Bol Processor BP2

[Protools5LEGuy]

From http://aune.lpl-aix.fr/~belbernard/music/bpdoc/bp2doc.html

"BP2 deals with incomplete representations of polyphonic/polyrhythmic musical structures. It uses a very efficient algorithm for the synchronisation of sound-objects.

With version 2.5 important features have been implemented, notably an accurate control of all MIDI parameters and automation of tasks with scripts. Version 2.6 introduced client-server technology. The present version is interfaced with Csound, deals with MIDI files, and works under Opcode OMS.

BP2 won the Bourges 1997 international award (ex aequo with Piché & Burton's "Cecilia") in the category of computer-aided composition and realization software. It is currently jointly developed by Bernard Bel < bel(at)lpl.univ-aix.fr> and Srikumar Karaikudi Subramanian.

BP2 may be downloaded from this web site. The current MacOS 9 version will run after installing the basic OMS client software required by most professional MIDI programs. It works with both PowerMacs and old Macs under system 7.1 to 9.x.

Story

In the early 1980s, ethnomusicologist Jim Kippen and I developed a computer system called the Bol Processor (i.e. "BP") to help us examine improvisatory methods used by North Indian tabla drummers (Kippen 1987, 1988, Kippen & Bel 1989b, 1989c). Designed for the portable Apple IIc, the rule-based BP1 was able to analyse musical input (in the form of tabla bols, or onomatopoeic syllables) as well as generate new improvisations that musicians could assess. Details of the philosophy behind BP1 and its modus operandi can be found in our paper: "Modelling music with grammars: formal language representation in the Bol Processor" (Kippen & Bel 1992).

The Bol Processor attracted interest from scholars and musicians alike. It was felt that the formal model embedded in it could be expanded to encompass more general musical structures, and in this form could be of some benefit as a tool for music composition. We therefore decided to implement an alternative version of the Bol Processor on the Apple® Macintosh. An enhanced version of the algorithmic part of the Bol Processor, namely "BP2", was written in the C language. A sound-object editor allowed it to interact with MIDI devices.


Thanks to the help of Anthony Kozar, Bol Processor is now released as free software (open source) under a BSD-style license. BP development is now hosted by Sourceforge at <http://bolprocessor.sourceforge.net/>. One of the goals of the open-source project will be to port it to other platforms. We are hoping that Bol Processor will soon be upgraded for MacOS X, and ports to Windows and Linux are also possible depending on the desires and expertise of the group of developers.

We recommend readers to view the recent (2006) PowerPoint slide show <http://www.lpl.univ-aix.fr/~belbernard/music/BolProcessorOverview/>