Introduction to the ChucK Music Programming Language (with Ge Wang @ Stanford)

WORKSHOP: Introduction to the ChucK Music Programming Language

PRESENTED BY: Ge Wang

TIME:
Sunday January 13th, 2008
1:00-1:30pm: ChucK presentation (30min)
1:30pm-4:00: ChucK workshop

LOCATION:
CCRMA, Stanford University
660 Lomita Drive, Stanford, CA 94305
(more information)

INTENDED AUDIENCES: composers, sound designers/researchers, laptop performers, programming language enthusiasts, and anyone else interested in programming computer music. participants are encouraged, but NOT required, to bring laptops (if you do bring one, OS X, Linux, Windows are all supported). No prior experience with ChucK expected.

DESCRIPTION: ChucK is a continually evolving computer music language being jointly developed at Princeton University and now Stanford University (with Ge's joining CCRMA). It combines familiar programming language constructs with a new time-based concurrent programming model and the ability to write code on-the-fly. This workshop is a crash course in the philosophy and use of ChucK. The audience will hopefully leave with basic ChucK programming skills, awareness of possible uses, as well as examples
and documentation provided in the workshop.

ChucK is freely available, cross-platform, and open-source.

http://chuck.cs.princ...

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WORKSHOP SCHEDULE:

Presentation: What is ChucK?
* uses of ChucK (real-time synthesis/analysis, composition/performance, experimentation/education, laptop orchestras)
* "strongly-timed": precise control over time
* what is concurrent programming and using it for music
* on-the-fly programming (write/edit code at runtime)

workshop: part 1 (language basics)
* syntax and semantics
- overview
- types, values, variables
- operators
- control structures
* real-time sound synthesis
* unit generators
* manipulating time to make timbres and music
* functions, arrays (modularizing and organizing)
* concurrency, processes, shreds, events (powerful music programming)
* basic on-the-fly programming with ChucK

workshop: part 2 (extended examples)
* extended examples
- mapping controllers via MIDI and OpenSoundControl (OSC)
- creating instruments using laptop capabilities
(keyboard, trackpad, sudden motion sensor, mic)
- network synchronization
- gui control with the audicle/miniAudicle

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BIO

Ge Wang received his B.S. in Computer Science in 2000 from Duke University, PhD (soon) in Computer Science (advisor Perry Cook) in 2007 from Princeton University, and is currently an assistant professor at Stanford University in the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA). His research interests include interactive software systems for computer music, programming
languages, sound synthesis and analysis, music information retrieval, new performance ensembles (e.g., laptop orchestras) and paradigms (e.g., live coding), visualization, interfaces for human-computer interaction, interactive audio over networks, and methodologies for education at the intersection of computer science and music.

Ge is the chief architect and creator of the ChucK audio programming language. He is a founding developer and co-director of the Princeton Laptop Orchestra (PLOrk), and a co-creator of the TAPESTREA sound design environment. Ge composes and performs via various electro-acoustic and computer-mediated means. At CCRMA, Ge continues to research and develop ideas and systems for computer music (including ChucK), works on new music, and plans to initiate a Stanford Laptop Orchestra.