CSDT Work Monday September 5th and Wednesday, September 7th

Monday, 9/5 12:30pm-4:00pm:

• Finished Readme file documenting Matlab program
• Finished verifying program performance on audio with known alpha characteristics (alpha = -1*slope of power spectrum)
• Created short video explaining use of Matlab program
• Packaged Matlab files and documentation to send to Professor Eglash

Wednesday, 9/7 5:00pm-7:00pm:

• Re-recorded the YouTube video to better explain program function
• Packaged the essentials so that the file was small enough to send via email

CSDT Work Mon 8/22 - Sun 8/28

Goals for week:

1. Clean up code for MATLAB script
2. Create README document that explains functionality of MATLAB script and how to use it, and suggests future improvements
3. Compile samples of output from MATLAB script
4. Create a YouTube video summarizing the document

Monday 8/22, 10:30am-2:30pm, 3:30pm-4:30pm:

• Cleaned up code for MATLAB scripts
• Started Readme document 
• Encountered problem analyzing audio files over 2 minutes: too many samples to compute power spectrum of amplitude

Thursday 8/25, 10:30am-2:30pm

• Tested method of reducing number of samples by a factor of 1/n by averaging groups of n samples and storing the series of these averages as a new waveform with sampling frequency (FSnew) of FSold/n.
• Problem: The average of data points for any number of samples significantly larger than the sampling frequency should converge to zero, since the waveform is a sinusoidal waveform with centered on zero.
• Some other method, possibly involving filtering, needs to be developed

CSDT Work Monday 6/20-Sunday 6/26

Monday 6/20 9:15am-12:15pm:

• From last Friday, calculated fractal dimension was not matching input fractal dimension
• This is because analysis was being limited to a certain frequency range within the whole power spectrum
• Analysis of whole power spectrum confirms calculated fractal dimension equals input fractal dimension
• Produced graphs of various known power distributions

Tuesday 6/21 9:30am-12:45pm:

• Measured processing time for analysis script for audio samples with various numbers of datapoints
• Found processing time increased quadratically with number of datapoints
• Nearly all time spent on calculating instantaneous pitch
• Tested ways of decreasing processing time
• Worked on computing instantaneous pitch in parts and concatenating

Wednesday 6/22 10:15am-11:00am, 12:30pm-3:45pm:

• Continued work on computing instantaneous pitch piecewise
• Attended weekly team meeting
• Last week's goals accomplished up to loading the entire classical piece
• Need to edit script to allow loading audio piecewise
• Goals for next week:
• Today, Thursday:  Finish editing script to process pitch of long audio files by breaking into parts
• Friday: Minimize processing time for algorithm; analyze 7 minute classical piece
• Monday: Repeat some of the analysis done in Professor Eglash's paper
• Analyze several samples of poetry reading, prose reading, and a Capella music
• Chart fractal dimension for each sample
• Tuesday: Analyze rhythm produced using CSDT rhythm wheels
• Wednesday (6/29): Prepare for meeting

Thursday 6/23, 10:00am-3:00pm:

• Compiled photos, arc coordinate printouts, and screenshots from teaching Anishinaabe Arcs at Albany Boys and Girls club into zip archive
• Finished script for analyzing wave files piecewise
• Need to read the file piecewise
• Script run time based amount of data Matlab has in workspace (not necessarily in scope)
• Corrected fractal dimension calculation

Friday 6/24, 12:00pm-12:30pm, 3:30pm-5:45pm

• Optimized script to find size of pieces to use to minimize run time
• Tested script on known fractal dimension-audio and short Mozart audio clip

CSDT Work Monday 6/13 - Sunday 6/19

Tuesday 6/14 9:15am-12:00pm, 1:45pm-3:30pm, 8:00-8:30pm:

• Continued comparison of methods for computing instantaneous pitch of music file
• Took notes on David Gerhart report (This is the report.)  
• Compared time- and frequency- domain approaches, and various specific algorithms 

Wednesday 6/15: 1:15-2:45pm, 8:00-9:15pm:

• Read through report by UPF Music Technology group on melody extraction contest
• Found toolbox for audio analysis
• Includes pitch and salience extraction, segmentation, and many other features
• Will try implementing in MATLAB

Thursday 6/16: 8:15am-1:00pm, 2:30pm-3:45pm:

• Used audio analysis toolbox to compute pitch waveform for several audio samples using autocorrelation
• Experimenting with methods of smoothing or possibly quantizing pitch waveform

Friday 6/17: 12:30pm-2:00pm:

• Attempted to verify MATLAB script I am using to compute power series
• Ran power series analysis for noise generated with MATLAB algorithm 
• Tested 1/f^alpha for 15 values of alpha from 0 to 3.5
• MATLAB script returned alpha values that were consistently 
• 17% off for 1 sec samples
• 31% off for 2 sec samples
• about 40% off for 3 sec samples
• Will test another noise generator and possibly another method of computing power series

CSDT Work Mon 6/6 - Sun 6/12

Monday 6/6 11:00am-12:15pm, 3:30-5:00pm:

• Completed Matlab script to plot best fit line with Power Series of Amplitude and display slope
• Helped teach Arcs applet to Boys and Girls Club in Albany
• Students constructed circular wigwams
• Located points on life-sized grid (outside)
• Attached saplings to grid using ties through holes drilled in saplings
• Students seemed more comfortable with finding points on graph
• Knew if given (-4,3), would have to move 4 in one direction and 3 in another from (0,0)
• Often did not distinguish between x and y and positive and negative, especially for 3rd and 4th grade
• Students enjoyed building wigwam
• Offered an impromptu lesson on finding area using life-sized grid

