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The waveDNA model
waveDNA model components
The best way to gain a deeper understanding of modern music is to create a model of its internal structure:
What's in a Song?
A song contains a collection of instrument tracks, and instructions to determine the playback attributes of the song
( key, tempo, meter etc).
What's in a Track?
An instrument track contains a collection of musical concepts or motifs, and their time location in the song.
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What's in a motif?
A motif is (usually) one bar of music that can be described by 5 performance components.
| metric component |
Defines where the note events occur in the bar. |
| pitch component |
Defines the sequence of pitches ( or percussion voices ) for note events in the bar. |
abstract motif
component |
The metric and pitch components combine into a abstract motif component. The abstract motif component communicates the framework of the motif without expressive characteristics. |
| duration component |
The first expressive component. Defines the sequence of durations for
note events in the bar. |
| mechanical (Feel) component |
the second expressive component. Defines the sequence of “feel attributes”
( loudness, pitch bends, groove timing etc.) for the note events in the bar. |
Putting it all together...
Instrument tracks in a song, motifs in an instrument track, performance components in a motif. This is the essential
hierarchy of the waveDNA model.
Performance component hierarchy
An instrument track's motifs will often share common performance components, thus reinforcing central themes
in the instrument track.
Example 1
A Classical piano instrument track might contain a small set of metric components and a much larger set of
pitch components.
Example 2
Due to subtle stylistic variations, an R & B bass instrument track might contain a few abstract motif components
compared to a larger number of expressive duration and mechanical components.
How much unique musical content does an instrument track actually contain?
The waveDNA model organizes performance components hierarchically within the instrument track.
"Generic layer" components ( metric , and pitch ) have a parent relationship to the abstract motif component,
which in turn has a parent relation to the "expressive layer" components ( duration and mechanical ).
This hierarchy quantifies all of the novel performance qualities of an instrument track.
Every path in the performance component hierarchy ( metric ->abstract motif -> duration -> mechanical )
identifies a unique motif in the instrument track.
Encoding the waveDNA model
How is a waveDNA model created?
a) The waveDNA encoding process analyzes an instrument track one bar at a time and creates a motif with
candidate performance components.
b) The candidate performance components are introduced to the performance component hierarchy, in order
to determine if they have been previously encountered.
c) After the performance components have been identified, the motif is mapped to the motif playlist.
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waveDNA theory detailed overview
A detailed introduction to the waveDNA model can be found here.
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