EMUSIC-L Digest Volume 4, Number 4 Today's Topics: Exchanging sequences via net? (6 messages) Birdsongs of the Mesozoic News from Quebec (2 messages) References for beginners (2 messages) Synth documentation (2 messages) Request for IBM-PC MIDI help (7 messages) "Arranging Techniques for Musicians" Orchestral favorites Looking for Akai S950 documentation EMUSIC-L file archives S-550 explanations Mac serial timing delays Roland MIDI and IBM-PC questions Requirements for exotic synthesis methods? Expertise list (4 messages) Alogorithmic composition query Commodore C64 MIDI - "SID"? Your EMUSIC-L Digest moderator is Joe McMahon . You may subscribe to EMUSIC-L by sending mail to listserv@american.edu with the line "SUB EMUSIC-L your name" as the text. The EMUSIC-L archive is a service of SunSite (sunsite.unc.edu) at the University of North Carolina. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 22 Apr 89 10:03:02 CDT From: "David M. Stowell (312) 996-7990" Subject: Expertise list etc. This one's for Eric: An expertise list would be a great idea. Given what I assume is a myriad array of specialties in electronic music, it would be presumptuous for most anyone to claim a comprehensive knowledge of every technique. This list could make up for that quite easily. In other words, *go for it!* Other topics: It seems that my question about compositional technique ran into a dead end rather quickly. It does make one wonder where the people who subscribe to this list are not musicians as such, but people addicted to the idea of making pretty noises with the most advanced electronic equipment possible. I would prefer to be proven wrong, but where's the evidence? (Don't panic, Eric, I'm not planning on signing off. Technological conversation has its place.) In view of that, it's too bad that while programs and such can be transmitted across BITNET/Internet, there's no reasonable way to transmit recorded pieces (not sequences, but recordings) across the network. Don't the rest of you wonder what the music of other subscribers really sounds like? Just a thought... |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| | David M. Stowell \|/ | | University of Illinois at Chicago \ / | | BITNET: U17227@UICVM.BITNET = = | | Internet: U17227@UICVM.UIC.EDU /|\ | | <=> | | \ = / | | The optimist laughed \ = / | | And the pessimist cried in his wine = | | And the madman said "Son, = | | Take a word--they'll all wake, given time = | | | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 22 Apr 89 15:14:43 EDT From: "Kurt A. Geisel" Subject: Re: Musicians on EMUSIC-L (was Expertise list etc.) As a musician, I admit I am just getting started. However, in my somewhat reckless exploration of this field, I have found one thing: "seasoned" musicians seem to have an incredibly delicate ego about their musical ability. Personally, I think the pop music scene is way too competitive and I think judging other's music is detrimental, especially to an information forum such as this one. I wouldn't want to turn this list into a critic's corner into which we placed our sequences for judgement. MIDI and electronic instruments have allowed a lot of people who would have never had the time to become an acoustic instrument virtuoso to create interesting music (and, consequently, a lot "bad" music). And we certainly don't need to argue the virtues that MIDI has a compositional tool. Furthermore, there really *are* people in the "Computer Music" field who are only interested in digital synthesis techniques and (horror) algorithmic composition. Anyway, while I think we should *definitely* keep "musically knowledgable" discussion in this list, i.e. composition techniques, professional scoring aids, dynamics, etc. etc., we should definitely not point the "not a musician" finger here. After all, we could always turn into a philosophy of art or music taste list... - Kurt Kurt Geisel SNAIL : Carnegie Mellon University 65 Lambeth Dr. ARPA : kg19+@andrew.cmu.edu Pittsburgh, PA 15241 UUCP : uunet!nfsun!kgeisel "I will not be pushed, filed, indexed, stamped, BIX : kgeisel briefed, debriefed, or numbered!" - The Prisoner ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 22 Apr 89 15:54:35 EDT From: "Kurt A. Geisel" Subject: Re: Posting Sequences (was Expertise list etc.) With most of the latest sequencers offering MIDI standard sequence files or file converters, this is conceptually possible. However, I would still not recommend it. I have seen the effects of playing the same sequence on different synth setups and a given piece can be totally changed. MIDI just isn't that universal yet. For instance, my main synth is an analog Oberheim Matrix-12 and I can program given analog voices to produce wide sweeps and multi-triggered effects from a single MIDI note. There is no way I could just plug in a