EMUSIC-L Digest Volume 11, Number 4 Today's Topics: Performer S-330 samples (2 messages) Synth philosophy (2 messages) MIDI software for IBM-PC's (4 messages) 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: Thu, 21 Dec 89 10:47:11 GMT From: Nick Rothwell Subject: Performer 11 Dec 89 12:03:19 +0000 <29934.8912111215@lfcs.ed.ac.uk I got a message from Patrick asking about whether it's worth upgrading to the latest version of Performer. This message has been languishing in my mail file for the last week, so I thought I'd better dig it out, and also thought that others might be interested... > I wonder if it is worth the bucks to upgrade my Performer > 2.41 into 3.3 ? I originally bought Performer 2.31, and got a free upgrade to 2.41. I payed out 115 clams for 3.0, and have received free upgrades to 3.21 and 3.3. From what I recall about the upgrades: 2.31 -> 2.41: decent editing of loops, MIDI file support; I can't think what else came along; the conductor track? I haven't made any use of MIDI file support yet, though I'll probably end up using MIDI files to pass voice data from my editing software into Performer for machines like the MKS-7 which don't have a patch memory. For this I'll have to add MIDI file export to my editor/librarian software, by which time MOTU might have adopted MIDI Manager making all this unnecessary. 2.41 -> 3.0: graphic editing, via piano-roll display. This is very nicely presented, although sluggish on a plain 68000 machine. You have the choice of events or graphics (or both at once) for editing data. I tend to use event lists for setting up sequencer runs and percussion, and graphic editing for patching together solos. 3.0 -> 3.21: chunking. This is worth the bucks, I think. Any set of tracks can be regarded as a single box ("chunk"), and these chunks can be layed out graphically, and duplicated, in a two-dimensional manner to form a "song". These songs can be laid out in songs as well, and so on. I find it very useful to visualise bits of music going together this way, rather than in a purely linear sense. It means I can work on a specific snatch of music without having to bother about exactly which chorus it occurs on - I just drag it to the right place afterwards. This is much better than just having a fixed number of tracks. I now tend to try and plan out pieces of music on paper in this way. I think 3.21 brought us remote controls as well - you can drive all the major sequencer functions, as well as select sequences, using MIDI messages, and there are facilities to define "shift" sequences to (for example) enable part of your keyboard as a set of sequencer controls. Good for live work, but not much use to me at home, as yet. 3.21 -> 3.31: Event chasing (lost on stupid machines like the MKS-70, though the fault might be in Performer; I'm waiting for MOTU to get back to me on this one...) MIDI Sliders and realtime controller mapping. You can attach software sliders to continuous MIDI data in tracks, and record slider movement independently of the other MIDI data. Sliders can also map MIDI controllers and aftertouch /pitch-bend. Sliders can be grouped to build things like volume cross-fades (with scaling and offsetting of the sliders relative to each other), and related sliders can be grouped into "console" windows which are saved with the sequence file. My personal feeling is that the sliders are a very nice idea and well conceived, but I disagree with the way they behave sometimes and it's not clear what they're supposed to do in all circumstances. I'm currently in contact with the Performer team and letting them know what I think about all this... :-) > How does it compare to Notator on the ST for example ? Well, it doesn't notate... :-) Apart from that, I don't know. > I certainly don't NEED to upgrade. It is perhaps a luxury > rather than necessity. Do you feel you are making music > any easier than with Version 2 ? I think so, because the chunking and slider facilities make it much easier to lay out a framework for a piece of music and deal with fade-ins and so on (although sliders and chunks don't mix too well, yet). You can forget largely about what things happen at what measure, since you don't have to commit yourself to where things happen in a piece of music until quite late. What you get for your money is this added flexibility. I essentially upgraded as a matter of principle because I don't like being left with an unsupported piece of software. Besides, I want Performer to adopt the MIDI Manager standard, for which I'll have to stay on-board. One note of warning - Performer has doubled in size since 2.31 (300+ K -> 790K). It's a very tight squeeze on a 1Meg Mac. I now have 2.5Meg, which is a lot more comfortable. Nick. