David A. Jaffe

{{about|the composer of contemporary classical and computer music|the video game designer|David Jaffe}}

David Aaron Jaffe (born April 29, 1955) is an American composer and electronic music researcher. His work spans orchestral, choral, chamber, and electroacoustic music, and he has composed over ninety pieces across these forms. Jaffe is known for the computer music composition Silicon Valley Breakdown and for his contributions to algorithmic and physical modeling synthesis techniques for plucked and bowed string instruments. He has also been involved in the development of music software, including the NeXT Music Kit and the Universal Audio UAD-2, Apollo, and LUNA Recording System platforms.

Biography

Jaffe studied violin performance and music composition at Ithaca College, where he completed his composition training with Karel Husa.{{Cite web |title=Dr. David A. Jaffe - An Interview with the composer and electronic music pioneer. "I'm always trying to do something new but I'm always also building on the principles of the music that I have developed." |url=https://musicguy247.typepad.com/my-blog/2017/01/david-a-jaffe-interview-electronic-music-composer-pioneer-software-developer-next-computers-silicon-valley-breakdown-1.html |access-date=2025-01-29 |website=Musicguy247}} He later studied composition, orchestration, and counterpoint with Henry Brant at Bennington College,{{Cite web |url=http://www.otherminds.org/shtml/Brantinmemoriam.shtml |title=Henry Brant in Memoriam by David A. Jaffe |access-date=2009-08-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091029194128/http://www.otherminds.org/shtml/Brantinmemoriam.shtml |archive-date=2009-10-29 |url-status=dead }} as well as electronic music with Joel Chadabe. He earned a B.A. in music and mathematics in 1978. Additional composition instructors included Vivian Fine and Marta Ptaszynska, and he also studied violin with Jacob and Lilo Glick.

Jaffe earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stanford University in 1983. While at Stanford, he worked within the computer music group at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab and later with the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA). His collaborators and mentors during this period included John Chowning, Leland C. Smith, and Julius O. Smith. His research interests included physical modeling synthesis{{cite web | url=https://jyx.jyu.fi/dspace/bitstream/handle/123456789/13461/9513918270.pdf?sequence=1 | title=Virtual Violin in the Digital Domain | author=Jan-Markus Holm}} and ensemble timing.

Composing career

Jaffe has taught composition at institutions including Stanford University, the University of California, San Diego State University, Princeton University, and the University of Melbourne, where he served as the MacGeorge Fellow. His compositions have been recorded on ten commercial albums, including four solo releases on Well-Tempered Productions.

His works have been performed by ensembles such as the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Chanticleer,{{cite web |url=http://www.chanticleer.org/sing/music_commissions.html |title=Chanticleer: An Orchestra of Voices |access-date=2009-10-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100616062843/http://www.chanticleer.org/sing/music_commissions.html |archive-date=2010-06-16 }} and Earplay.{{Cite web|url=http://www.earplay.org/about/past_seasons.html|title = About Earplay}} His music has also been presented by various choruses, string quartets, and chamber ensembles.

Jaffe's compositions have been featured in international music festivals and broadcast on public radio, including WGBH’s *Art of the States*. He has received commissions from the Kronos Quartet, the Russian National Orchestra,{{cite web |url=http://www.russianarts.org/rno/img/pdfs/rnobrochure.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2009-10-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722055320/http://www.russianarts.org/rno/img/pdfs/rnobrochure.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-22 }} the American Guild of Organists, the Lafayette String Quartet, and Chanticleer, for which he served as Composer-in-Residence through a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) program in 1990.

He has received NEA Composer Fellowships (1982, 1991) and a California Arts Council Fellowship (2001). His works are published by Schott Music, Plucked String Editions, and Terra Non-Firma Press (BMI).

