C O U R S E   M O D U L E S
1.	Course & Studio Introduction
2.	Audio Editing & Transformation
3.	Interactive Music Programming & MIDI
4.	Real-Time Digital Audio
5.	Synthesis
	Sequencing

News

The Composition Project Proposal is due: Fri., Dec. 5, 11:59 pm

Reading

Music and Computers, Ch. 5: The Transformation of Sound by Computer

Assignments/Activities

See Blackboard

Quotable

	Composers have experimented a lot with unusual time-domain restructuring of sound. By chopping up waveforms into very small segments and radically reordering them, some noisy and unusual effects can be created. As in collage visual art, the ironic and interesting juxtaposition of very familiar materials can be used to create new works that are perhaps greater than the sum of their constituent parts.
	– Burk et al., Music and Computers

Techniques of computer-generated music with a focus on music programming, MIDI, digital audio, and synthesis

Required Textbooks

Burk et al., Music and Computers {E-book} (Burk et al. 2011)

Hass, Introduction to Computer Music {E-book} (Hass 2021)

Learning

Audacity | Max | MIDI | MSP | Digital Audio | Synthesis | Notation | Reason | Sequencing

Other Topics: History | SuperCollider

Course Documents

1. Fall 2025
• Syllabus (pdf)
• Reading & Assessment Schedule (pdf)
• Daily Schedule (pdf)
• Links for Students
2. Studio B
• Policies (pdf)
• Log Sheet (pdf)
3. Technology Survey (pdf)
4. Activities
5. Getting Started with Max & MIDI
   
6. Digital Anthology
   
7. Handouts
   
8. Terms & Concepts
   
9. Bibliography
• Articles
10. Software
    
    

Creative Projects

Overview: Google Slides

1. Project #1: Audio – Due: Fri., Sept. 26
• Guidelines (pdf)
• Examples (pdf)
• Proposal (pdf) – Due: Fri., Sept. 19
  
2. Project #2: Programming – Due: Fri., Nov. 7
   
• Guidelines (pdf)
  
• Proposal (pdf) – Due Fri., Oct. 31
3. Project #3: Sequencing (or Free Choice) – Due: Fri., Dec. 12
   
• Guidelines (pdf)
• Proposal (pdf) – Due: Fri., Dec. 5, 11:59 pm
  
  

Technical Overviews

1. Audacity (pdf)
2. Max Programming (pdf)
3. MIDI (pdf)
4. MSP Basics (pdf)
5. How Digital Audio Works (pdf)
   
6. Reason (pdf)
   
   

Chapter Overviews:

1. Ch. 1: The Digital Representation of Sound: Sound and Timbre (pdf)
2. Ch. 2: The Digital Representation of Sound: Playing by the Numbers (pdf)
3. Ch. 3: The Frequency Domain (pdf)
4. Ch. 4: The Synthesis of Sound by Computer (pdf)
5. Ch. 5: The Transformation of Sound by Computer (pdf)
   
   

Quick Links:

1. Ch. 1: Acoustics
2. Ch. 2: Studio Gear
3. Ch. 3: MIDI
4. Ch. 4: Synthesis
5. Ch. 5: Digital Audio
6. Ch. 6: History of Electronic and Computer Music
   
7. Appendices
   
   

Magazines & Journals

1. Create Digital Music {CDM}
   
2. Computer Music Journal {CMJ}
   
3. Journal of Music, Technology & Education (JMTE)
4. Journal of the Association for Technology in Music Instruction {JATMI}
5. Leonardo Music Journal (1991-2020) {LMJ}
   
6. Music Radar: formerly Computer Music Magazine, Electronic Musician & Keyboard
   
7. MusicTech
8. Sound on Sound {SOS}
   
9. Synthtopia
   
   

Cloud Storage

1. USC Office 365
   
• OneDrive
  
2. Dropbox
3. Google Drive
   
   

Research

1. Britannica Academic
2. EBSCO Advantage: Music
   
3. FindIt @ USC
   
4. Grove/Oxford
5. Harvard Dictionary
6. JSTOR
   
7. Oxford Dictionary of Computer Science {TCL}
8. Sweetwater, InSync Glossary {Sweetwater}
   
   

Online Music Distribution

1. Bandcamp
2. Naxos
3. SoundCloud
4. Spotify
5. YouTube
   
   

References

See also: BAIN MUSC 336 Bibliography & Articles

Burk, Phil, Larry Polansky, Douglas Repetto, Mary Roberts and Dan Rockmore. 2011. Music and Computers:  A Theoretical and Historical Approach, Archival Version. Available online at: <https://musicandcomputersbook.com>.

Cycling, '74. 2025. Max 9 Documentation. San Francisco, CA: Cycling '74. Available online at: <https://docs.cycling74.com>.

Hass, Jeffery. 2025. Introduction to Computer Music: An Electronic Textbook, 2nd ed. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University. Available online at: <https://cmtext.indiana.edu>.