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 22 Dec 89 17:12:10 CST From: Jason Keeler Subject: S-330 Samples Well, I went to check out an S-330. Unfortunately they were out of them so they gave me a W-30 to play with for a week or so. Deadly machine! I love this sampler, it's fantastic. The question I has was, does anybody know where I can get Matrix-12/Mini Moog samples for this?? P.S. This doesn't guarantee anything though; just to be fair I'm going to see if I can snag an EPS next week.... Jason. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 23 Dec 89 01:49:53 EST From: "Kurt A. Geisel" Subject: Re: S-330 Samples Jason Keeler writes: > I love this sampler, it's fantastic. The question I has was, does anybody > know where I can get Matrix-12/Mini Moog samples for this?? Well, give me a W-30 and I'll give you all the Matrix-12 samples you can eat! :-) Happy Holidays, folx. - 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, 23 Dec 89 01:45:15 EST From: "Kurt A. Geisel" Subject: Re: Synth philosophy (was: Re: A brief flame) schabtac%STOUT.UCAR.EDU@vma.cc.cmu.edu writes: > Now, why do I have a sampler as my main axe, given this philosophy? Well, > I do a lot of cyberpunkish stuff, and there's no way to get the requisite > mondo-in-your-face-like-it-or-not percussion without samples. Even the > goddess of synthesis, Wendy Carlos, is using a digital drum machine these > days, rather than attempting to synthesize drums from scratch. . . . > But lately I've been developing this craving for something a little more > like my old, long-gone ARP Odyssey, like maybe one of those "X"-word > machines (Metlay has gone on vacation, hasn't he? :-). Yes, Metlay is on vacation (if you call doing nuclear physics experiments in Oak Ridge, Tennessee a vacation), so I'll take his place. For me, percussion is the most important role of a sampler, but allow me to take the soapbox for a second in reminding everyone not to fall into "functional fixity." That "mondo" percussion may be lurking in just about any synth. I recently discovered a new drum machine which offers fantastic creative potential. It's called a Kawai K5. It's been collecting dust in my studio for several months, but this additive synth is capable of quite percussive attacks and I have found that additive synthesis provides a fantastic array of never-before-heard techno percussion. Analog percussion has a lot of potential too. To me, the latest rap mix with the 8-times-stacked-mega-sample-of-bikini-island-through-6-gated- reverbs-snare doesn't hold a candle to Kraftwerk's early analog percussion and the like. On the whole subject of philosophy, mine is pretty simple: use the synth whose architecture is most intuitive for designing the sound you're looking for. If I want the fat, simply-animated sound (which tends to be most of the time) I crank up the Matrix-12. If I want something which has lot of unusual partials in it, the K5 comes into play. (Ok, so it also can emulate FM-like sounds when necessary fairly well, allowing me to keep that *am*ha stuff outta here...) I have no qualms about using a pre-fab sound if it fits. I also edit pre-fab patches in minor ways just for a given a song. But I definitely shop for programmability. It surprises me how little a concern there is for "real synth" programmability these days. The guy at my local Kawai dealer literally doesn't believe any of the Kx synths are programmable or at least he has no concept of it. Also, there is just no excuse for some of the user interfaces on synths these days. Note these excerpts from the Keyboard Reader Tips column: "...go to Edit Sample page 1, select the sample to be dumped, simultaneously press the zero, on and off buttons, wait until the light stops flashing, and press the Page Down button." "ensuring the back-panel local on-off switch is on, choosing the sample to be sent, sequentially playing from the button up the five lowest black notes of the keyboard (C#1, D#1, F#1, G#1, and A#1), and depressing the save button while sustaining these notes." My god, you might be able to initiate a sequencer dump by playing the first three bars of Yankee Doodle while rotating the alpha-dial counterclockwise!!! I don't understand this low-panel-count