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Two-Dimensional Visual Inspection of Pitch-Space, Many Time-Scales and Tonal Uncertainty Over Time

Title Two-Dimensional Visual Inspection of Pitch-Space, Many Time-Scales and Tonal Uncertainty Over Time
Publication Type Conference Paper
Year of Publication 2011
Conference Name 3rd International Conference on Mathematics and Computation in Music (MCM 2011)
Authors Martorell, A. , & Gómez E.
Conference Start Date 15/06/2011
Conference Location Paris
Abstract
This work explores the representational limitations of toroidal pitch-spaces, when multiple temporal resolutions, tone center ambiguity, and the time dimension are considered for visualization of music pieces. The algorithm estimates key from chroma features, over time at many time-scales, using the key-profile correlation method. All these estima- tions are projected as tonal centroids within Krumhansl and Kessler’s toroidal space of inter-key distances. These centroids, belonging to a toroidal surface, are then mapped to colours by 3-dimensional geometric inscription of the whole pitch-space in the CIELAB colourspace. This mapping provides a visual correlate of pitch-space’s double circularity, aproximates perceptual uniformity of colours throughout near regions, and allows for representing key ambiguity. We adapt Sapp’s keyscapes to summarize tonal centroids in pitch-space at many time-scales over time, in a two-dimensional coloured image. Keyscapes are linked with higher-dimensional tonal representations in a user interface, in order to combine their informative benefits for interactive analysis. By visualiz- ing some specific music examples, we question the potential of continuous toroidal pitch-spaces in supporting long term analytical conclusions and tonal ambiguity description, when assisted by time vs. time-scale repre- sentations.
preprint/postprint document files/publications/mcm2011-2.pdf