Musical approach

Jaffe’s compositional style reflects influences from American experimentalism, particularly the work of Henry Brant, with whom he studied, as well as Carl Ruggles and Charles Ives.{{cite journal |author=Curtis Roads |display-authors=etal |jstor=3680297|title=Symposium on Computer Music Composition|journal=Computer Music Journal |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=40–63 |year=1986 |doi=10.2307/3680297 |url=https://hal-cnrs.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03950702/file/1986%20CMJ%20Symposium%20on%20Computer%20Music%20Composition.pdf }} His music draws from a range of stylistic sources, including world music traditions, jazz, and historical Western concert music.{{cite web |author=Brad Garton |title="CD Review of XX1st Century Mandolin, by David A. Jaffe" |url=http://www.music.columbia.edu/~brad/writing/papes/David_Jaffe_review.html}}

Jaffe’s work has been described as "maximalist" in scope and technique.{{Cite web|url=http://www.timescolonist.com/lafayette-string-quartet-concert-series-dedicated-to-pioneer-composer-david-jaffe-1.684050|title = Lafayette String Quartet concert series dedicated to pioneer composer David Jaffe| date=4 November 2013 }} Some of his compositions incorporate extra-musical or political themes, including “No Trumpets, No Drums,” which addresses the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

Several of his works explore Afro-Cuban musical elements, such as "Underground Economy"—written for Cuban jazz pianist Hilario Duran, violin, and interactive electronics—and “Bull’s Eye,” composed for violin, cello, and Afro-Cuban percussion.{{cite web | url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/entertainment/2009192394_duran08.html | title=Hilario Duran at Earshot Jazz |publisher=The Seattle Times }}

In addition to composition, Jaffe is an active performer on the mandolin and violin. He has played in genres including Afro-Cuban charanga, bluegrass, klezmer, and others. He has collaborated with musicians such as Mike Marshall, Tony Trischka, and Vassar Clements.

Development of ''Silicon Valley Breakdown''

In 1981, Jaffe received a commission from guitarist David Starobin to compose a piece for eight guitars, voice, and tape. Upon returning to Stanford that fall, he began developing the computer-generated component of the work using FM synthesis techniques, aiming to simulate plucked strings to blend more effectively with the live instruments.

During this time, Jaffe learned of a plucked-string synthesis technique from violist Alex Strong. He collaborated with electrical engineering Ph.D. student Julius O. Smith to refine the method, addressing issues related to tuning, dynamics, and expression.{{Cite web|url=http://www.dsprelated.com/dspbooks/pasp/Karplus_Strong_Algorithms.html|title=Karplus-Strong Algorithms | Physical Audio Signal Processing}}

Following the premiere of *May All Your Children Be Acrobats*, which combined FM synthesis and the string modeling technique, Jaffe composed a four-channel tape piece that further explored plucked-string synthesis. The resulting work, Silicon Valley Breakdown, premiered at the Venice Biennale in 1983 and was later performed internationally.{{cite web |url=http://www.iua.upf.es/~xserra/presentacions/Computer-Music-Research-Past-and-Present-Oslo-2004.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2009-07-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061231152908/http://www.iua.upf.es/~xserra/presentacions/Computer-Music-Research-Past-and-Present-Oslo-2004.pdf |archive-date=2006-12-31 }}{{cite web |url=http://www.tulane.edu/~park/courses/ElectronicMusicHistory/pages/LectureNotes.htm |title=Lecture Notes |access-date=2009-07-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081030014604/http://www.tulane.edu/~park/courses/ElectronicMusicHistory/pages/LectureNotes.htm |archive-date=2008-10-30 }}{{Cite web|url=http://music.arts.uci.edu/dobrian/MTCreadings.htm|title = Music Technology and Computers - Readings}}

Jaffe and Smith presented their extended version of the algorithm at the 1983 International Computer Music Conference. Their work was later published in *Computer Music Journal* alongside the original Karplus–Strong algorithm paper.{{cite journal |author=David A. Jaffe and Julius O. Smith |jstor=3680063|title=Extensions of the Karplus-Strong Plucked-String Algorithm|journal= Computer Music Journal|volume= 7|issue= 2|pages= 56–69|year= 1983|doi=10.2307/3680063 }} The paper was also reprinted in the MIT Press volume *The Music Machine*.

