THE FEATURE SELECTOR PANEL

• The Feature Selector Panel, on the top right of the jSymbolic GUI, includes:
  • A table containing one row for each feature that jSymbolic can extract
    • The first column contains check boxes allowing users to select which features to save during feature extraction
    • The second column indicates the name of the feature
    • The third column indicates the unique code of the feature
      • e.g. "P-3" indicates the third basic pitch feature
    • The fourth column indicates the number of values the feature has
      • Some features are multi-dimensional (mostly histograms)
    • The fifth column indicates whether the feature may only be extracted from MEI (i.e. not MIDI) files
  • The Select Default Features button selects the features loaded in the last config file
  • The Select All Features button selects all of the features
  • The Deselect All Features button deselects all of the features
• Double clicking any of the features will bring up some additional information about it, including:
  • A brief description of it
  • Whether it may be extracted from overlapping windows of a file as well as from files as a whole, or only from files as a whole
  • Whether its calculation uses the values of any other features
    • You don't need to worry about this in practice, since jSymbolic is smart enough to calculate necessary dependent features in the background even if you have not selected these dependencies to be saved
• Let's start with a very simple set of features:
  • Press the Deselect All Features button
  • Check the Range (P-8) feature
  • Check the Most Common Pitch (P-16) feature
  • Check the Most Common Pitch Class (P-17) feature
  • This means that only three features are now set to be extracted
    • Normally we will extract far more, but this is a nice simple example for pedagogical purposes
• Please see the "Feature Explanations" section of the jSymbolic manual for more information on how each feature is defined

THE FEATURE EXTRACTION AND SAVING SETTINGS PANEL

• The Feature Extraction and Saving Settings Panel, on the bottom right of the jSymbolic GUI, includes:
  • The Set ACE XML Feature Values Save Path button allows the user to specify the path to which feature values will be saved
    • A save path can also be typed in directly
    • This path specifies where the ACE XML feature values file will be saved
      • "ACE XML" is a set of special output file formats used by jSymbolic and the other jMIR components
      • This ACE XML file is always saved, even if feature values are also saved as Weka ARFF or CSV files (see below)
  • The Set ACE XML Feature Definitions Save Path button allows the user to specify the path to which feature definitions will be saved
    • A save path can also be typed in directly
    • This path specifies where the ACE XML feature definitions file will be saved
      • Unlike the ACE XML feature values file, this file does not hold any feature values
        • Instead, it holds descriptions and other metadata about the features
        • This is useful for the purpose of archiving and sharing feature extraction information
  • The Auto Save Features in a Weka ARFF File check box allows users to also (i.e. in addition to the ACE XML feature values file) save features in an ARFF file
    • ARFF files are used by the Weka data mining software
    • The ARFF file will be saved in the same directory and with the same file name as the specified ACE XML feature values file, but with a different file extension
  • The Auto Save Features in a CSV File check box allows users to also (i.e. in addition to the ACE XML feature values file) save features in a CSV file
    • CSV files are a common format used by spreadsheets, Weka and many other programs
      • They are essentially just comma-delimited text files
    • The CSV file will be saved in the same directory and with the same file name as the specified ACE XML feature values file, but with a different file extension
  • The EXTRACT AND SAVE FEATURES button begins an actual feature extraction
• Let's do a simple feature extraction from the two files we selected and of the three features we selected in the previous steps
  • Press the Set ACE XML Feature Values Save Path button and navigate to inside the "01_Comparing_Two_Files" folder
    • In the File Name field type "MyJosqOckSimpleFeatureValues.xml"
    • Press the Save button
  • Press the Set ACE XML Feature Definitions Save Path button and navigate to inside the "01_Comparing_Two_Files" folder (you will probably already be there)
    • In the File Name field type "MySimpleFeatureDefinitions.xml"
    • Press the Save button
  • Leave the Auto Save Features in a Weka ARFF File and Auto Save Features in a CSV File boxes checked
  • Press the EXTRACT AND SAVE FEATURES button
    • Wait a few moments while the feature values are extracted
    • Note that updates are posted to the Processing Information Panel as processing progresses
    • Wait until a dialog box pops up telling you that processing is complete, and then press the OK button

Let's look at the results . . .

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