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"Discovery Files" Features from the National Science Foundation
"Tiny Tunes"
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A LITTLE PIANO; THAT IS A LITTLE PIANO... THE "DISCOVERY FILES": NEW ADVANCES IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION. IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND THE NEWEST INNOVATION IN DIGITAL SOUND REPRODUCTION, WE REALLY NEED LOOK NO FURTHER THAN AN OLD-TIME PLAYER PIANO: IT DOESN'T RECORD AND PLAY BACK MUSIC, IT RE-CREATES IT. RESEARCHERS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER HAVE NOW DONE THIS IN THE DIGITAL WORLD--BY PROGRAMMING A COMPUTER TO RE-CREATE A SHORT CLARINET SOLO, USING A FILE A THOUSAND TIMES SMALLER THAN A STANDARD "M-P-THREE". THE RESEARCHERS FIRST FED THE COMPUTER ALL THAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE PHYSICS AND NUANCES OF CLARINET-PLAYING--THUS CREATING A VIRTUAL CLARINET; THEN, THEY LET THE COMPUTER LISTEN TO A REAL PERFORMER--IN ORDER TO DETERMINE HOW THE MUSICIAN CREATED SPECIFIC SOUNDS. THE END-RESULT WASN'T A TYPICAL RECORDING; IT WAS, INSTEAD, A COMPUTER RE-CREATION OF THE MUSICIAN'S ACTIONS. EVEN THOUGH THE TECHNOLOGY HAS A WAY TO GO IN ORDER TO BE PERFECTED, THAT LITTLE SOUND-BITE REPRESENTS, PERHAPS, THE LEAST AMOUNT OF DATA NEEDED TO REPRODUCE A PIECE OF MUSIC--AND A NOVEL WAY OF PLAYING IT. THE "DISCOVERY FILES" COVERS PROJECTS FUNDED BY THE GOVERNMENT'S NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH BROUGHT TO YOU BY YOU! LEARN MORE AT "N-S-F"-DOT-GOV--OR ON THEIR PODCAST.
For additional "Discovery Files" features from the National Science Foundation, click here.
