Winter Semester
• Creative Music Technology
• Computer Music Programming (SuperCollider) I
• Laptop Orchestra / Ensembles I
Spring Semester
• Computer Music Programming (SuperCollider) II
• Laptop Orchestra / Ensembles II
• Interactive Music Systems (Arduino + PureData)
Creative Music Technology (CMT) – [winter semester]
CMT is a one-semester course offered to all undergraduate students of the Music Department at AUTh as well as to Erasmus students. During the course, students get a close view of aesthetic issues of electroacoustic music and also gain a solid understanding of issues pertaining to the creative use of digital technology in electronic music composition. After a brief introduction to basic studio techniques, students get to know how to record and process sound material and transform it into concrete musical sound structures. This is achieved by using sophisticated sound editing and sound synthesis /analysis software. Students get acquainted with all of the fundamental sound synthesis techniques (additive, subtractive, AM/FM synthesis, granular synthesis, etc.) and at the end of the semester, they are expected to compose a five-minute-long electroacoustic work. As a part of the learning process, many masterpieces of acousmatic music will are examined, (deeply) listened to, and discussed.
Computer Music Programming (CMP) – [spring semester]
CMP is a course offered to students who are interested in expanding their understanding of the way computers work in music technology. In this course, students start learning from scratch the basics of computer programming. Students who successfully complete the course are expected to be able to code their very own programs for sound synthesis and audio manipulation in SuperCollider and to interface their audio applications with external control devices such as smartphones, tablets, midi controllers, or keyboards via the MIDI or OSC protocol. During the course, students are getting a closer look at sonic and musical works composed using similar strategies, techniques, and software. For their final project, they have to compose/create a project (either by themselves or in groups) of a network-based audio performance using their own software. Students who have successfully completed this lesson can become members of the LOrk•A (Aristotle University Laptop Orchestra)
Interactive Music Systems (IMS) – [spring semester]
IMS is a lesson offered to students who are interested in finding ways to interface our physical world with machines. After an introduction to the history of interactive systems, students start their journey into circuits. The basic components of electronic circuits (LED, resistors, diodes, transistors, switches, breadboards, etc) are examined step-by-step as well as various sensors (pressure, light (LDR), motion, distance, Infrared IR, ultrasonic, etc) that can be used to measure the properties of our physical environment. The course is based on using the Arduino platform and the Arduino IDE. Students are expected to build a sound installation using techniques that have been presented during the course. The main focus is given to designing systems that interact with the external world in a musical or anyway sonically interesting way. The works are exhibited at the Department of Music Studies and the student community is invited to explore them. Creativity, teamwork, and the ability to solve technical and aesthetic problems are boosted during the project. Those skills and virtues have to be developed and/or expanded in order to bring into life interesting artworks.