  1 72 85 0.3
	2.25 1 70 85 0.3
	2.5  1 69 85 0.3
	2.75 1 67 85 0.3
	3.0  1 65 85 0.3
	3.25 1 63 85 0.3
	3.5  1 62 85 0.3
	3.75 1 60 85 0.5
	
ORNATE Example 4 (Preset/Patch ornate4/ornatex4):
... minoutdur (12) skiptime (0.5)
sndf (1) sndl (1) ming (30) maxg (90) mind (1.0) maxd (1.0)
phgrid (0) gpspace (1) gpsprange (1) amprise (0) contour (0)
multlo (1) multhi (1)
texture postornate 3 marimba ornatex4 ndforn4.txt 21 0.5 1 1 30 90 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 -a0.75
What we hear is a dense texture of rising and falling scale pattern spaced at the interval of a third. The density of overlap has led to overload, so the attenuation parameter [-a] is also used. Fortunately, the program itself calculates the attenuation which may be needed and suggests a figure to the user.

There are two methods by which the overlaps can be achieved.

The most direct (as above) is to create only one node and adjust the skip time. Our ornament in this case is 4 seconds long, so a skiptime of 4 would cause regular repeats of the whole ornament on the beat without overlap or gap. When we reduce skiptime to 0.5, the ornament begins again at MIDI note 60 at the same time that the first one is playing MIDI note 63 (at 0.5 sec), thus creating the interval of a third. The original and repeated ornaments will proceed upwards in thirds. However, after another ½ second, another ornament will start, creating a whole texture of thirds out of the phased ornament. A skiptime of 0.25 will (with this ornament) produce 2^nds and 1.0 will result in 5^ths, and so it goes.

The second method involves creating more than one node, which necessarily have to be at different times. If in this case both were at MIDI note 60 and the second node began at 0.5, with skiptime set to 4.0 (full ornament duration), we will hear the ornament begin again after half a second and produce thirds. No additional ornament repeats will come in, so we will hear the second one end by itself, but the whole sequence will repeat after 4 seconds until the specified outdur is reached. There will be a slight overlap at the repeats of the whole node sequence because of the second ornament starting later. This method gives more control over density and the pitch level of each repeat.

If we want to make use of the tempo control as well (mult), we might also want to adjust skiptime to reflect the new tempo in order to preserve the same time relationships. Otherwise, the ornament(s) will play at different speeds, but the skiptime will stay the same, which will alter the timing relationship of the ornaments as the underlying node sequence repeats.

Preserving time relationships while using a time-varying tempo can be improved by multiplying the desired skiptime by the mult factor. When a tempo range is used things do seem to get out of step, but it is possible to keep things somewhat more in step when breakpoint files are used: the breakpoint times are matched in the skiptime file, and its values are multiplied by the corresponding mult factor. I had hoped that the phased ornaments would keep perfectly in step while the tempo waxed and waned, but this does not appear to be happening, so there does seem to be some degree of offsetting taking place as well.

Here are some further experiments you can carry out with the timing of the ornament. The following are suggested alterations to the (command line) parameters as given for Example 3 in ornexs.bat with the note data file ndforn4.txt as above.
time-varying skiptime – oex3skip.brk
	0	4
	12	0.5
	
sets a skiptime of 4 at time 0 and 0.5 (creates the 3^rds) at time 12. We hear a full run of the ornament by itself; the ornament begins again, and then the first few notes of the next run come in a little before the end of the first, and subsequent repeats move the overlap forward until the 0.5 time mark is reached.
time-varying tempo: accel – both the low and high tempo parameters use the same breakpoint data: oex3mulo/hi.brk:
	0	1
	12	0.5
	
Thus we have 1 (no change) at time zero and 0.5 (twice as fast) at time 12; skiptime is reset to 4 as above. We hear a gradual speedup during the course of the output soundfile as the ornaments repeat (without overlap).
time-varying tempo: Accel/decel – Similarly, moving from 1 at time 0 to 0.5 at time 6 and back to 1 and time 12 will result in an accel/decel over the course of the output soundfile: revised oex3mulo/hi:
	0	1
	6	0.5
	12	1
	