Tuesday 6/7 10:10-10:40am:

• Began researching methods for finding instantaneous pitch of audio signal
• Aim is to find power series of pitch
• Analyze various musical genres and other audio building on Voss and Clark work (Nature, Vol 258 Nov. 1975, p. 317-318)

Wednesday 6/8 10:20-10:50am, 1:30-3:15pm:

• Continued researching methods for finding instantaneous pitch
• Did not find any algorithms for using solely zero-crossing 
• Began testing algorithm using "subharmonic to harmonic ratio" (geared towards speech)
• Attended weekly planning/review meeting
• Goals for next week:
• Tues 6/14: Research pitch-detection algorithms
• Wed: Test algorithms and compare performances; prepare for meeting
• Thurs: Help compile report on teaching Anishinaabe Arcs at Albany Boys and Girls Club
• Fri: Successfully compute instantaneous pitch of short audio clip using chosen method
• Mon: Load longer (~7 min) classical composition piecewise into Matlab; 
• Compute amplitude power series
• Compute instantaneous pitch
• Tues: Catch up; prepare for meeting
• Next goal: compute power series of instantaneous pitch

CSDT Work Monday, May 30 - Sunday, June 5

Monday, 5/30 10:30am-11:45am, 2:45-3:45pm:

          Found a Matlab script to run Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and compute power series http://faculty.olin.edu/bstorey/Notes/Fourier.pdffunction)

• Adapted script to operate on input from .wav audio file

• Ran analysis on Bach pieces and white noise sample

• Did not find expected slopes for Power Series 

• 
  

• Tuesday, 5/31 12:00-2:45pm: 

• Bach pieces were recorded with instruments that did not vary volume (amplitude) with time.

• Ran power series analysis on Mozart piece played with violin, sample of 

• white noise (alpha = 0), and 1/f noise (alpha = 1)

• Did find expected correlation; Mozart slope appears close to alpha = 1:

Power Series analysis of Mozart Piece and Alpha = 0 and Alpha = 1 Noise

Wednesday 6/1 10:25-11:25am, 2:00pm-5:00pm

•      Edited Matlab script to select only the data in frequency range of interest (~1/(time of piece) to 0.5Hz))

•      Worked on setting script to compute slope of best fit line of LogLog plot

•      Attended meeting with design group; Goal: Run power series analysis on pitch 

•        sequence by this weekend

•      Helped transfer screenshots and print-outs of coordinates for Albany BGC Anishinaabe Arcs project

Friday 6/3 1:15-2:15pm, 3:30-5:30pm

•      Printed out Anishinaabe Arcs Projects

•      Taught Lesson #3 of Arcs Project at Albany BGC

•           Had students 1) Label graph paper with coordinate axis

•                        2) Plot point from their arc printouts

•                        3) Attach printouts to styrofoam and add bendable rods to 

•                           create their wigmwams

•      Students had far more difficulty with this than either of two previous lessons

•      3rd and 4th grade students were not familiar with using coordinate axis; they

       labled the axis, but not at even intervals, and they needed individual instruction

•      Probably 3 or 4 of about 16 students were comfortable plotting points without any 

       help by end of the session; some other students made significant progress

•      Students who learned helped their classmates

•      Perhaps target age group for activity could be 5th or 6th grade 

Saturday 6/4 2:00-2:45pm

     Worked on getting best fit line to logrhythmic plot of Power Series
     Difficulty adapting linear best-fit to logrhythmic plot 

CSDT Work Mon 5/23 - Sunday 5/29

• Monday 5/23 3:30pm-5:15pm: Helped teach first lesson on Anishinabbe Arcs to students at Albany Boys and Girls club.  
• Played life-sized grid-navigating game with groups of students to practice using Cartesian coordinates and understanding rotation
• Students grasped moving in + and - X and Z axis well; may need some more practice with rotation
• Wednesday 2:00pm-3:30pm: Met with Professor Eglash and others to discuss various projects currently underway.  Talked specifically about progress on graffiti and cornrow applets.
• Thursday 10:45-11:45am and 1:15-1:45pm:  Loaded Anishinaabe Arcs applet onto 6 laptops
• Created new user "Protected" with restrictions disabling playing games
• Downloaded Adobe and Java
• Did not realize their were another 7 laptops which needed software
• Friday 3:30-5:15: Taught Arcs software to students at Boys and Girls Club
• Installed software on remaining 7 laptops (did not have time to disable games; not an issue)
• Helped students understand moving arcs around Cartesian coordinates and rotating the arcs
• Helped students create one wigwam-style structure (rotating the arcs and keeping the same center point), one longhouse-style structure (translating the arcs without rotating), and a structure designed on their own. 
• Students enjoyed software.
• Needed to be prompted for how to translate or rotate the arcs, but understood patterns in the design (i.e. add 3 to the z-coordinate each time to build a longhouse)
• Students were proud of their work
• Students saved their files on the local machines; Katie and I are meeting Wednesday, June 1st at 3:30pm to print out screenshots and the coordinate "printouts" given by the program.

CSDT Work Mon 5/16-Sunday 5/22

• Thursday 5/19 10:30-11:00am: Met with Dr. Eglash regarding Anishinabbe Arcs project and Matlab analysis of sound files.  Received permission slips to give to students at Albany Boys and Girls Club
• Thursday 5/19 1:00-2:30pm: Helped introduce Albany B&G Club councilor Brandon to the Arcs software.  Worked with Katie, Richard, Jeannie, and Joe to develop a lesson plan for next Monday