EMUSIC-L Digest Volume 12, Number 5 Today's Topics: Used Xpanders and Analog Gear (3 messages) Macintosh MIDI Programming Playing "Live" - Options (8 messages) Starting Out Dependency on Technology IBM/AT Music Notation Request and Response (2 messages) Kawai K1/K4 Reducing Noise on the Roland D-50 Reply to 4-Track Inquiry 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From "b.klassen" Date: Mon, 29 Jan 90 06:41:00 EDT Subject: re: used Xpanders, analog gear ... $900?! Even my wife would understand that expenditure ... speaking of old gear (or was I just dreaming about it, wishing I still had my Matrix-6R?), I discovered an old Prophet-5 on Saturday. The guy wasn't selling, but he said if he did he could get $6000! Is he for real? I like the sound and all, but that's a bit out of line if you ask me ... ... and speaking of Sequential, I just read that they were bought out by Yamaha before they closed down. Anyone got any info regarding this? I'm wondering what happened to the technology ... wouldn't it be nice to see a Prophet-5 with a full MIDI implementation and 3.5 disk drive? brian ------------------------------ From Eric Harnden Date: Mon, 29 Jan 90 08:43:16 EST Subject: re: used Xpanders, analog gear ... $6000 is ludicrous for a prophet 5. in mint condition, they top at about $2K. and that's for a fully loaded rev 3. according to a recent Keyboard article, the ex-sequential techies had been considering a rack-mount version, but it would be too expensive to put all that analog gear *and* its knobs into that space *and* still keep it all cool. they'd talked about digital emulation of the old beastie, but nobody's heart was really in that (bless them). Eric Harnden (Ronin) The American University Physics Dept. (202) 885-2758 ------------------------------ From METLAY@PITTVMS.BITNET Date: Mon, 29 Jan 90 17:40:00 EST Subject: Re: used Xpanders, analog gear ... Brian: A lot of the Sequential people found their way into Yamaha's subsidiary company, Korg. The current rumor ,(that they're designing a new VS with digital filtering and granular synthesis added) has been CONFIRMED by individuals of unquestionable reliability, close to the source. However, "being developed" and "available someday " are two VERY different things with music companies; it may not fly. But we can dream, can't we? |-> "If the Prophet VS had a disk drive, I'd marry it" --me, circa 1986 metlay ------------------------------ From Another Fried Physics Major Date: Sun, 28 Jan 90 23:11:00 EST Subject: MIDI to Mac, and other things. Greetings: A month ago I sent out a message requesting information about a MIDI to mac project I was planning... Status : The directed study is finally nailed down, so I have some idea what I'll be doing and most important... What I need!!! The equipment I'll be working with is a Mac plus with an Opcode MIDI box connected to the serial port. The synths I'll be working with are : D-50, DX-7, DX-7IIFD, Mirage sampler, Casio CZ-1000, Roland RD-1000, Roland RX-5 drum machine, and DSP-128 MIDI signal processor. (Any one have a M-1 they want to donate, I happen to like them!!!) What I'm trying to do, first, is write the drivers for the serial port and the MIDI interface. A major, I said MAJOR, part of this study is writing everything as a real life Mac application. Not as easy as it sounds!! I'm part Computer Science major, and Mac programming is unlike anything I've every experienced!! So far, I've gotten out Inside Macintosh I-III, and various other Mac programming guides. There is alot to re-learn about programming to be done. Question : I have the Developers Stack with the MIDI resourses. Can I take these, do some editing, and use them in non-Hypercard software, most likely C? Is there any other MIDI resources out I can get over the network? Also, any one who has done Mac application programming, Helpful hints, PLEASE!! The next steps of the application will be displaying the MIDI line, sending MIDI commands, building a squencer and adding as many editing capabilities as time allows. Easy. It was mentioned by Joe that sumex-aim.stanford.edu has Development stacks online. How do I get these?? I'll keep you informed as the quest for knowledge continues... New Subject : Time is aproaching when I have to graduate. (after five years you are no longer welcome!!!) I need information on what is OUT THERE... I'm majoring in Physics and Computer Science. I'd like to go into Electrical Eng. in Digital Signal Processing applied toward music. Does anyone know of grad schools that offer this course of study? It is a round about way, but I enjoy working with the technical side of music. ******************************************************************************* * Keith Rachunok * * Suny Geneseo * * The Physics major that wants to study music. * ******************************************************************************* ------------------------------ From "b.klassen" Date: Mon, 29 Jan 90 06:49:00 EDT Subject: Playing live ... I've just been offered a gig with my NEW band and I have a slight problem ... I'm currently rehearsing in my home studio using my IBM PC-clone for my sequencing. The thought of lugging that thing to a bar scares the H out of my pocket book ... so I need a cheap and dirty road-worthy sequencer with something like a 3.5 disk drive that loads fast and is easy to use. (My other band, the one that actually makes money, uses an MC-500, but I won't have access to it for alternate gigs ... I can't afford to buy my own). Someone has suggested one of the new Brother units. Anyone have any experience with these things, or know of another alternative? thanks as always, brian ------------------------------ From Eric Harnden Date: Mon, 29 Jan 90 08:48:23 EST Subject: Re: Playing live ... i've got a Korg Q-80. it's built like a rock, and has a 3.5 floppy drive, that accesses pretty damn fast. it also will take sysex dumps, and play them back, so it seems to me that it would be good for concert work (setups and all that). it is not extraordinarily intuitive to operate, but it's playback mechanism is simple, so you can do all the hard work at home, then just turn it on and run when you get to the gig. Eric Harnden (Ronin) The American University Physics Dept. (202) 885-2758 ------------------------------ From Eric Harnden Date: Mon, 29 Jan 90 09:34:02 EST Subject: Playing Live (oops) darn, i hate it when i do that... that's a KAWAI Q80, not korg. Eric Harnden (Ronin) The American University Physics Dept. (202) 885-2758 ------------------------------ From Rich Kulawiec Date: Mon, 29 Jan 90 08:24:24 MDT Subject: Re: Playing live ... 90 6:49 am >I've just been offered a gig with my NEW band and I have a slight problem ... >... so I need a cheap and dirty road-worthy sequencer with >something like a 3.5 disk drive that loads fast and is easy to use. Here comes a silly question: why not play your live music *live*? I mean, you're performing in from of a live audience, so why not leave the sequencers at home and just play the tunes? ---Rsk ------------------------------ From jeff beer Date: Mon, 29 Jan 90 09:30:00 CST Subject: RE. Playing Live I know some people are happy with the Alesis sequencer. Also, have you heard of the gear in which it always you to record and play real-time MIDI data on a cassette. That should make things simple if all of your pieces are planned in advance. Jeff Beer ------------------------------ From METLAY@PITTVMS.BITNET Date: Mon, 29 Jan 90 17:53:00 EST Subject: Re: Playing live ... Rich: I wouldn't call that a "silly" question, but I think you may have a different idea of what "live" playing can be. When I do a concert, it's one of two things: (a) me and Team Metlay, in which case there are four to seven people on stage and no need for sequencers, or (b) me and my entire setup, with only two hands to play a whole bunch of things, which necessitates a sequencer. My alternatives are playing to prerecorded tapes (ugh!) or doing a solo piano gig with a synthesizer stack (which gets kinda old). metlay ------------------------------ From Chris Iverson Date: Tue, 30 Jan 90 16:36:00 EST Subject: Re: playing live.... I saw ads a while back in Electronic Musician for a device called The SynchMan, which would record midi sequences onto cassette tape. You could then take the Synchman and your Walkman to the gig and playback the sequences to your synth gear. If I remember rightly, it cost about $150.00. I don't know much more than that right now...I posted the specs on it about six months ago, so it \ might (?) be archived somewhere.... -chris ------------------------------ From "b.klassen" Date: Tue, 30 Jan 90 10:58:00 EDT Subject: definitions of LIVE ... Is there such a thing a half-live? My band consists of three persons (me on the boards, guitar player, and vocalist), so the majority of the music is live. I'm sequencing drums, bass, and the odd synth line that I find too difficult or impossible to play with everything else I'm doing. We're basically a duo, and the guitarist happens to be a close friend who is volunteering his services. We don't feel the need to recruit a drummer and bass player at this point in time. The sequencer will allow us to get out and play the music the way we intend it to be heard (full band), without the hassles ... enough said. I don't really want to get into the issue of sequencers vs. human players (unless anyone wants to argue about it, that is!). Thanks to all for the sequencer suggestions. I've got about two months, so I'll be able to check out all the gear before I buy. This Rouge Music everyone talks about ... how about an address and phone number? Do they ship to Canada? I've only dealt with a couple U.S. companies by mail - one was a real hassle with customs, and the other marked the price on the customs paperwork at about a tenth of what I really paid so duty was negligible. brian ------------------------------ From Gary Bisaga x4219 Date: Mon, 29 Jan 90 09:57:06 EST