We hear the ornaments move faster-slower, but also notice that the time between the ornaments appears to alter. This paradoxically is because the skip time is constant. What is happening is that the faster ornaments take less time and end sooner, but the next run is still set to begin after 4 seconds, so we have longer and shorter periods of silence, although the actual time between repeats is staying the same.
combining time-varying tempo with overlaps set by the skiptime: revised oex3skip.brk:
	0	4
	6	0.5
	12	4
	
Now we hear the ornaments overlap in a complex way (notes are not in sync) as the time-varying skiptime gradually moves the overlap forward from 4 seconds and back again.
skip times adjusted by tempo ratio – To get a better (not not perfect) preservation of ornament overlap relationships while changing tempo, we multiply the skip time values by the tempo factors. Let's see what happens when we do this with the two previous experiments:
	[oex3skip.brk * oex3mulo/hi = new skiptime]
	0   4    *   1     =	4
	6   0.5  *   0.5   =	0.25
	12  4    *   1     =	4
	
Now the skiptime is reduced more in step with the tempo. We hear not a perfect synchronisation, but considerably closer temporal relationships than before.
sustained tones within ornaments – Try using the horn.mp3 source and adding a 2 second C-60 at the start (bottom) of the scale and a 2 second C-72 at the top. This introduces a contrapuntal dimension which further illustrates potential applications, esp. within the context of music based on harmonic fields.

mixed rhythms – Ornaments with more varied rhythmic contents open up the possibility of a more strongly shaped gestural and motivic music.

End of TEXTURE ORNATE / PREORNATE / POSTORNATE
Return to list of TEXTURE functions at top of this file
Return to Main Index for the CDP System.
Return to 'Groucho' Time-Domain Index

TEXTURE TIMED – A texture with events constrained to a rhythmic template and pitches selected at random from a pitch range or a Harmonic Field/Set; one or more input sounds

Usage

texture timed mode infile [infile2...] outfile notedata outdur skiptime
sndfirst sndlast mingain maxgain mindur maxdur minpich maxpich
[-aatten] [-pposition] [-sspread] [-rseed] [-w]

Modes

1 On a given harmonic field
2 On changing harmonic fields
3 On a given harmonic set
4 On changing harmonic sets
5 None

Parameters

infile – input soundfile to use as source material
infile2 ... – optional soundfile(s) to use as additional inputs
outfile – output soundfile
notedata – textfile, containing:

assumed MIDI 'pitch' of each input sound, specified on the 1^st line

followed by a times NOTELIST, specified thus:

#N (where N is the number of events in the notelist).

This is followed by N lines to define a rhythmic template in the format:
time (secs) infile_no pitch (MIDI) amp (MIDI) dur (secs) NB: Only the times of the motif are active, although pitch and loudness must also be specified (arbitrary values are OK); durations may be 0.

the specified times within the motif must increase

followed (optionally) by another notelist to specify a harmonic field or set (not used in Mode 5).

these begin with #N (where N is the number of events in the notelist). This also acts as a 'separator', enabling the program to know where the timed motif ends and the harmonic field or set begins.

in the list of note events, all start times will be zero for a given harmonic field or set (Modes 1 and 3).

for Modes 2 and 4 give later start times for the changing harmonic field(s) or set(s).

Form: MPV/T/–/– Form: MPV/T/HF-S/–

Mode 5 format Comments Modes 1-4 format Comments

60 MIDI pitch value(s) 60
MIDI pitch value(s)

#N No. of lines to follow #N No. of lines to follow

time instr pitch amp dur List of times time instr pitch amp dur List of times

#N No. of lines to follow

time instr pitch amp dur List of Harmonic Field/Set

outdur – minimum duration of the outfile
skiptime – time between repetitions of timing motif in the note data file (from the end of one motif to the beginning of the next; NB: cannot produce overlaps with values shorter than the motif itself)
sndfirst, sndlast – first and last soundfiles to use from a list of soundfiles for input (Range: 1 to the number of sounds)
mingain, maxgain – minimum and maximum level of input sounds (Range: 1 to 127; Default: 64 and 64)
mindur, maxdur – minimum and maximum duration of events in texture
minpich, maxpich – minimum and maximum pitch (MIDI note value)
-aatten – overall attenuation of the output
-pposition – centre of sound output image (Range: 0 to 1, where 0 is Left and 1 is Right; Default: 0.5)
-sspread – spatial spread of texture events (Range: 0 to 1, where 1 is full spread)
-rseed – the same seed number will produce the same result on rerun (Default: 0, where 0 is different result each time)
-w – always play whole input sound, ignoring duration values

