INTRODUCTION TO ALLOLIB

Course Description

Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. Open to all regardless of major is you have the necessary background (see below). You may use this form to express your interest:

https://bit.ly/allolib-s23-interest

I will notify folks that are selected to be offered add codes sometime before the start of enrollment pass two; there will be no enrollment during enrollment pass 1.

This course provides an introduction to digital audio through the lens of the software used by the Allosphere Research Group at UC Santa Barbara. (See: https://github.com/AlloSphere-Research-Group ). We will learn the basics of music synthesis (e.g. Additive Synthesis, Subtractive Synthesis, FM Synthesis, etc.) by exploring these concepts using the software library used to power the Allosphere at UCSB. If time permits, we may also explore some of the graphics capabilities of the software, but the focus will be on sound.

Pre-requisities:

Allolib is primarily a C++ framework, so strong C++ programming skills are needed; ideally, the equivalent of CMPSC 32 or higher (object-oriented C++). Students with no programming background are not a good fit for this course. If students have some programming background, but less than the equivalent of CMPSC 32, they may contact the instructor for more information.

It is also helpful to have a music background, since students will be required to create musical compositions using code. You do not need to be a virtuoso performer or composer, but basic familiarity with scales, chords, and concepts of music notation are helpful. We will review these details as needed, but for best results, students should already have some familiarity with these concepts.

Students should bring a laptop (Mac, Windows, Linux) to class as well as headphones.