USING FRACTALS IN TIMBRE CONSTRUCTION: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY Rodney Waschka I Alexandra Kurepa Center for Experimental Dept. of Mathematics Music and intermedia Texas Christian Univ. Univ. of North Texas Ft. Worth, Texas 76129 Denton, Texas 76203 ABSTRACT ‘The utilization of fractals in the area of timbre has been recognized as a problem (Degazio 1986) because of the "perceptual discontinuities" between the different levels of structure {in music. In this study the authors suggest that one way fractal processes can be invoked in timbral design is through use of granular synthesis techniques - creation of complex timbres ‘by the production of a high density of small grains - (Roads 1978; Truax 1986) and rapid event deployment techniques (Waschka & Ferreira 1988) in a MIDI environment. The mathematical examples explored in this study include one and two dimensional, as well a5 ‘complex, chaotic dynamical systems and the fractals that they generate. Background and The Problem For some time computer ‘music composers have been making use of fractal processes to develop and determine various parameters of a musical work. Generally these efforts have been devoted to organizing the melodic and rhythmic structure of a work into complex, but self-similar patterns (Dodge 1988), or to modeling and mapping fractal patterns present in nature (Austin 1981). In both cases, other processes, including intuition, were used to design the timbral aspect of the musi Clearly, applying fractals fo music is different from applying them to a static visual. In the visual realm, the general structure of the entire work is perceived at a glance; whereas in music, the listener may not know, or be able to guess, the general structure until an entire work is complete. Even the smaller, localized structures may require several seconds or even minutes to be assimilated. Composers working with fractal processes to determine the melodic and rhythmic structure of a work have had to deal with this problem in a number of ways. Furthermore, Bruno Degazio (1986) has argued that are other problems in describing how we hear a music, and the processes at work within that music: ‘The fact is that, unlike a work of visual art, the various levels of (musical) structure are not perceived in the same way. The problem may be succinctly described as a perceptual 332discontinuity between structural levels. ‘Degazio also pointed out that if fractal techniques were applied to timbre the perceptual discontinuity ..would become extreme, however, and would surely be the first problem addressed.” The Experiment The striking visual images generated by fractal processes feature hundreds and thousands of points resulting from hundreds and thousands of iterations. This suggested to the authors the necessity of producing hundreds of sonic events in a short time period in order to present a clear “sound image” of a particular fractal process. This increased speed of events allows the listener to bridge the perceptual discontinuity mentioned above; to step back from the moment to moment events and hear the overall structure of the fractal. The authors have attempted, therefore, to apply granular synthesis concepts (Roads 1978; Truax 1986) (the creation of complex timbres by the production of high densities of small “grains” to the output from these formulas. Two synthesis systems were used for these experiments: a MIDI environment, where rapid event deployment techniques (Waschka & Ferreira 1988) were useful, and a Synclavier II (r) system. In this study, a number of different fractal systems in both one and two dimensions were invoked to produce material. In one dimension, these included Verhulst dynamics where Xe = (142) xq Dg? and x,= 0.1 and r varied between 2.58 and 3. In the area of two dimensional systems, sound events were created using the "Henon map" (Henon 1976) ~ a dynamic system defined as per = 1+ Yn - Lx? Yn = 0.3%q It features a strange "attractor" which is interesting from a compositional viewpoint since different starting points yield the same unusual set, although the sequences of points are very different. Also in two dimensions, and interesting, is the "chaotic gingerbreadman”, (Devaney 1988) a dynamic system given by Xe = > ¥n + [nl Yot1 = Xn 333Finally, experiments with complex dynamical systems, such as F@) =22 +6 where z is a complex number, were also conducted. These consisted of various Julia Set mappings. Synthesis Techniques and Musical Applications Verhulst dynamics were used both in a single stream and in more than cone voice. The closer r is to 2.57 the more obvious are the attractors present. This suggested using two voices, one for the numbers which had grouped themselves around