All parameters except notedata, outdur, skiptime and seed may vary over time.

Form: MPV/T/–/–	Form: MPV/T/HF-S/–
Mode 5 format	Comments	Modes 1-4 format	Comments
60	MIDI pitch value(s)	60	MIDI pitch value(s)
#N	No. of lines to follow	#N	No. of lines to follow
time instr pitch amp dur	List of times	time instr pitch amp dur	List of times
		#N	No. of lines to follow
		time instr pitch amp dur	List of Harmonic Field/Set

Understanding the TEXTURE TIMED Process

TEXTURE TIMED repeats a series of notes in random order but locked into a defined rhythmic template.
All the examples for TEXTURE TIMED can be made by running timedexs.bat from the DOS prompt. The soundfiles produced can be deleted with timeddel.bat.

The key to this process lies in realising that the first part of the note data file consists of note events in which only the onset timing is relevant (the other three fields need something in them, however, 1 for the instr_no and usually zeros for the other fields). You are therefore specifying a rhythmic template which can be filled with any sequence of pitches.

This template will draw upon the parameter pitch range in random fashion in Mode 5. For example, ndftim1.txt contains only:
	60
	#6		(rhythmic template definition)
	0.00 1 0 0 0
	0.34 1 0 0 0
	0.67 1 0 0 0
	1.00 1 0 0 0
	1.50 1 0 0 0
	1.75 1 0 0 0
	
TIMED Example 1 (Preset/Patch timed1/timedex1):
sndfirst (1) sndlast (1) mingain (24) maxgain (84)
mindur (0.2) maxdur (1.0) minpich (48) maxpich (84)
texture timed 5 marimba timedex1 ndftim1.txt 12 2.0 1 1 24 84 0.2 1.0 48 84

We hear the wide pitch range from which the notes for the rhythmic motif are selected. We also notice that skiptime is different. Here skiptime is the time between statements of the rhythmic motif/template. Thus we hear a long gap of two seconds between repeats because skiptime = 2.0 sec. Thus skiptime in TEXTURE TIMED begins after the end of the motif.

This is not like the skiptime in TEXTURE ORNAMENT, where skiptime is the time between repeats of the whole Nodal Substructure. Skiptime begins at the start time of the last Node. Thus, in TEXTURE ORNAMENT a 2 second ornament with a 2 second skiptime leads to a repeat without a gap. Also, where a skiptime less than the ornament duration results in overlaps. Here in TEXTURE TIMED the skiptime is the time between repetitions of the whole rhythmic template definition and there is no mechanism for creating overlapping rhythmic motifs (times less than 0 are not allowed).

In Modes 1-4, the notes are randomly selected from only the pitches in a specified Harmonic Field/Set. In the latter case, you need an additional notelist in the note data file. The following example (ndftim2.txt) makes clear how to do this (note the absence of pitch data in the list of times, and the identical (0.0) start times in the harmonic field/set note list):
	60
	#5		(rhythmic template definition)
	0.00 1 0 0 0
	0.25 1 0 0 0
	0.75 1 0 0 0
	1.00 1 0 0 0
	1.50 1 0 0 0
	#6		(harmonic field/set definition)
	0.0 1 60 0 0	(omitted in Mode 5)
	0.0 1 62 0 0
	0.0 1 65 0 0
	0.0 1 67 0 0
	0.0 1 70 0 0
	0.0 1 72 0 0
	