set of Casio CZs and hope to get the same piece. In fact, most synth's velocity scales don't even match! Timbre plays a pretty important role in my compositional process and I just wouldn't feel comfortable having just a MIDI sequence represent a given piece. Furthermore, a often depend on specific effects boxes and the like for important events in the piece which you just couldn't match unless you had exactly the same set-up. While I think it's great to be able to get popular sequences (and the very melodic stuff like Bach), it just wouldn't do justice to most "electronic" pieces, at least in my analog "spacey" style. - Kurt Kurt Geisel SNAIL : Carnegie Mellon University 65 Lambeth Dr. ARPA : kg19+@andrew.cmu.edu Pittsburgh, PA 15241 UUCP : uunet!nfsun!kgeisel "I will not be pushed, filed, indexed, stamped, BIX : kgeisel briefed, debriefed, or numbered!" - The Prisoner ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 23 Apr 89 20:14:05 CDT From: "David M. Stowell (312) 996-7990" Subject: Kurt Geseil's response A bit of clarification may be in order here. First, I don't know how long M. Geseil has been participating on the EMUSIC-L list, but it should be noted that my occasional postings on the list tend to be salted with an extra dose of rhetoric when I think that it makes my point clearer. In particular, I was trying to point out to the general audience that the emphasis on the list is so weighted toward the technical aspects of electronic music (instruments, hardware, software) that we sounded more like a bunch of engineers, not musicians. C'est claire? Second, perhaps it was proximity to my first diatribe, but my thought that it would be nice to hear the music of people on the list should not imply that I want to hold up each person's music for critical evaluation. It springs instead from simple friendly curiosity---a desire to hear what each of us does with the tools that we spend so much time talking about on the list. I have enough bad music (or should I say, *AWFUL!* music) in my own archives that I would be rather out of place to act as judge (and Lord High Executioner) of the music of others. I am also fully aware that simply sending sequences around the system is not at all the same as hearing the sequences on the synthesizers they were intended to be heard on. Enough rambling for now. Let's talk about music! |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| | David M. Stowell \|/ | | University of Illinois at Chicago \ / | | BITNET: U17227@UICVM.BITNET = = | | Internet: U17227@UICVM.UIC.EDU /|\ | | <=> | | \ = / | | The optimist laughed \ = / | | And the pessimist cried in his wine = | | And the madman said "Son, = | | Take a word--they'll all wake, given time = | | | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Apr 89 14:05:34 EDT From: "Kurt A. Geisel" Subject: Re: Kurt Geseil's response If it sounded like I was implying that Mr. Stowell would be a critical judge of netter's music, I apolgize. I was certainly not talking about Mr. Stowell, but I guess I have a tendency to anticipate currents in a discussion group and I was just trying to change the direction of that thread. Mainly, it was something that was bothering me at the time- Emusic experimenter's getting bashed for not being "real musicians." Mr. Stowell's observation of the technical nature of this list must have triggered it. Anyway, the post about the problem of sending sequences alone was not a suggestion that we do nothing, it was more a challenge to change this deficiency. I certainly don't see a solution- SDL is the only thing I can think of and that is already being discussed. I was hoping for a more practical solution (like maybe establishing a snail mail network of audio cassette tapes.) - Kurt Kurt Geisel SNAIL : Carnegie Mellon University 65 Lambeth Dr. ARPA : kg19+@andrew.cmu.edu Pittsburgh, PA 15241 UUCP : uunet!nfsun!kgeisel "I will not be pushed, filed, indexed, stamped, BIX : kgeisel briefed, debriefed, or numbered!" - The Prisoner ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Apr 89 16:27:00 EST From: Chris Iverson Subject: A group you might find interesting... Hello all, I don't know if this is really an appropriate posting for this list, but... I just heard a concert by a group that some of you might be interested in. The name of the group is "Birdsongs of the Mesozoic", and they are currently making a tour of the Mid-Atlantic states. They are difficult to label, as their music ranges from minimalist dissonance to new-age drones (sometimes within the same piece), but I think I can safely say that if you are musically open-minded you will at least find them interesting, and from what I have read from this forum, I think many of you would like them. They have several albums out, the latest of which is called "Magnetic Tape" (I think) and is