Extraction and visualization of the repetitive structure of music in acoustic data: misual project

This paper proposes a method to identify and visualize repetitive structures in music in PCM format using a similarity matrix. The Hough transform is used on the matrix to identify repetitions in a tune. Identified structures are visualized on an image called misual. Misual is a colored cylinder of a varying diameter, where colors represent repetitions and the diameter represents volume changes. The performance of the identification and visualization is evaluated with well-known classical tunes. Misual shows not only the dominant repetitions but also repeated patterns which can not be easily recognized while listening to a tune or reading its score. By revealing these patterns, misual gives a new point of view for musical structure analysis and at the same time gives people a new way to appreciate music.