Csound is a wonderful, free computer language for performing and synthesizing music as well as processing sound. It is perfectly flexible and anyone interested in making music should consider using it. Full details and many other sources of Csound material can be found here.
There are other compendia out there, but we have been working on some here at the Institute which provide some basic xenharmonic (non-12 tet tuning, chordal definition and addressing) and algorithmic (automatic composition of melody and harmony, including melodies and harmonies dependent on other melodies and harmonies) functionality as well as a series of imitative instruments. These will be presented as zipped fascicles on this page (please note that all files ending in ".txt" are "includes" files). Please note: some people have had difficulty with the include statements themselves, as they use DOS short filenames. It's generally easy to figure out which includes files are intended by their context; those ending in "SCO.txt" are the score includes and those ending in ".txt" are the orchestra includes. The director will be happy to answer your questions.
Fascicle
1v1---contains the instrument and macro includes files as well
as demonstration scores and orchestras; also included are four French horn
simulations (waveshaping, fof and two subtractive: one with a buzz source
and the other with a comb-filtered blue noise source) with extensive expressive
parameters (including glissando) and, as will become a standard feature,
a parameter for register (if one wants subcontrabass or piccolo sizes,
say). The basic includes and instruments allow one to:
1. Easily define new scales, modes and chords and to
address pitches in reference to scale, mode or chord.
2. "Proclaim" a presiding scale, mode, chord or melody
(scale degree) on a variety of "channels."
3. Patch signals around, e.g., to "virtual effects."
4. Generate sequences of chords (harmonies) according
to Markov chains, with reference to other harmonies and melodies.
5. Generate sequences of pitches (melodies) according
to Markov chains, with reference to other harmonies and melodies. [NOT
YET!}
6. Strum arbitrary instruments according to a variety
of parameters, including arbitrary accordatura.
The following mp3s generated by the demonstration scores
are available here (consult
the READMEs and the scores for further explanations):
1. tuningDEMO.mp3 (649 KB)
2. chordProclaimerDEMO.mp3 (579 KB)
3. harmonyGeneratorDEMO.mp3 (641 KB)
4. strummerDEMO.mp3 (1.1 MB)
5. FrenchHornsDEMO.mp3 (1.1 MB)
Version number one splits the large files of version zero into many handy includes files, and is much better documented. Other features (e.g., an n-tuple generator, a localization system) are planned. It may be downloaded here: oics1v1.zip (62 KB).
Next---watch this space for a localizer.