on the Rykodisc label. I won't go into great detail so you won't be predisposed towards an opinion of them, but I was impressed by their music, and recommend them to anyone looking for something different from what you hear on the radio. The remainder of their tour schedule follows: 4/26: Charlottesville VA, the C&O club 4/27: Richmond VA, Rockitz 4/28: Raleigh NC, The Brewery 4/29: Charlotte NC, The Milestone 4/30: Greenville SC, Studio B 5/1: Charlotte NC, Cafe De L'Artists 5/2: Boone NC, Amadeus 5/3: Blacksburg VA, The Cellar 5/4: Washington DC, D.C. Place 5/5: Philadelphia PA, Arch Street Theatre 5/6: New Brunswick NJ, Court Tavern 5/7: Albany NY, Q.E. II 5/11: Worcester MA, Worcester Artists Group 5/12: Naugatuck CT, Nightshift Cafe 5/13: Hoboken NJ, Maxwells 5/17: New York NY, The Knitting Factory 5/18: Boston MA, Necco Place 5/20: Newburyport MA, Newburyport Screening Room Enjoy... Chris Iverson ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Apr 89 13:04:28 EDT From: R21254@UQAM Subject: News from Quebec ************************************************************** * News from Quebec: your french neighbours in North America * ************************************************************** 1) Francois Bayle, director of the GRM (Groupe de recherche musicale) of Paris was in Montreal these last days for a series of concert. The GRM has been created by Pierre Schaeffer in 1948 when he invented the expression "Musique concrete". Pierre Henry was one other of this famous group. He's well known for his creation "SYMPHONIE POUR UN HOMME SEUL" on a choreography of Maurice Bejart en 1955. The GRM receive each year composers from around the world in their studios. The group conducts also experimental research in psychoaccoustics, musical perception, technologies of electro-acoustics instruments. A collection of compacts disks is available on more then 50 titles chosen from an "acousmatheque" of more then 2000 titles. This collection is known as the "INA-GRM" collection. --------------- 2) Francois Bayle was the host of the ACREQ (Association pour la creation et la recherche electroacoustique du Quebec, C.P. 416, succursale Outremont, Quebec H2V 4N3). This french association of Quebec has celebrated, this year, its 10th anniversary of foundation by a series of concert, the last 20-21-22 of April. The goals of the ACREQ are: regrouping composers interest in e-music (electroacoustique); promote the creation and research made by the members in Quebec; establish contacts with people interest by EMUSIC elsewhere; develop new technologies of creation and diffusion. A collection of cassette tape is available at the ACREQ: creations of Myke Roy, Marcelle Deschenes, Claude Frenette, Philippe Menard, Michel Tetrault, Michelle Boudreau, Serge Arcuri, Michel Longtin, Yves Daoust, etc. ---------------- 3) The SMCQ (Societe de musique contemporaine du Quebec, 3575 boulevard St-Laurent, bureau 422, Montreal, Quebec H2X 2T7; tel. 514- 843-9305) is an older association of contemporary music (including EMUSIC) than the previous one. This year the 191th concert of the 23th season, (the last one of this season) was held at the Spectrum Hall in Montreal on the 26 of April. The programm, entitle Doppler concert, consist of the works made by: Gyorgy Ligeti, Continuum (1968) for Harpsichord; Francois Bayle, Le sommeil d'Euclide (1983) (Son Vitesse- Lumiere IV) for tape; Giacinto Scelsi, Okanagon (1968) for harp, tam- tam and double-bass; Bernard Parmegiani, Rouge-Mort (1987) (suite du ballet realise d'apres Carmen de Prosper Merimee) 5th movement - Thanathos, for tape; Mauricio Kagel, Rrrr (1982) for two percussion players. Finally the most of the concert was the creation of "Chroniques de la lumiere" (1989) made by Francis Dhomont. This emusic work include a light installation created by Luc Courchesne. ----------------- 4) What's coming on in Quebec? Is't all pass events? NO... From April 28 to May 2, don't miss the EMUSIC and multi-media concert created specially by Michel-Georges Bregent as composer, and L'Ecran humain as performers, for the 50th anniversary of the Office national du Film (National Film Board, in the english version). Call at 514- 283-9036... if you wants to have tickets or more information. Do it fast. It's already sold! ('cause entrance is free). There will be a prolongation, if people ask it. So phone. On May 3, Le nouvel ensemble moderne (NEM) presents a concert of contemporary music: works of Mauricio Kagel, Kaija Saariaho, Steve Reich, Ada Gentile, Gyorgy Ligeti. At the end of May, SACRA will present les evenements de la Pataphysique (events of pataphysics). EMUSIC will contribute at the events from May 28 to the first of June at la Chapelle du Bon Pasteur: works of Michelle Boudreau and Luc Bourbonnais. For more information, call 514-935-2641. That's