Originally published in 2001, in a hardcover version with audio CD, this is the paperback version from 2004, with a download instead of a CD. The book is second-hand but in very good shape.

Below the level of the musical note lies the realm of microsound, of sound particles lasting less than one-tenth of a second. Recent technological advances allow us to probe and manipulate these pinpoints of sound, dissolving the traditional building blocks of music—notes and their intervals—into a more fluid and supple medium. The sensations of point, pulse (series of points), line (tone), and surface (texture) emerge as particle density increases. Sounds coalesce, evaporate, and mutate into other sounds. Composers have used theories of microsound in computer music since the 1950s. Distinguished practitioners include Karlheinz Stockhausen and Iannis Xenakis. Today, with the increased interest in computer and electronic music, many young composers and software synthesis developers are exploring its advantages. Covering all aspects of composition with sound particles, Microsound offers composition theory, historical accounts, technical overviews, acoustical experiments, descriptions of musical works, and aesthetic reflections.

Curtis Roads is Associate Professor of Media Arts and Technology, with a joint appointment in the Department of Music, at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Microsound offers an enticing series of slice ‘n’ dice audio recipes from one of the pioneering researchers into the amazingly rich world of granular synthesis. I can’t wait to try these at home.” (David Zicarelli – known as developer of the Max visual programming environment used by musicians, artists, and inventors)

 424 pages, 68 illustrations.