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STOCHASTIC PROCESS
Acoustics / Music

Any process which may be described in terms of probabilities. In such a process, although the details of individual events are unpredictable, the overall character or behaviour of the system will be. The compositional methods of Iannis Xenakis first introduced these ideas into music in the 1950s.

Natural processes, such as rain falling, the motion of groups of insects or birds, or the random movement of smoke particles in air may be described as stochastic.

Compare: AMBIENCE, GAUSSIAN NOISE, GRAIN, INTERNAL DYNAMICS, RANDOM NOISE, RUSTLE NOISE, STATIONARY SOUND, WHITE NOISE, and the sound examples under RHYTHM.

Sound Example: Rain ambience.

Sound Example: Small frogs, Rennes, France.

Sound Example: Doors on a train being slammed, Liverpool Street Station, London.


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