Abstract
Music-based therapies have been yielding favorable clinical outcomes in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, there is a lack of guidelines for content selection in music-based interventions. In this context, we propose a methodology for conducting experimental studies on musical preferences in children diagnosed with ASD. It consists of a generative music system with seven manipulable musical parameters where participants are encouraged to create music content according to their preferences. We conducted a preliminary transversal study with 24 children in the state of Pará, Brazil. The results suggest preferences for fast tempo, higher pitch, consonance, high event density, and timbres with smooth attacks. Intriguingly, the results revealed inconsistency in the identified preferences across therapy sessions. The critical need for personalized regulation in music-based interventions for children with ASD highlights the unique nature of individual responses, emphasizing the imperative of tailoring therapeutic approaches accordingly. © 2024. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original.

Abstract
Understanding the structural features of perceived musical emotions is crucial for various applications, including content generation and mood-driven playlists. This study performs a comparative statistical analysis to examine the association of a set of musical features with emotions, described using adjectives. The analysis uses two datasets containing rock and pop musical fragments, categorized as human-generated and AI-generated. Focusing on four emotional adjectives (happy, sad, angry, tender-gentle) representing each valence-arousal plane's quadrant, we analyzed semantic differential meanings reported as symmetric pairs for all possible combinations of quadrants through diagonals, vertical, and horizontal axes. The results obtained were discussed based on Livingstone's circular representation of emotional features in music. Our findings demonstrate that the human and AI-generated datasets could be considered equivalent for diagonal symmetries, while horizontal and vertical symmetries show discrepancies. Furthermore, we assessed significant separability for both happy-sad and angry-tender pairs in the human dataset. In contrast, the AI-generated music exhibits a strong differentiation mainly in the angry-gentle pair. © 2024. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original.

Abstract
This paper investigates sampling strategies within latent spaces for music generation, focusing on (chordified) J.S. Bach Chorales and utilizing MusicVAE as the generative model. We conduct an experiment comparing three sampling and interpolation strategies within the latent space to generate chord progressions - from a discrete vocabulary of Bach's chords - to Bach's original chord sequences. Given a three-chord sequence from an original Bach chorale, we assess sampling strategies for replacing the middle chord. In detail, we adopt the following sampling strategies: (1) traditional linear interpolation, (2) k-nearest neighbors, and (3) k-nearest neighbors combined with angular alignment. The study evaluates their alignment with music theory principles of functional harmony embedding and voice-leading to mirror Bach's original chord sequences. Preliminary findings suggest that knearest neighbors and k-nearest neighbors combined with angular alignment closely align with the tonal function of the original chord, with k-nearest neighbors excelling in bass line interpolation and the combined strategy potentially enhancing voice-leading in upper voices. Linear interpolation maintains aspects of voice-leading but confines selections within defined tonal spaces, reflecting the nonlinear characteristics of the original sequences. Our study contributes to the dynamics of latent space sampling for music generation, offering potential avenues for enhancing explainable creative strategies. © 2024. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original.

Abstract
This paper presents BiSAID, a dataset for exploring bipolar semantic adjectives in non-speech auditory cues, including earcons and auditory icons, i.e., sounds used to signify specific events or relay information in auditory interfaces from recorded or synthetic sources, respectively. In total, our dataset includes 599 non-speech auditory cues with different semantic labels, covering temperature (cold vs. warm), brightness (bright vs. dark), sharpness (sharp vs. dull), shape (curved vs. flat), and accuracy (correct vs. incorrect). Furthermore, we advance a preliminary analysis of brightness and accuracy earcon pairs from the BiSAID dataset to infer idiosyncratic sonic structures of each semantic earcon label from 66 instantaneous low- and mid-level descriptors, covering temporal, spectral, rhythmic, and tonal descriptors. Ultimately, we aim to unveil the relationship between sonic parameters behind earcon design, thus systematizing their structural foundations and shedding light on the metaphorical semantic nature of their description. This exploration revealed that spectral characteristics (e.g. spectral flux and spectral complexity) serve as the most relevant acoustic correlates in differentiating earcons on the dimensions of brightness and accuracy, respectively. The methodology holds great promise for systematizing earcon design and generating hypotheses for in-depth perceptual studies. © 2024. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original.

Abstract
Extensive computational research has been dedicated to detecting keys and modes in tonal Western music within the major and minor modes. Little research has been dedicated to other modes and musical expressions, such as folk or non-Western music. This paper tackles this limitation by comparing traditional template-based with unsupervised machine-learning methods for diatonic mode detection within folk music. Template-based methods are grounded in music theory and cognition and use predefined profiles from which we compare a musical piece. Unsupervised machine learning autonomously discovers patterns embedded in the data. As a case study, the authors apply the methods to a dataset of Irish folk music called The Session on four diatonic modes: Ionian, Dorian, Mixolydian, and Aeolian. Our evaluation assesses the performance of template-based and unsupervised methods, reaching an average accuracy of about 80%. We discuss the applicability of the methods, namely the potential of unsupervised learning to process unknown musical sources beyond modes with predefined templates.

Abstract
We introduce a novel perspective on set-class analysis combining the DFT magnitudes with the music visualisation technique of wavescapes. With such a combination, we create a visual representation of a piece's multidimensional qualia, where different colours indicate saliency in chromaticity, diadicity, triadicity, octatonicity, diatonicity, and whole-tone quality. At the centre of our methods are: 1) the formal definition of the Fourier Qualia Space (FQS), 2) its particular ordering of DFT coefficients that delineate regions linked to different musical aesthetics, and 3) the mapping of such regions into a coloured wavescape. Furthermore, we demonstrate the intrinsic capability of the FQS to express qualia ambiguity and map it into a synopsis wavescape. Finally, we showcase the application of our methods by presenting a few analytical remarks on Bach's Three-part Invention BWV 795, Debussy's Reflets dans l'eau, andWebern's Four Pieces for Violin and Piano, Op. 7, No. 1, unveiling increasingly ambiguous wavescapes.