Subject: Trying to get started I am looking for some introductory information on electronic music (all types). I assume most of my information would come from magazines, but are there any good books available to catch me up on the state of the art? What magazines are good? I am interested in e-music less from the sound generation technology point of view, more from the application of the sound to composition and compositional techniques (including computer-assisted and computer-based composition). Please e-mail to me directly at the address below since I can't always read this list (~100 messages a day from another list I belong to is quite more than I can handle). If others are interested, I will collect received information and post it. Thanks, Gary Bisaga (gary@ctc.contel.com) ------------------------------ From "Richard S. Holmes" Date: Mon, 29 Jan 90 10:33:00 EST Subject: RE: My dependency on technology... MTG@CSI.COMPUSERVE.COM writes: > It's kind of annoying being so dependent on one thing (electricity, >mainly), but I guess that's the nature of things right now. T'would be >nice to have other band members to reduce that dependency... or would it? Then you'd be dependent on other band members. At least you can turn electricity on and off, most of the time. I'm reminded of our English sword dance group. When we dance out, we have a fiddler or pennywhistle player to play for us, but for 90% of our practices, we use a Commodore 64 playing thru a Radio Shack amp and speaker! It only knows one tune, which we're sick of, but it keeps a steady beat and shuts up when you tell it to :-) ------------------------------ From Computer Addict! Date: Mon, 29 Jan 90 11:26:46 PST Subject: PD Music notation programs for IBM-AT? Does anyone know of a Public-domain (or - *real* cheap) music notation program that runs on an IBM-PC/AT? The ideal program would take input >from a MIDI file but I could live with something that required manual input of the notes. I tried looking at SIMTEL in PD: but didn't see anything. Thanks, Ralph |----------------------------------------------------------------------| | Ralph Zazula "Computer Addict!" | | Northern Illinois University --- Department of Physics | | NIUHEP::ZAZULA (DecNet/HEPNet) | | ZAZULA%NIUHEP.HEPNET@LBL (BitNet) | | ZAZULA%NIUHEP.DECNET@NCSAA.NCSA.UIUC.EDU (Internet/BitNet) | |----------------------------------------------------------------------| | Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory --- Experiment E-740 (D0) | | FNAL::ZAZULA (DecNet/HEPNet) | | ZAZULA@FNAL (BitNet) | |----------------------------------------------------------------------| | "You can twist perceptions, reality won't budge." - Neil Peart | |----------------------------------------------------------------------| ------------------------------ From Marc TARDIF Date: Wed, 31 Jan 90 07:22:00 EST Subject: RE: PD Music notation programs for IBM-AT >Does anyone know of a Public-domain (or - *real* cheap) music notation >program that runs on an IBM-PC/AT? The ideal program would take input >from a MIDI file but I could live with something that required manual >input of the notes. I tried looking at SIMTEL in PD: but >didn't see anything. > I Ralph, did you took a look to MIDICOM bulletin board? The phone number for the modem, in your area, is in the classified adds in Electronic Musician Magazine. I know the phone number for Montreal (514) 744-7354. ------------------------------ | MARC TARDIF | Bitnet: S004@HECMTL01 | | Ecole des HAUTES ETUDES COMMERCIALES |============================| | MONTREAL, QUEBEC | There's a desk under | | CANADA H3T 1V6 | here somewhere! | | Phone: (514) 340-6066 | I actually saw it once! | ------------------------------ From the warped mind of Mark Dolecki Date: Tue, 30 Jan 90 20:59:00 EST Subject: Kawai K1 and K4 Anyone have the specs and the low down dirty on the Kawai K1 and K4 synths? Also - Not to start any fights, but - which are the best budget multitimbral rackmounts? Under $1500 good, under $1000 best. Thanks in advance. Mark ------------------------------ From "b.klassen" Date: Wed, 31 Jan 90 13:38:00 EDT Subject: D-50 noise ... A while ago I asked this question and damned if I can't find the response in my files anywhere, so here goes once again: I've programmed an analog horn patch on my D-50 and it's noisey as hell. Is there a method of reducing the hiss without affecting the sound of the patch too much? thanks in advance, brian ------------------------------ From "Michael B. Hutzel" Date: Wed, 31 Jan 90 13:10:20 EST Subject: RE:4-track inquiry Hi, If you are looking for decent frequency response in a 4-track, you might consider the Y*M*H* line. Some models have a frequency response up to 18kHz. (Much higher than my Fostex X-15) I know...I know... I know... I said the "Y" word. Don't remember the low frequency cutoff. Check it out. The Tascam stuff looks great, but look at those specs. Controversially, Mike End of EMUSIC-L Digest ***********************