Silicon Valley Breakdown also incorporated developments in simulated ensemble synchronization and the use of a technique called the "Time Map."{{Cite web |url=http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/users/nc81/research/transhuman.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2009-07-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606233926/http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/users/nc81/research/transhuman.pdf |archive-date=2011-06-06 |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web |url=http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/users/nc81/research/tempocanons.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2009-07-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606233934/http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/users/nc81/research/tempocanons.pdf |archive-date=2011-06-06 |url-status=dead }} These aspects were described in the article *Ensemble Aspects of Computer Music*, published in *Computer Music Journal*.

An excerpt from the piece was included on *The Digital Domain*, one of the early commercial compact discs released to demonstrate digital audio technology. Silicon Valley Breakdown has also appeared on albums such as *XXIst Century Mandolin*{{Citation |title=David A. Jaffe - XXIst Century Mandolin |date=1994 |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/11206504-David-A-Jaffe-XXIst-Century-Mandolin |access-date=2025-01-03 |language=en}} and *Dinosaur Music*.

The Radio-drum and ''The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World''

Since the early 1990s, Jaffe has composed works for the Radiodrum, an electronic percussion interface developed by Bob Boie and Max Mathews at Bell Labs. One of his early compositions for the instrument, The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was written in collaboration with percussionist and composer Andrew Schloss.{{Cite web|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1998/01/22/DD40818.DTL&type=printable|title = Intricacy Surpasses Gadgetry / Computer-driven piano star of show, but music stellar, too|date = 22 January 1998}} The work integrates gesture-controlled electronics with traditional instrumentation, a technique explored by Jaffe and Schloss in their co-authored article *The Computer-Extended Ensemble*, published in *Computer Music Journal* in 1994.{{cite journal |author=David A. Jaffe and W. Andrew Schloss |jstor=3680445|title=The Computer-Extended Ensemble|journal=Computer Music Journal|volume=18|issue=2|pages=78–86|year=1994|doi=10.2307/3680445 }}

Jaffe also composed Racing Against Time for a mixed ensemble of two saxophones, two violins, piano, and electronics controlled via Radiodrum. The piece used the SynthCore sound engine to simulate physical models of instruments and mechanical effects, including electric guitar and engine sounds. The engine was developed at Staccato Systems, Inc., which was later acquired by Analog Devices and rebranded as SoundMax.

Additional Radiodrum-based compositions by Jaffe include Underground Economy, featuring Cuban pianist Hilario Duran, and Wildlife, written for Zeta violin and Radiodrum.{{Cite web |url=http://emusician.com/mag/emusic_outer_limits/ |title=The Outer Limits – A survey of unconventional musical input devices |access-date=2009-09-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090615175612/http://emusician.com/mag/emusic_outer_limits/ |archive-date=2009-06-15 |url-status=dead }}

Jaffe has also written for the Radio Baton, another gesture-based controller developed by Max Mathews. This instrument appears in works such as Terra Non Firma for four cellos and electronics. These compositions have been released on recordings including *Music for Radio Drum and Radio Baton* (Centaur Records) and *Music for Instruments and Electronics by David A. Jaffe* (Well-Tempered Productions).

He later collaborated with Seattle-based sound artist and inventor Trimpin on the work *The Space Between Us* (described in a later section).

''The Space Between Us'', a tribute to Henry Brant

The Space Between Us is a composition by Jaffe for Radio-drum-controlled percussion, Disklavier piano, and spatially arranged string quartet performers. The work was created in collaboration with sound artist Trimpin and percussionist/composer Andrew Schloss.