mentality, and I think it probably has the most need for improvement in the next decade. Anyway, the "synth philosohpy" you take seems to have a lot to do with the type of music you produce. Some people here seem to pursue musical structure and others pursue texture and atmosphere. Above all, shop carefully and shop for yourself. Personally, I find about 1 in a 100 synths exciting so its pretty easy for me. P.S. Adam, get an "X"-word and check out the Arthur Springer patches (see the back of a recent keyboard) as a starter. You'll never go back! - 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: Mon, 25 Dec 89 17:33:53 CST From: U31529@UICVM.BITNET Subject: On synthesis Just a quick flame, since I don't seem to speak up often any more. I currently use an almost-all-analog set-up of a Korg MS-10 (for bass) and a Korg DW-6000 (Chris! You need a couple of killer organs? I'll send you mine! Who needs a sampler?) as well as a Fender Jazz Bass at the same time. After cost, my first priority in finding a synth is it's flexibility in finding new sounds. An essentially preset instrument would bore me to tears. Nick's NOTE of 12/21 elaborates on this view. As for the use of computers in music---I have been working with computers from mainframes to PCs for more than 12 years and I have yet to find the need to own one, let alone use one to assist in the writing of my music. (The one fun exception was when I had an Apple/Passport hybrid on stage) So---to what extent have each of you become dependent on computer technology to compose or generate music? and why? This should keep you entertained. :) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 Dec 89 12:47:38 EST From: Gan Seum-Lim Subject: MIDI SOFTWARE FOR IBMPC AND COMPATIBLES I am planning to buy a Yamaha DX7IIFD and I own an IBMPC AT clone. Does anyone have any idea of a SINGLE software that I can use for transcription, composition, as a recorder, a librarian to store voices, a sequencer and most importantly, can be used to control the Yamaha DX7IIFD fully (if possible) ? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 Dec 89 15:11:43 -0500 From: Brian Adamson Subject: Re: MIDI SOFTWARE FOR IBMPC AND COMPATIBLES I saw something advertised by Dynaware for the IBM called Ballade which does everything you want except it is for the Roland MT-32 instead of the DX7. However, they also have a nice-looking package called Dyna Duet which combines MIDI sequencing (recording/playback) and music score editing and printing into a single package. The sequencer probably supports system exclusive messages so it could be used as sort of a librarian as well perhaps. Transposition, I am not sure how well it handles it, but as an integrated package, it probably makes some attempt at it. This ad was circa December, 1988 so maybe they have an improved product now, or an earlier DX7 product similar to the Ballade for the MT-32 (sequencing, scoring, editing of MT32 sounds). Ballade -- $195 Dyna Duet- $245 System requirements for Dyna Duet: PC : IBM PC/XT/AT or compatible, 512K memory Graphics: EGA or VGA compatible card MIDI : MPU-IPC or MPU-401 with MIF-IPC or compatibles Printer : IBM Proprinter, Epson FX, LQ or compatibles Mouse Dynaware 1163 Chess Drive, Suite J, Foster City, CA 94404 phone -- (415)-349-5700 1-800-444-3962 for orders only Hope this helps. By the way, I still haven't had any luck getting a copy of the MIDI spec. Brian Adamson adamson@css.itd.nrl.navy.mil ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Dec 89 10:33:42 SST From: Gan Seum-Lim Subject: Re: MIDI SOFTWARE FOR IBMPC AND COMPATIBLES 27 Dec 89 15:11:43 -0500 from Brian, Duet is not meant for DX7, which means it cannot be used to control the DX7 fully. Is there any other software that is meant for the DX7 ? I heard of Personal Composer, is there any other MIDI software which is better than it ? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 Dec 89 07:41:54 SST From: Gan Seum-Lim Subject: Re : MIDI SOFTWARE FOR IBMPC AND COMPATIBLES Brian, Thanks for the reply, perhaps you could give me the address to those companies as calling them from Singapore would be rather expensive. As for Personal Composer, I thought it was a product of Jim Miller. I am new to the field of electronic music, and am interested in subscribing magazines that are in this field. Could you let me know the publishers of these magazines (also their address) ? ---------------------- End of EMUSIC-L Digest **********************