a couple of high attractors and another for the lower number group. Once these two voices were established, each with smaller bandwidths than if they were joined, it was possible to transpose each of the voices to different pitch levels. These transpositions, in effect artificially moving the points of attraction, made other interesting timbres available. Eventually, a four-voice example was created on the synclavier which allowed even more flexibility in timbre creation. One unexpected sidelight was discovered when the MIDI codes were translated into traditional pitch names: adjacent values were frequently members of the same pitch class, e.g. £#3 followed by f#2. In the two dimensional systems, three mapping strategies were employed. In one case, the sets of paired values were mapped as pitches and programmed to sound together, with equal durations for both values in the pair and varying durations from pair to pair. A second technique used one value to designate a MIDI number or frequency, while the second value was used as a small-scale deviation or pitch bend value. The third technique employed the values as pitch and velocity data, respectively. In the case of the "Henon map" the authors experimented with more than one pair of initial values, but were unable to ptoduce musically interesting timbres. In working with the "chaotic gingerbreadman" the areas of stability and periodicity were explored. Somewhat surprisingly, even in these areas the *gingerbreadman” produced usable timbres. More interesting, however, are the chaotic regions, and particulary those initial values such as (-0.01, 0.0) which produce:almost stable orbits which slowly move towards chaos. Problems were encountered with the complex systems because of the strength of the attractors. In those systems investigated, the values too Tapidly approached, or arrived at, the attractor to make a valuable timbre. Other Work Some early experiments using Verhulst dynamics and rapid event deployment techniques were created by Toze Ferreira (Waschka & Ferreira 1988) working at the Institute of Sonology. B. Streitberg and K. Balzer (1988) in their study mention attempts to make use of fractals in an additive synthesis system. Finally, Kevin Jones (1989) has described his use of 334random walk procedures to control the armonics of a sound. Conclusions and Future Work. The utiization of rapid event deployment techniques and granular synthesis enables composers to extend their work with fractals downward, towards timbral scales of structure. "Artificial" or compositional manipulation of the streams of data created by Verhulst dynamics produced interesting timbres. The Henon map is compositionally interesting because of its "strange attractor" but, at least with granular techniques, not as useful in the construction of timbres. Finally, the "chaotic gingerbreadman” provided the most interesting sound objects. It could be easily utilized to create slowly evolving timbres, or rapidly changing, wide-bandwidth dlangorous sounds. These timbres are both interesting and musically useful. Future work will include further use of complex systems and more experimentation with mapping procedures. The continued goal will be to produce the most logical choices with regard to the nature of the fractal, and to provide the most useful musical sound. References ‘Austin, L (1981). Canadian Coastlines, New Yorke Folkways Records FTS Degazio, B. (1986). "Musical Aspects of Fractal Geometry." Proceedings of the ICMC 1986. ed. P. Berg. San Francisco: Computer Music Association pp 435-441 Devaney, R. (1988). "Fractal patterns arising in chaotic dynamical systems.” in The Science of Fractal Images. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. Dodge, C. (1988). “Profile: A Musical Fractal." Computer Music Journal 12 (3): 10-14. Henon, M. (1976). "A two-dimensional mapping with a strange attractor.” Communications in Mathematical Physics. 50: 69-77. Jones, K. (1989). "Generative models in computer-assisted musical composition." Contemporary Music Review. Vol. 3: 176-196. Roads, C. (1978). "Automated granular synthesis of sound.” Computer Music Journal 2 (2): 61-62. Reprinted in Foundations of Computer Music. eds. C. Roads and J Strawn, (1985). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Streitberg, B. and K. Balzer (1988). “The Sound of Mathematics. Proceedings of the 14th ICMC 1988 eds. C. Lischka and J. Fritsch, Cologne: Feedback Studio Verlag pp 158-165. Truax, B. (1986). "Real-Time Granular Synthesis with the DMX-1000." Proceedings of the ICMC 1986. ed. P. Berg. San Francisco: Computer Music Association pp 231-237. Waschka, R. and T. Ferreira (1988). "Rapid Event Deployment in a MIDI Environment.” Interface 17 (4): 211-222. 335