Programming mixed music in ReactiveML

Abstract

Mixed music is about live musicians interacting with electronic parts which are controlled by a computer during the performance. It allows composers to use and combine traditional instruments with complex synthesized sounds and other electronic devices. There are several languages dedicated to the writing of mixed music scores. Among them, the Antescofo language coupled with an advanced score follower allows a composer to manage the reactive aspects of musical performances: how electronic parts interact with a musician. However these domain specific languages do not offer the expressiveness of functional programming. We embed the Antescofo language in a reactive functional programming language, ReactiveML. This approach offers to the composer recursion, higher order, inductive types, as well as a simple way to program complex reactive behaviors thanks to the synchronous model of concurrency on which ReactiveML is built. This article presents how to program mixed music in ReactiveML through several examples.