tempo and complexity tools

[L-L Balkwill <balkwill@xxxxxxxx>]

Hi all,

I am surveying the literature to find out what kinds of tools people are
using to assess tempo (speed of pulse) and complexity (repetition of motif
and event density) in musical stimuli. I am particularly
interested in computer software, such as 'SoundEdit' and 'SoundSwell'.

My understanding so far is that these programs will give you a
spectrograph of a small segment of music which you can then enlarge. But
to get an idea of event density or bpm you must manually count the peaks
or engage in more traditional methods of tracking tempo and judging meter.

I would like to know what people on the list are using for 'objective'
measures of tempo and complexity -- and whether these tools are limited to
assessments of music in the Western diatonic tonal system. In other words
are they configured to assess 2/4, 3/4, 4/4 or could they be used to
assess the tempo and rhythmic grouping of non-Western music?

Laura-Lee Balkwill
Department of Psychology
026 Atkinson College
York University
(416) 736-2100 ext. 66399