Instruments and Devices
The Hammer Device
The Output Device
The Connector Device
The Connector device provides a flexible mechanism for coupling instrumental components together and coupling points on instrumental components to fixed anchor points. It does so by installing springs between the access points or anchors specified. Anchor points may be numerical constants (usually 0.0) or arbitrary expressions, the latter being useful for driving an instrument with an external signal (external to the instrument, not Tao itself).The technique of connecting an access point to a fixed anchor point is sometimes useful for restricting the amplitude of vibrations at certain points on an instrument. For example a component might have too many low frequency partials making the sound too bottom-heavy in which case various points on the instrument can be connected to zero anchor points allowing only the higher partials to continue vibrating. An extra attribute allows the strength of the installed spring to be set. This takes a value in the range [0..1] normally although higher values may work.
One of the most powerful features of Tao lies in the fact that the coordinates specifying the position of an access points do not have to be constant. They can be time-varying values derived from expressions in the score. This leads to the ability to create instruments which morph structurally as they are being played. The Connector device is therefore one of the most important provided by Tao since it enables complex, dynamically evolving instruments to be constructed.
Instruments and Devices
The Hammer Device
The Output Device