An online audio alignment tool for live musical performance

Alignment of live audio material with a recorded interpretation of the same piece is a growing interest in computer music research. We present an implementation of a modified online dynamic time warping algorithm for live music performance in the form of a new Max/MSP¹ external object. The tool tracks key points in the musician's playing in order to start and finish in time with the incoming audio and maintain temporal synchronization throughout, despite variations or mistakes in the live musician's input. We examine the present algorithm's alignment performance using a representative set of pairs of audio material, and compare the results to existing related algorithms. We demonstrate the applicability of the tool in a real musical situation and propose directions for future development.