Orchidée (software)
Encyclopedia
Orchidée is software developed by IRCAM
as a computer-aided orchestration tool. It is a MATLAB
-based application that communicates with traditional computer-aided composition environments through Open Sound Control messages. This means that it can be effectively controlled from programs like Max/MSP or OpenMusic
. It was developed by Grégoire Carpentier and Damien Tardieu during their PhDs at IRCAM, with the help and supervision of composer Yan Maresz. A recent example of its use for orchestral composition were in Jonathan Harvey
's Speakings, premiered in 2008, in which speech was analyzed and computed to provide orchestral combinations for the composer. Given an input target sound, Orchidée creates a musical score which imitates the sound using a mixture of traditional instruments. It then searches within a large instrument sample database to combinations of sounds that perceptually match the target. The application takes into account complex combinatorial possibilities, considering virtually infinite sets of different sounds created by the orchestra. It also considers musical attributes such as instruments and dynamics, and perceptual attributes as brightness and roughness. For example, in Speakings, a mantra (Oh/Ah/Hum) was analyzed and imputed into Orchidée, which in turn generated different possibilities for orchestration. This mantra was then developed throughout the piece using such possibilities.
IRCAM
IRCAM is a European institute for science about music and sound and avant garde electro-acoustical art music. It is situated next to, and is organizationally linked with, the Centre Pompidou in Paris...
as a computer-aided orchestration tool. It is a MATLAB
MATLAB
MATLAB is a numerical computing environment and fourth-generation programming language. Developed by MathWorks, MATLAB allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions and data, implementation of algorithms, creation of user interfaces, and interfacing with programs written in other languages,...
-based application that communicates with traditional computer-aided composition environments through Open Sound Control messages. This means that it can be effectively controlled from programs like Max/MSP or OpenMusic
OpenMusic
OpenMusic is an object-oriented visual programming environment for musical composition based on Common Lisp.It may also be used as an all-purpose visual interface to Lisp programming.-History:...
. It was developed by Grégoire Carpentier and Damien Tardieu during their PhDs at IRCAM, with the help and supervision of composer Yan Maresz. A recent example of its use for orchestral composition were in Jonathan Harvey
Jonathan Harvey (composer)
Jonathan Harvey is a British composer. He has held teaching positions at universities and music conservatories in Europe and the USA and is frequently invited to teach in summer schools around the world.-Life:...
's Speakings, premiered in 2008, in which speech was analyzed and computed to provide orchestral combinations for the composer. Given an input target sound, Orchidée creates a musical score which imitates the sound using a mixture of traditional instruments. It then searches within a large instrument sample database to combinations of sounds that perceptually match the target. The application takes into account complex combinatorial possibilities, considering virtually infinite sets of different sounds created by the orchestra. It also considers musical attributes such as instruments and dynamics, and perceptual attributes as brightness and roughness. For example, in Speakings, a mantra (Oh/Ah/Hum) was analyzed and imputed into Orchidée, which in turn generated different possibilities for orchestration. This mantra was then developed throughout the piece using such possibilities.