The above note data file is run with the following set of parameters, using Mode 3.
TIMED Example 2 (Preset/Patch timed2/timedex2):
... outdur (12) skiptime (2.0)
sndfirst (1) sndlast (1) mingain (24) maxgain (84)
mindur (0.2) maxdur (1.0) minpich (48) maxpich (84)
texture timed 3 marimba timedex2 ndftim2.txt 12 2.0 1 1 24 84 0.2 1.0 48 84

EXAMPLE 3 - quick note gestures on a harmonic grid. The 'b' example uses Mode 1 to open the texture out to other octaves.
ndftim3.txt
	60
	#17		(rhythmic template)
	0.00 1 0 0 0
	0.05 1 0 0 0
	0.10 1 0 0 0
	0.15 1 0 0 0
	0.20 1 0 0 0
	0.25 1 0 0 0
	0.30 1 0 0 0
	0.35 1 0 0 0
	0.40 1 0 0 0
	0.45 1 0 0 0
	0.50 1 0 0 0
	1.00 1 0 0 0
	1.50 1 0 0 0
	1.60 1 0 0 0
	1.70 1 0 0 0
	1.80 1 0 0 0
	1.90 1 0 0 0
	#5		(Harmonic Field/Set)
	0.0 1 48 0 0
	0.0 1 50 0 0
	0.0 1 53 0 0
	0.0 1 55 0 0
	0.0 1 58 0 0
	
TIMED Example 3a/b (Preset/Patch timed3a, &b/timedex3a, &b):
... outdur (12) skiptime (0.1)
sndfirst (1) sndlast (1) mingain (40) maxgain (80)
mindur (0.4) maxdur (1.0) minpich (48) maxpich (84)
texture timed 3 marimba timedex3a ndftim3.txt 12 0.1 1 1 40 80 0.4 1.0 48 84 texture timed 1 marimba timedex3b ndftim3.txt 12 0.1 1 1 40 80 0.4 1.0 48 84
We hear the rapid flows constrained to the C-D-F-G-Bb harmonic grid. In the absence of amplitude shaping, the ear inevitably begins to hear the longer notes at time 0.5 and 1.0 as the main foci, with the fast 5 .1 and faster 10 0.05 durations flowing around them. The 'b' example using Mode 1 opens out the octaves and creates a richer, warmer texture.

Musical Applications

TEXTURE TIMED requires a very specific set of note event timings, and yet makes its note selections randomly. It is therefore it is well suited to to slower and very distinctive rhythmic ideas.

The random reworking of the note selections can be a bit too obvious, however, so, to mitigate this, you might consider using longer note durations, a fairly large and sonorous harmonic field or set, and possibly several input soundfiles.

Alternatively, a vigorous texture of fast, repeated rhythms can be obtained with very closely placed timings and a skiptime equal to the length you want the note of the last rhythmic motif note event to have. Then the next motif will begin with a gap. If skiptime is near zero (min skiptime is 0.000002), there is no time allowance for the last note event of the motif, and the last note of one motif and the first of the next motif will be virtually simultaneous.

End of TEXTURE TIMED
Return to list of TEXTURE functions at top of this file
Return to Main Index for the CDP System.
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TEXTURE TGROUPED – A texture with the onsets of separate internally shaped event groups constrained to a rhythmic template, with pitches drawn from a pitch range or a Harmonic Field/Set; one or more input sounds

Usage

texture tgrouped mode infile [infile2 ..] outfile notedata outdur skip
sndfirst sndlast mingain maxgain mindur maxdur minpich maxpich
phgrid grpspace gpsprange amprise contour
gpsizelo gpsizehi gppacklo gppackhi gpranglo gpranghi
[-aatten] [-pposition] [-sspread] [-rseed]
[-w] [-d] [-i]

Modes

1 On a given harmonic field
2 On changing harmonic fields
3 On a given harmonic set
4 On changing harmonic sets
5 None

Parameters

infile – input soundfile to use as source material
infile2 ... – optional soundfile(s) to use as additional inputs
outfile – output soundfile
notedata – textfile, containing:

assumed MIDI 'pitch' of each input sound, specified on the 1^st line

followed by a times NOTELIST, specified thus:

#N (where N is the number of events in the notelist).