good reasons to come enjoy the french touch of Montreal... ---------------- This bulletin on News from Quebec, will be hold periodically. If you get interest on what's going on here, send me an email, I would appreciate your critics or commentaries. Pierre-Alain Cotnoir R21254@UQAM ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Apr 89 14:36:53 EDT From: Eric Harnden Subject: RE: News from Quebec i love it!! would anyone care to begin similar newsletters for other regions/topics? we have several subscribers from the UK, Germany, even Japan. would they like to contribute in such a manner? i think it would be wonderful if some of us took to providing newsletters on various musical and technical topics. it would fall in well with the resume idea, as well. Eric Harnden (Ronin) The American University Physics Dept. (202) 885-2758 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Apr 89 12:49:14 CDT From: SHANKER JANAKIRAMAN Subject: REFERENCES FOR BEGINNERS I AM NEW TO THE FIELD OF COMPUTER MUSIC. I AM INTERESTED IN EXPLORING THIS AREA WITH THE IDEA OF DEVELOPING A COMPUTER COMPOSER-ASSISTANT. MOREOVER I AM INTERESTED IN GENERATING MUSIC OF DIFFERENT COUNTRIES, I.E. WITH THE SPECIFIC FLAVORS. CAN ANYONE SUGGEST SOME BOOKS FOR A LAY MAN STARTING WITH BASICS OF COMPUTER MUSIC, SUCH AS HARDWARE AND ACOUSTICS? THANX IN ADVANCE. -SHANKER J. BITNET : ME22EMG @ VM.TCS.TULANE.EDU ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Apr 89 11:44:00 CDT From: UUCJEFF@ECNCDC Subject: re. reference for beginners For developing computer composer-assistant: There are of course a number of directions you can go, depending on your background. There are expert systems which do some of the compositional processes, David Cope from Santa Cruz has a number of papers out on his Experiments in Music Intelligence. For the AI approach, see the AAAI-88 Proceedings on the First Workshop in AI and Music. In the Computer Music Journal, there is one issue in which the authors of M and Jam Factory describe their products. If you are less interested in computers which perform compositional processes and just do sequences, then you probably could find stuff at a music store about sequencers. I don't know which one is best. Sometime the Electronic Musician mags have guidelines for purchasing sequencers et al. Jeff Beer, UUCJEFF@ECNCDC.BITNET, Chicago Illinois. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Apr 89 22:43 EDT From: GUEST4@YUSol Subject: shared document design Eric, Here's a thought which may or may not make sense to put in the digest. Someone complained about the Roland manual for the S-550. Our Music Dept. just bought one, and we have several s_50s around -- same problem. At one time, just after HyperCard came out, we had the idea of writing a decent manual for the beast in that format. Still a good idea, though I doubt if anyone could find a way to make the effort pay off financially. Perhaps it would make a good project with which to inaugurate the era of collective production of useful documentation via EMUSIC -- moving the List/Digest into yet another mode, as a vehicle for shared document creation. Think about it before running it up the mast, and let me know your reaction. Sterling Beckwith (Kanjira) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Apr 89 10:59:12 BST From: Nick Rothwell Subject: shared document design Hmm. I recently read an article describing the set-up at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Despite the rather antiquated name, the workshop has a fair amount of high-tech gear. In case you don't know, the BBC is our public television corporation, and the workshop provides facilities for a number of composers to produce (semi-) electronic sounds and music for programmes, jingles, etc. The usual image of a big studio with huge racks full of steaming silicon doesn't apply here. There may be several composers all working away on a variety of projects, and they need to be able to work at the same time. So, the workshop is divided into a number of fairly small circular rooms. Each room contains a few DMP-7 mixers, plus a few samplers and synths. And, each room has a Macintosh II running Performer. To solve the massive organisational problem of managing people's patch libraries and set-ups, they commissioned some Hypercard software to file and index everybody's working "environment". In addition, the Macs are networked, so that composers can (presumably) access other instruments in other rooms, if necessary. All the patch editing software, sequencing, instrument set-up, and so on, is driven and managed from Hypercard. That's about all I remember. I have the article, if anybody wants to press me for details. Nick. -- Nick Rothwell, Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science, Edinburgh. nick@lfcs.ed.ac.uk !mcvax!ukc!lfcs!nick ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ Fais que ton reve soit plus long que la nuit. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Apr 89 19:31:00 PST From: ASDXLLL@OSUCC Subject: Software information Greetings! I am rather new to this list and was wondering if anyone could tell me if there are *ANY* programs availiable for the IBM PC-Convertible (256k - dont laugh to much)? i.e. Sound effects generation, composers, etc... Thanks is advance! Lonny Lynn Lowe ASDxLLL@OSUCC Administrative Systems Development Oklahoma State University Stillwater, Ok 74078 USA ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Apr 89 13:00:02 EDT From: tony pagliaro Subject: Re: IBM The IBM PS2 Model 30 is fully compatable with all midi setups. Software is avi alable for sequencing, editor/librarian functions and anything else your little heart desires, although the selection is more limited than that for the MAC or the Commodore Amiga. I also understand that the set-up of the IBM model 50 is imcompatable with current midi interfaces because of the card port positioning Currenty, I am using a wonderful little piece of software called CAKEWALK to act as a sequencer. It does a wonderful job of driving my Kurzweil PX1000, Rol and D-110 and my favorite Battle-axe, Ensoniq ESQ-1, and it is relatively inexp ensive. If you are not using SMPTE, then this software will be more than adequa te. By the way, it is a 256 track sequencer, which should be enough for any mu sician. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Apr 89 13:10 EST From: Chaos Incarnate Subject: IBM Could anyone describe to me to what extent IBM PS2's can be used in conjunction with MIDI setups? Thanks, Dan Kraus DKRAUS@FORDMURH ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Apr 89 22:24:34 EDT From: "Kevin R. Weiner" Subject: Re: IBM Apparently the only MIDI interface available for Micro Channel PS/2's is a device called the Midiator from Key Electronic. Plugs into a serial port. I understand that there aren't many software packages yet which support it. Key Electronic Enterprises 9112 Hwy 80 W, Suite 221-E Fort Worth, TX 76116 1-800-KEE-MIDI Kevin Weiner Lehigh University Computing Center (215) 758-3991 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Apr 89 08:50:00 EDT From: "Dr. DOS" Subject: RE: IBM Dan Kraus writes: > Could anyone describe to me to what extent IBM PS2's can be used > in conjunction with MIDI setups? At this point in time, PS/2s still come in two flavors - Microchannel bus and PC bus. The Models 25, 30, and 30/286 are all original PC bus machines. Each of them can be used with current MPU-401 compatible cards, although the 30/286 runs at 10Mhz. You might need to be sure that the card you want can run at the higher clock speeds; some early ones couldn't. Models 50 and higher all use the new Microchannel bus, for which no MIDI cards yet exist. There is a serial-port, RS-232 based interface available which will work with these machines. Since it's not MPU-401 compatible, though, there is no software for it short of what the manufacturer provides. It's made by Kee Industries and they also have a simple 16 track sequencer for it. I've not heard of anyone planning a Microchannel interface yet! Dave Goodwin GOODWIN@SMCVAX ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Apr 89 11:00:48 EST From: Donald Cross Subject: Midi for RS-232 Hi there! I am an IBM-PC hacker type who is interesting in experimenting with Midi. I have a relatively inexpensive Yamaha midi keyboard and an IBM-PC (the original true-blue 4 MHz box-o-computer!), but right now I have no interface between the two. Someone in this list recently mentioned that you could get a midi interface that would work via an RS-232 serial port, for MicroChannel bus PS/2's. It sounds like such an interface might work for the old PC's as well...that would be great for me, because my PC's motherboard is packed to the gills with expansion cards, but I happen to have an unused RS-232 cable dangling over the backboard of the machine. Can anyone give me more details about this interface, the price, and where I might get one? I would REALLY, REALLY appreciate it! Thanks, Don "Quixote" Cross ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Apr 89 11:38:00 EDT From: CHRIS 'BARBOSA' ENGLISH Subject: Re: IBM Does anyone know of any software packages that support the Midiator from Kee Electronics. I'm new to this area so I purchased the Midiator because of its low price. I would like to build on my system if it is possible so I need to know. Thanx in ADvance, Chris A. English Suny @Buffalo V098PXG5 @ubvmsd ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Apr 89 10:50:38 BST From: Nick Rothwell Subject: Musical Arrangement This morning, my copy of "Arranging Techniques for Musicians" arrived in