Following the death of composer Henry Brant, Jaffe and Trimpin each inherited portions of Brant’s percussion instruments, which were repurposed for this piece. With support from the Canada Arts Council, New Music USA, the James Irvine Foundation, and a commissioning consortium including Other Minds, the work evolved to include two string quartets and a variety of electronically controlled instruments.{{Cite web |url=https://www.newmusicusa.org/projects/the-space-between-us-for-8-strings-and-robotic-percussion-instruments/ |title=The Space Between Us, for 8 strings and robotic percussion instruments |access-date=2016-03-14 |archive-date=2016-03-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314115711/https://www.newmusicusa.org/projects/the-space-between-us-for-8-strings-and-robotic-percussion-instruments/ |url-status=dead }}

The instrumentation includes chimes suspended above the audience, a divided xylophone placed at the far left and right of the stage, a glockenspiel, and a Disklavier piano. These instruments are controlled via Radio-drum interface, while string players are positioned throughout the performance space, including the aisles and the rear of the hall.

The Space Between Us premiered on March 4, 2011, at the Other Minds Festival in San Francisco.{{Cite web |url=http://otherminds.org/shtml/Jaffespace.shtml |title=The Space Between Us |access-date=2011-03-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514084903/http://www.otherminds.org/shtml/Jaffespace.shtml |archive-date=2011-05-14 |url-status=dead }} It was subsequently performed at Open Space in Victoria, British Columbia (2013) and as part of the Wayward Music Series in Seattle (2016).{{Cite web|url=http://secondinversion.org/tag/david-jaffe/|title = David Jaffe | date=2 March 2016 }}{{Cite web|url=http://www.waywardmusic.org/event/david-jaffe-the-space-between-us/|title = Wayward Music Series | date = 5 March 2016}} The 2016 performance was supported in part by Nonsequitur and New Music USA.

Music and audio software

From 1988 to 1991, Jaffe worked at NeXT, a company founded by Steve Jobs, where he contributed to the development of music software for the NeXT Computer. Collaborating with Julius O. Smith, he helped create the Music Kit, a programmable environment for real-time sound synthesis that combined elements of Music V and MIDI in an object-oriented framework.{{Cite web|url=https://musickit.sourceforge.net/|title=The MusicKit V5.6.2|website=musickit.sourceforge.net}}

In the mid-1990s, Jaffe worked with the Boston-based company Ahead (later known as Virtual Music Entertainment) on interactive music games such as Welcome to West Feedback and Quest for Fame. These projects featured collaborations with rock bands, including Aerosmith, and used a proprietary guitar controller called the "vPick".{{Cite news | title=Air Guitar Stars: This Game's For You |newspaper=Bloomberg Business |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/1995-12-03/air-guitar-stars-this-games-for-you}}

In the late 1990s, Jaffe co-founded Staccato Systems, where he was involved in developing the SynthCore sound engine. After the company's acquisition by Analog Devices in 2001, he continued working as Chief Architect, contributing to the development of audio technologies such as SoundMAX and VisualAudio, the latter of which was presented at the 2006 Audio Engineering Society Conference in New York.

Since 2006, Jaffe has been a Senior Scientist/Engineer at Universal Audio. His work there includes contributions to DSP systems used in the UAD-2, Apollo, Satellite, and RealTime Rack platforms, which are designed to emulate analog audio equipment and provide high-resolution audio processing.

Jaffe holds several patents related to digital signal processing,{{cite web |url=http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5742532.html |title=System and method for generating fractional length delay lines in a digital signal processing system - US Patent 5742532 Abstract |access-date=2009-08-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612213321/http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5742532.html |archive-date=2011-06-12 }}{{cite web |url=http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5781461/fulltext.html |title=Digital signal processing system and method for generating musical legato using multitap delay line with crossfader - US Patent 5781461 Full Text |access-date=2009-08-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612213335/http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5781461/fulltext.html |archive-date=2011-06-12 }} and has received recognition from the Bourges Festival and the International Engineering Consortium.