Music Visualization in Computer Software
Music Visualization in computer generated software
N. R.
The German University in Cairo, Egypt
Nissmah Roshdy
Abstract—This paper summarizes the history of music visualization in computer software and recent work from artists today that present the variety of concepts used in the field.
I.
INTRODUCTION
the frequency of a specific amount of audio data, and then the programmer assigns certain graphical elements to be displayed repeatedly, varying with the amplification of the sound volume. History Many artists, composers and philosophers have approached the combination between music and visual art for centuries. From abstract paintings to the 3 dimensional multimedia environments, the idea of putting musical notes into a color, space and motion to create a feeling of transcendence and poetry has long been experimented (Brougher 213). It began in the 18th century when some people attempted to associate specific colors to specific pitches. Sir Isaac Newton had come up with an original concept in 1704 that created a one-to-one mapping of the seven piano notes to the seven rainbow colors (Collopy), this concept was known as a Color Mapping Scheme, which was replicated by other artists like Castel, Bainbridge, and Rimington and was is still used till today (Brougher). Another artist called Georgia O’Keeffe had her own approach of interpreting and painting music. In the 1730’s, the “light organ” was invented by Louis Bertrand Castel, which allocated sound with colored light.
Across the last century, the digital world of real-time computing and graphical interfaces has trespassed the borders of human imagination in the earliest of centuries. After we were introduced to multimedia players software, it wasn’t long until the world became familiar with the term Music visualizations (aka Music animation), a feature in the software where colorful, and often flowing projections are displayed when a sound file is played. Who could have ever imagined in the
N. R.
The German University in Cairo, Egypt
Nissmah Roshdy
Abstract—This paper summarizes the history of music visualization in computer software and recent work from artists today that present the variety of concepts used in the field.
I.
INTRODUCTION
the frequency of a specific amount of audio data, and then the programmer assigns certain graphical elements to be displayed repeatedly, varying with the amplification of the sound volume. History Many artists, composers and philosophers have approached the combination between music and visual art for centuries. From abstract paintings to the 3 dimensional multimedia environments, the idea of putting musical notes into a color, space and motion to create a feeling of transcendence and poetry has long been experimented (Brougher 213). It began in the 18th century when some people attempted to associate specific colors to specific pitches. Sir Isaac Newton had come up with an original concept in 1704 that created a one-to-one mapping of the seven piano notes to the seven rainbow colors (Collopy), this concept was known as a Color Mapping Scheme, which was replicated by other artists like Castel, Bainbridge, and Rimington and was is still used till today (Brougher). Another artist called Georgia O’Keeffe had her own approach of interpreting and painting music. In the 1730’s, the “light organ” was invented by Louis Bertrand Castel, which allocated sound with colored light.
Across the last century, the digital world of real-time computing and graphical interfaces has trespassed the borders of human imagination in the earliest of centuries. After we were introduced to multimedia players software, it wasn’t long until the world became familiar with the term Music visualizations (aka Music animation), a feature in the software where colorful, and often flowing projections are displayed when a sound file is played. Who could have ever imagined in the
References: Brougher, Kerry, et al. Visual Music :Synaesthesia in Art and Music since 1900. London: Thames & Hudson, 2005. Betancourt, Michael (May 2008). "Pushing the Performance Envelope". MAKE 14 (1556-2336): 47 Collopy, Fred. “Color Scales?” RhythmicLight.com. 2004. .