This is followed by N lines to define a rhythmic template in the format:
time (secs) infile_no pitch (MIDI) amp (MIDI) dur (secs) NB: Only the times in the template are active, although pitch and loudness must also be specified (arbitrary values are OK); durations may be 0.

times in the template must increase

followed (optionally) by another notelist to specify a harmonic field or set (not used in Mode 5):

these begin with #N (where N is the number of events in the notelist). This also acts as a 'separator', enabling the program to know where the time template ends and the harmonic field or set begins.

in the list of note events, all start times will be zero for a given harmonic field or set (Modes 1 and 3).

for Modes 2 and 4 give later start times for the changing harmonic field(s) or set(s).

Form: MPV/T/–/– Form: MPV/T/HF-S/–

Mode 5 format Comments Modes 1-4 format Comments

60 MIDI pitch value(s) 60
MIDI pitch value(s)

#N No. of lines to follow #N No. of lines to follow

time instr pitch amp dur List of times time instr pitch amp dur List of times

#N No. of lines to follow

time instr pitch amp dur List of Harmonic Field/Set

outdur – minimum duration of the outfile
skip – time between repeats of timing motif in notedata, i.e., between runs of the 'line' substructure notelist
sndfirst, sndlast – first and last soundfiles to use from a list of soundfiles for input (Range: 1 to the number of sounds)
mingain, maxgain – minimum and maximum level of input sounds (Range: 1 to 127; Default: 64 and 64)
mindur, maxdur – minimum and maximum duration of events in texture
minpich, maxpich – minimum and maximum pitch (MIDI note value)
phgrid – a timegrid in milliseconds applying WITHIN the groups (Range: 0.0 to 1000.0)
gpspace – spatialisation of event-groups (Range: 0 to 5; Default: 1)
0 no change
1 scattered (Default)
2 groups will move towards where the event is
3 motifs move away from where the event is
4 groups follow the texture motion from Left to Right
5 groups follow the texture motion from Right to Left
gpsprange – spatial range of event-groups (Range: 0 to 1; Default: 1)
amprise – amplitude change within groups (Range: 0 to 127; Default: 0)
contour – amplitude contour of groups (Range: 0 to 6; Default: 0)
0 mixture of the other types (Default)
1 crescendo
2 flat (no change)
3 decrescendo
4 crescendo or flat
5 crescendo or decrescendo
6 decrescendo or flat
gpsizelo, gpsizehi – smallest & largest numbers of events in the groups
gppacklo, gppackhi – shortest & longest time between event-onsets in the groups
gpranglo, gpranghi – minimum & maximum pitch range of the groups OR, for harmonic field/sets, the range of notes within the field to use
-aatten – overall attenuation of the output
-pposition – centre of sound output image (Range: 0 to 1, where 0 is Left and 1 is Right; Default: 0.5)
-sspread – spatial spread of texture events (Range: 0 to 1, where 1 is full spread)
-rseed – the same seed number will produce the same result on rerun (Default: 0, where 0 is different result each time)
-w – always play whole input sound, ignoring duration values
-d – fixed timestep between group notes
-i – each group is not each confined to a fixed instrument (Default: fixed)

All parameters except notedata, outdur, skiptime and seed may vary over time.

Form: MPV/T/–/–	Form: MPV/T/HF-S/–
Mode 5 format	Comments	Modes 1-4 format	Comments
60	MIDI pitch value(s)	60	MIDI pitch value(s)
#N	No. of lines to follow	#N	No. of lines to follow
time instr pitch amp dur	List of times	time instr pitch amp dur	List of times
		#N	No. of lines to follow
		time instr pitch amp dur	List of Harmonic Field/Set

Understanding the TEXTURE TGROUPED Process

TEXTURE TGROUPS is a natural (and wonderful) development of the rhythmic template idea in TEXTURE TIMED. In this case, the template times replace the packing parameter as the time-onsets of each group. Thus the groups can not only follow one another at regular time onsets, but these onsets can be have a defined rhythm. The groups themselves are shaped just as they are in TEXTURE GROUPED.