the post. I've spent several months looking for a decent, modern book which deals with *MUSIC*. There are so many guides to MIDI, sequencing, sampler technology, computers, and so on, but this is the first book which seems to deal with the musical aspect of things. Why don't the magazines cover the principles of music as well? I buy two British magazines (Music Technology and Sound On Sound) and one American one (Keyboard). Much as I hate the laid-back be-all-you-can- be style of Keyboard, it has the saving grace of carrying a few music- based columns; Fowler's Applied Theory column is wonderful. But, the British magazines don't even carry any printed manuscript examples any more. Anyway: "Arranging Techniques for Musicians" is by Eric Turkel, and is published by Amsco. In contrast to other Amsco books I've seen, this one is actually nicely typeset, and not (to an quick once-over) full of typographical errors and blunders like The Complete DX7 or MIDI for Musicians. A quick run over the chapter headings: Understanding Form, Melody, Rhythm: Using a Drum Machine, Harmony, Strings, Acoustic Brass, Woodwinds, Small Horn Sections, Writing for the Rhythm Section, Vocal Arranging, Transcription Techniques. This implies that he's used the orchestra as a reference point. That's fine for my purposes; and the book is full of examples of voicings and arrangements, using orchestral, as well as synthesis, terms. This is all based on a 5-minute flick through the pages. If anybody wants to know more, I'll be able to comment when I've spent some time with it. Nick. -- Nick Rothwell, Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science, Edinburgh. nick@lfcs.ed.ac.uk !mcvax!ukc!lfcs!nick ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ Fais que ton reve soit plus long que la nuit. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 22 Apr 89 01:01:00 EST From: Robert Nelson Subject: A favorite of mine Hello all. I just received access to this list, so I decided to make an introductory post. One of my favorite "collections" of music (types) *has* to be Dr. Demento. I just finished listening to "Star Trekkin'" and "Wet Dream", and they are HILARIOUS!! Plus the others such as "They're Coming to Take Me Away, ha-ha", "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight", and "King Tut", just make a collection like that a Classic. What do you all think? Well, I have a Commodore 64, and use it primarily for entertainment. I have several music programs, but my utmost favorite is the SID PLAYER. It is capable of 3 voices, and if I can get my hands on the other SID chip, 6 voices, and stereo. REAL impressive. Does anyone else out there use SID? I have recently received the Sid Editor, and can now write my own songs, and put others to disk (and fix the ones that someone else did that sounds Horrible!). The latest SID, version 10.1 and 11.1, support MIDI too, although nothing I have is capable of MIDI...i.e. no keyboard. Any comments? Rob Nelson ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Apr 89 13:21:00 EDT From: Brian Klassen MUMC-1C7 x5153 Subject: Akai S950 Documentation Speaking of documention, I recently purchased an Akai S950 sampler, and the manual, to say the least, really stinks. I would appreciate knowing if anyone has or has heard of a third-party manual for this beast. Thanks in advance, Brian Klassen Chedoke-McMaster Hospitals PO Box 2000, Station A Hamilton, Ontario L8N 3Z5 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Apr 89 12:25:36 EDT From: Eric Harnden Subject: archives well, we're up and runnning. i've dropped quite a few files in the archives, just to get us started. included are an updated info file, a template form for submitting new files for the archives, and a resume form for the 'expertise list'. any comments on these things would be helpful. start grabbing and doing up that resume... i'd like to start up the resource file soon. i'll probably have glib in by the end of next week. several people have mentioned something about d10 and other patch dumps for swap. send them in. don't forget to also send in the submission form, or equivalent. of other current files.. i've installed something called ALGCMP1 C, which some of you may remember as a piece of code posted to this list about a month ago. also, i've put in my own DXTutor, a DX7 simulator project from way back. it's in revision, so don't expect *too* much. Eric Harnden (Ronin) The American University Physics Dept. (202) 885-2758 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Apr 89 02:50:38 BST From: "Patrick C.K.Tsang" Subject: Re: S-550 confusion You friend is 'one of those lazy ones' isn't he ? The Roland S-550 is actually very easy to use. In my opinion one of the best designed samplers. To run it efficiently a CRT monitor is absolutely essential, but it is