Once the idea is clear that the time-onsets of each group follow the rhythmic template defined in the first part of the note data file, understanding TGROUPED follows easily. We shall illustrate this by using the parameters in Mode 5 to make the rhythmic template audible, and then 'populate' it with groups.

All the examples for TEXTURE TGROUPED can be made by running tgrouexs.bat from the Console prompt. The soundfiles produced can be deleted with tgroudel.bat.

TGROUPED Example 1a

The first example sets out the rhythmic template in the note data file ndftgr1.txt, which is in fact an exact copy of ndftim1.txt used with TEXTURE TIMED. This now familiar rhythm is made completely audible by having a 'group' of only one event (gpsizelo, gpsizehi, gpranglo and gpranghi are all = 1). Here is the data:
	[ndftgr1.txt]
	60
	#5
	0.00 1 0 0 0
	0.25 1 0 0 0
	0.75 1 0 0 0
	1.00 1 0 0 0
	1.50 1 0 0 0
	
TGROUPED Example 1a (Preset/Patch tgrouped1a/tgrouex1):
... minoutdur skiptime
snd1st sndlast mingain maxgain mindur maxdur minpch maxpch
phgrid grpspace gpsprange amprise contour
gpsizelo gpsizehi gppaklo gppakhi gppranglo gppranghi
[-aatten -ppos -ssprd -rseed -w]
texture tgrouped 5 marimba tgrouex1a ndftgr1.txt 12 2.0 1 1 30 60 0.3 0.6 48 84 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 100 200 1 1
We hear the defined rhythm over two beats very clearly, because only one note is playing each of the rhythmic durations (the grpsize range is 1). The pitches are widely spaced because selected (at random) from a 3-octave pitch range. There is a two second pause (skiptime) between repeats of the rhythmic template.

TGROUPED Example 1b

Using the same note data file, we now increase the grpsize range to 3, using 3 for both low and high. Thus all the pitches which previously had 1 note on them, will now have three.
TGROUPED Example 1b (Preset/Patch tgrouped1b/tgrouex1):
(In Sound Loom use tgrouex1, making the parameter changes described below.)
... minoutdur skiptime
snd1st sndlast mingain maxgain mindur maxdur minpch maxpch
phgrid grpspace gpsprange amprise contour
gpsizelo gpsizehi gppaklo gppakhi gppranglo gppranghi
[-aatten -ppos -ssprd -rseed -w]
texture tgrouped 5 marimba tgrouex1b ndftgr1.txt 12 2.0 1 1 40 80 0.4 1.0 48 84 0 1 1 0 0 3 3 166 167 1 1
Group size high and low are reset to 3. The group packing is set between 166 and 167 milliseconds. In the context of this musical example, this corresponds to the duration of a semiquaver (16^th note) triplet. We also make the example a little louder by changing min, max event gain to 40 and 80. We hear the triplets on each note – but notice that all the triplets have the same overall duration of one quaver (8^th note). Thus the triplets which begin on semiquaver durations of the timing template will overlap with those which begin a semiquaver later.

TGROUPED Example 1c

Now we make things more variable, with the number of notes in each group ranging from 5 to 10 (grpsize), the packing between group note events ranging between 50 and 100 ms (grppak) and the number of pitches taken from the pitch range widening from 1 in the above 'a' and 'b' examples to a range of 3 to 10 (gpranghi).
TGROUPED Example 1c(Preset/Patch tgrouped1c/tgrouex1):
(In Sound Loom use tgrouex1, making the parameter changes described above.)
... minoutdur skiptime
snd1st sndlast mingain maxgain mindur maxdur minpch maxpch
phgrid grpspace gpsprange amprise contour
gpsizelo gpsizehi gppaklo gppakhi gppranglo gppranghi
[-aatten -ppos -ssprd -rseed -w]
texture tgrouped 5 marimba tgrouex1c ndftgr1.txt 12 2.0 1 1 40 80 0.4 1.0 48 84 0 1 1 0 0 5 10 50 100 3 10
We hear a much more fluid texture of overlapping events. While we may sense some variation in density, one side effect of the ranges used is that the onsets of the rhythmic template can no longer be easily perceived.