no harder than using a Mac. Under the 'Edit' menu there are MOVE/COPY options which can be used to move tones within the memory. You can also load in one tone at a time into the memory using LOAD TONE option. Sub-menu is specifically for use in finding tones. Whereas menus like 'Edit' get you to the commands. For example: To move tone say i11 to i23, go to MOVE/COPY via the menu. Click on 'sub-menu' which will say SOURCE. You then click on i11, and the sampler will say DESTINATION. Click on i23 and then click on EXECUTE, and the job is done. To load a tone from disk you do the same with the LOAD TONE option. The difference is you get DISK and INTERNAL instead for the sub-menu headers. There are lots of other wicked things the Roland samplers can do. You only start to appreciate it after owning one. However the low sample rate is a bit of a drawback. Anything else ? Patrick. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Apr 89 10:01:32 BST From: Nick Rothwell Subject: Mac Serial Timing Delays Patrick C.K.Tsang writes: > Just wondering how many people out there have timing delays > due to the Macintosh's inefficient serial port. I've not had any such problems. I haven't tried to fire as many as a dozen notes all on the same tick, but I've put together some sequence loops with trilled and "strummed" notes (rather hard to describe the effect), and have had no problems. I've occasionally noticed delays within instruments: I had a borrowed D-110 a while back, and had delay problems with the bass riff. I moved the bass riff to another synth (same Mac serial port), and it was fine. I don't know what's inside a Jam Box. I use a bog-standard MIDI interface (I have an Opcode one, and now use a home-built one), so there's no hardware intelligence to get in the way. If you want, I'll try stacking large numbers of notes together and see if I have the same problems. I doubt the problem is hardware - the Mac serial ports can run pretty fast (200 kbaud or so) for AppleTalk, so MIDI shouldn't be a problem. But, 12 notes is potentially 36 bytes or 12 milliseconds, which is certainly an audible amount of time. Performer's port driving software seems pretty excellent, from my experience. Nick. -- Nick Rothwell, Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science, Edinburgh. nick@lfcs.ed.ac.uk !mcvax!ukc!lfcs!nick ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ Fais que ton reve soit plus long que la nuit. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Apr 89 11:41:00 EST From: CTDONATH@SUNRISE Subject: Some hardware (Roland MIDI, Music Feature) Does anyone know anything about Roland's PC-100 or D-5? Or anything about building a PC-MIDI interface that is compatable with Roland's card or IBM's Music Feature? TNX 1x10^6 -=- CTDONATH@SUNRISE -=- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Apr 89 09:13:55 EDT From: Eric Harnden Subject: operational requirements i'll get around to answering some of the questions that have been left hanging, soon. right now i've got one of my own. i've seen several references in the discussion to what i would term exotic synthesis methods.. waveshaping.. granular synthesis.. dsp programming.. etc. what exactly does it take to run these kinds of things? mainframes.. minis.. micros? are you calculating event segments and running them on commercial samplers? are you doing *real* computer synthesis.. long production runs to data tape, then buffered from that to a dac to analog tape? if so, what are the requirements of your system? what does such a thing cost, the way you're doing it? what sources of funding are there? humanities endowments? research grants? ok.. so it's several questions. but you see what i'm after. i'm trying to find out what it takes in hardware, software, infrastructure, tools, resources, ..., to do something a little beyond dx7 programming. Eric Harnden (Ronin) The American University Physics Dept. (202) 885-2758 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Apr 89 09:39:04 EST From: Eric Harnden Subject: Expertise listing? Somewhere along the line I got the idea that it would be nice to maintain a file in the local file server that would provide information about our subscribers and what they do. In general, the response has been positive. Accordingly, there is now a file available on the EMUSIC FILELIST called EMUSIC RESUME. GET it, fill it out, and send it to me if you feel like being part of the knowledge base. Reprinted here are some of the informative responses. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Apr 89 13:39:04 -0400 From: Brian Adamson Subject: EMUSIC Expertise This note is in reponse to the request for a description of the expertise inhabiting the EMUSIC lists. I guess I view this as an opportunity to describe the equipment I own and therefore have experience with. I am perfectly willing to field anyone's questions. I'm not guaranteeing meaningful answers, but will try. I am, of course interested in any interesting patches, samples or sequences that anyone is interested in sharing. I have a few things that may be of interest to some people (i.e. DSS-1 "banjo sample", various DMCS scores). My hardware and software repertoire goes something as follows: Synths: Korg DSS-1, Poly-800, Roland MT-32, TR-505, Moog Rogue. Software: Electronic Arts Deluxe Music COnstruction Set 2.0, Southworth Music Systems MidiPaint. (Have also written a Pascal program to convert MidiPaint files into file format read by Music Construction Set. Computers: Macintosh SE, Macintosh II & IIx. I hope this isn't too off mark for what the list was looking for. I am currently working full-time as an Electronics Engineer. I have experience designing Digital Signal Processing (DSP) hardware and software and may be able to provide some quasi-intelligent remarks or ideas in that area as well. I hope to be trying out some reverb and other effects-oriented algorithms on a Texas Instruments TMS320C30 based DSP board with Hi-Fi A/D & D/A capability in the near future (probably NuBus/MAC II based). I am also interested in pursuing other music/MIDI related hardware/software projects for the Macintosh. Again, any ideas or questions are very welcome. Brian Adamson. Information Technology Division Naval Research Laboratory P.S.: There is a well-organized MIDI directory on UCSD.EDU which looks very useful for exchanging patches, scores, homebrew software, etc. FTP is the next best thing to being there. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Apr 89 10:49:08 EDT From: Joe McMahon Subject: Re: Expertise list etc. > ... Does anybody else have these kinds of techniques for >generating ideas? Another one (from somebody else) is to play some >Chopin or Mozart into a piano, quantise it, and play it out to a set >of drum voices. I'm sure there must be many more... That's a nice idea. I'd like to try some of the Bach three-part inventions that way - How about transcribing Varese's Ionization for polka band (I'm only kidding a little!)? I've been "listening" to the AM noise in our computer room lately - that would make some interesting atonal stuff. Lots of cross-rhythms and drones. > I'd be more than happy for this mailing list to cover musical >technique, composition, arrangement and so on as much as technical >information about the equipment. Anybody else? > Me too. I don't really get to fool with it much lately, but I sure enjoy the discussion. --- Joe M. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Apr 89 01:02:00 EST From: "R. Allen Jervis" Subject: Re: expertise list I have an interest in electronic music, have for years. I've been told I couldn't carry a tune in a 5 gallon bucket if I made two trips! I've been thinking about midi use of my mac, and I consider this forum my online tutorial. I'll learn more by dx the bandwidth than any direct questions I might think up at this time. But look out, once I feel I'm conversant. L8ter, r.allen ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 22 Apr 89 09:51:39 CDT From: "David M. Stowell (312) 996-7990" Subject: Algorithmic composition system I suppose this should be addressed to M. Rowlingson personally, but I suspect other EMUSIC people would want to know what I'm asking. I am curious about two aspects of your project. First, is the output of the program MIDI signals, a score, or something else? Second, what machines is the system written for (MS-DOS, Mac, Amiga, etc.). If there is a version of this system that is compatible with my set-up, I'd be interested in seeing a copy. Thanks! |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| | David M. Stowell \|/ | | University of Illinois at Chicago \ / | | BITNET: U17227@UICVM.BITNET = = | | Internet: U17227@UICVM.UIC.EDU /|\ | | <=> | | \ = / | | The optimist laughed \ = / | | And the pessimist cried in his wine = | | And the madman said "Son, = | | Take a word--they'll all wake, given time = | | | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Apr 89 08:29:59 EDT From: Eric Harnden Subject: new sid chip? a short while back, someone mentioned something about a new (commodore, supposedly) SID chip, 'with MIDI'. ??? you mean the chip has a MIDI port onboard? or is there just new SID driver software available that will support something like a passport interface in the expansion port? btw, one of my projects a long time back was banking together eight of the beasties and using a soundchaser 64 keyboard as a controller for a fully polyphonic synth. a little weird and cheesy, but it was an interesting toy. Eric Harnden (Ronin) The American University Physics Dept. (202) 885-2758 ---------------------- End of EMUSIC-L Digest **********************