TGROUPED Example 1d

The final version of this parameter set simply reduces the skiptime to ½ a second. This draws the repeats much closer together, thus increasing the overlap of the groups as they play themselves out, even though the rhythmic templates themselves do not overlap.
TGROUPED Example 1d(Preset/Patch tgrouped1d/tgrouex1):
(In Sound Loom use tgrouex1, making the parameter changes described above.)
... minoutdur skiptime
snd1st sndlast mingain maxgain mindur maxdur minpch maxpch
phgrid grpspace gpsprange amprise contour
gpsizelo gpsizehi gppaklo gppakhi gppranglo gppranghi
[-aatten -ppos -ssprd -rseed -w]
texture tgrouped 5 marimba tgrouex1d ndftgr1.txt 12 0.5 1 1 40 80 0.4 1.0 48 84 0 1 1 0 0 5 10 50 100 3 10
We hear a rapid, fluid texture, in which the random element has become prominent.

Musical Applications

We now have a fairly good idea of what TIMED GROUPS is all about. We can try for a different range of effects by making use of harmonic fields or sets to constrain the random dimension. Ndftgr2.txt adds a harmonic field to a new and simpler timegrid.
	60
	#4
	0.00 1 0 0 0
	0.50 1 0 0 0
	3.00 1 0 0 0
	4.50 1 0 0 0
	#7
	0.0  1 48 0 0
	0.0  1 53 0 0
	0.0  1 58 0 0
	0.0  1 63 0 0
	0.0  1 68 0 0
	0.0  1 73 0 0
	0.0  1 78 0 0
	
TGROUPED Example 2(Preset/Patch tgrouped2/tgrouex2):
... minoutdur skiptime (0.5)
snd1st (1) sndlast (1) mingain (40) maxgain (70) mindur (0.25) maxdur (0.75) minpch (48) maxpch (84)
phgrid (0) grpspace (1) gpsprange (1) amprise (0) contour (0)
gpsizelo (7) gpsizehi (28) gppaklo (75) gppakhi (150) gppranglo (1) gppranghi (7)
[-aatten -ppos -ssprd -rseed -w]
texture tgrouped 3 marimba tgrouex2 ndftgr2.txt 21 0.5 1 1 40 70 0.25 0.75 48 84 0 1 1 0 0 7 28 75 150 1 7
We hear repeated notes, arpeggios on perfect 4^ths, something that sounds like permutations on 2 or 3 pitches, some dyads (2-note chords), varying speeds. Let's look more closely at the various settings:

A new time template spreads out the onsets.

Mode 3 is used so that only the pitches defined in the harmonic set are used. Arpeggios along stacked 4^ths are frequent. If Mode 1 is used, it is interesting to note that the inclusion of different octaves also has the effect of enabling adjacent pitches to be used, enriching the texture, but reducing the clarity of the defined harmonic grid.

The skiptime of 0.5 relates to the time template. The last time is at 4.5 (sec). Adding 0.5 to this = 5.0, so that the next sequence will begin 'on the beat' at 5 sec.

The note duration range of 0.25 to 0.75 concerns how much of the input soundfile to allow to play, which produces shorter and longer note values, the latter allowing in a bit of resonance. Note duration ('sustain') cannot be longer than the input soundfile.

The groupsize range moves between 7 and 28 notes per group. This will result in some groups which end well within before the next timegrid onset, and others which will still be playing out their notes when the next timegrid onset comes: i.e., overlaps will occur, in this case producing dyads. These dyads may be perfect 4^ths, but other intervals may occur. It all depends on the note selected for the start of the group.

The faster and slower pacing of the notes in the groups results from the internal group packing range of 75 to 150 ms.

The groups vary nicely between repeated notes and arpeggios because the group pitch range goes from 1 to 7 notes of the harmonic field.

End of TEXTURE TGROUPED
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TEXTURE TMOTIFS/MOTIFSIN – A texture with the onsets of fully user-specified motifs constrained to a rhythmic grid and attached to pitches drawn from a pitch range or from a Harmonic Field/Set; one or more input sounds