EMUSIC-L Digest Volume 14, Number 2 Today's Topics: Music, MIDI, and FTP (7 messages) Brass sounds for sampling (2 messages) Expansion modules CMU MIDI Toolkit (6 messages) Bars & Pipes report available MIDI Manager and Mac Plus (2 messages) PSS680 patcher/librarian MS-10/MS-20 (3 messages) Request for IEMUG info S-10 problems Where is Loren Dickerson? Casio CZ-5000 New member (2 messages) Metlay's Prophet arrives/Korg WS (7 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, 8 Mar 90 10:36:40 GMT From: Tony Jewell mubject: Music, Midi and Ftp On the subject of music software and Ftp .. I spend quite a lot of time searching around the many Ftp sites in search of music software for my info-server (mail "help" to info-server at the relevant site below for more details). As a result, I now have a large collection of sites I visit regularly to see if they have anything of interest, and here is an (abridged) version. Sites advertising Music software: --------------------------------- swan.ulowell.edu 129.63.224.1 amiga,music,comp.sources.unix,MSDOS winnie.princeton.edu 128.112.128.180 music software (unix & NeXT) ucsd.edu 132.239.1.1 radio stuff, MIDI programs and data Sites containing large amounts of Atari Pd software, some Music: ---------------------------------------------------------------- dsrgsun.ces.cwru.edu 129.22.16.2 Minix, TOS Atari ST, gcc from bammi euterpe.math.lsa.umich.edu 35.195.16.2 Atari ST him1.cc.umich.edu 35.1.1.43 atari st (cd PC7:) jyu.fi 128.214.7.5 Unix, Atari, Amiga, Mac, Etherprint pawl.rpi.edu 128.113.10.2 DVI stuff, Atari ST score.stanford.edu 36.8.0.46 TexHax, Atari (tenex) ssyx.ucsc.edu 128.114.133.1 atari, amiga, gifs terminator.cc.umich.edu 35.1.33.8 xscheme, msdos, atari tolsun.oulu.fi 128.214.5.6 amiga, atari, c64, msdos, mac, irc ummts.cc.umich.edu 35.1.1.43 atari st (cd PC7:) umn-cs.cs.umn.edu 128.101.224.1 atari, apple II, GIF wuarchive.wustl.edu 128.252.135.4 comp.sources.atari.st -------------------------------------------------------------------- There is also a lot of Mac stuff out there as well, but not having access to a Mac, I tend not to look for Mac stuff often. -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tony J Jewell Systems Officer City Of London Polytechnic ___ . ___ JANET: tonyj@uk.ac.clp.unixa / \ / / \ EARN/BitNet: tonyj@unixa.clp.ac.uk / / /___ / EAN: tonyj%clp.unixa@ean-relay.ac.uk <____/ <___ / ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Mar 90 18:52:50 CST From: Jason Keeler Subject: Re: ftp 7 Mar 90 06:06:00 EST from Just wondering if anyone knows of any decent FTP sites for the AMIGA. Thanx..Jason ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Mar 90 23:44:00 EST From: FNELSON@OBERLIN.BITNET Subject: ... and for you ftp atari fans ... Try these: dsrgsun.ces.cwru.edu 129.22.16.2 Minix, TOS Atari ST, gcc from bammi jyu.fi 128.214.7.5 unix, atari, amiga, mac, etherprint, sol.cs.ruu.nl 131.211.80.5 atari, GNU, BSD, etc. terminator.cc.umich.edu 35.1.33.8 xscheme, msdos, atari tolsun.oulu.fi 128.214.5.6 amiga, atari, c64, msdos, mac, irc ummts.cc.umich.edu 35.1.1.43 atari st (cd PC7:) umn-cs.cs.umn.edu atari, apple II, GIF wuarchive.wustl.edu comp.binaries.atari.st, wuarchive.wustl.edu comp.sources.atari.st, ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Mar 90 23:41:00 EST From: FNELSON@OBERLIN.BITNET Subject: Re: ftp Try these for amiga stuff: |Cowell College, UCSC| 74036.3241@compuserve.com |\X/ Amiga!| a.cs.uiuc.edu 128.174.252.1 TeX, dvi2ps, gif, texx2.7, amiga, bach.berkeley.edu 128.32.135.1 amiga (ray-tracing) cs.utah.edu 128.110.4.21 Worm Tour, amiga, forth, utah raster funet.fi ftp-resolver binaries, RFCs, amiga gtss.gatech.edu 128.61.4.1 amiga rexx stuff ix1.cc.utexas.edu 128.83.1.21 amiga ix2.cc.utexas.edu 128.83.1.29 amiga j.cc.purdue.edu comp.sources.amiga, elm, uupc, NeXT, j.cc.purdue.edu comp.binaries.amiga, jyu.fi 128.214.7.5 unix, atari, amiga, mac, etherprint, louie.udel.edu 128.175.2.33 amiga mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu 128.174.73.105 amiga mtsg.ubc.ca 128.189.103.1 msdos, unix, amiga sauna.hut.fi 130.233.251.253 GNU, unix, amiga, athena docs, some titan.rice.edu 128.42.1.30 sun-spots, amiga ispell tolsun.oulu.fi 128.214.5.6 amiga, atari, c64, msdos, mac, irc topaz.rutgers.edu 128.6.4.194 amiga, others, too much to list uihub.cs.uiuc.edu 128.174.252.27 amiga uxe.cso.uiuc.edu 128.174.5.54 amiga (Fish) wuarchive.wustl.edu comp.binaries.amiga, wuarchive.wustl.edu comp.sources.amiga, xanth.cs.odu.edu comp.sources.amiga, X, amiga ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Mar 90 12:03:51 GMT From: Tony Jewell Subject: Re: ftp Jason, A quick 'grep amiga' on my ftp sites file gives the following Ftp sites. Don't know whats there, however, not being an amiga owner: A , , BBS at U. of Arkansas 130.184.64.202 amiga, commodore, ibm, apple, atari a.cs.uiuc.edu ,128.174.5.20 , TeX,ptex,tib,pictex,ncar,dvi2ps,gif,texx2.7,amiga,parallel gnumake, GNU bach.berkeley.edu ,128.32.135.1 , amiga (ray-tracing) cs.utah.edu ,128.110.4.21 , Worm Tour,amiga,forth,utah raster etana.tut.fi ,128.214.1.1 , amiga, msdos, rfc funet.fi , , ftp-resolver binaries, RFCs, Amiga gtss.gatech.edu ,128.61.4.1 , amiga rexx stuff ix1.cc.utexas.edu ,128.83.1.21 , amiga ix2.cc.utexas.edu ,128.83.1.29 , amiga j.cc.purdue.edu ,128.210.9.2 , comp.sources.amiga, elm, uupc jyu.fi ,128.214.7.5 , unix, atari, amiga, mac, etherprint, loke.idt.unit.no ,129.241.1.103 , mh 6.6, lots of Amiga stuff, news, sun-spots, webster server,GCC vms binaries, louie.udel.edu ,128.175.1.3 , net.exe, minix, NORD<>LINK, MH, amiga mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu ,128.174.73.105 , amiga sauna.hut.fi ,128.214.3.119 , Gnu, Unix, Amiga, athena docs, ssyx.ucsc.edu ,128.114.133.1 , atari, amiga, gifs swan.ulowell.edu ,129.63.224.1 , sendmail,amiga,music,comp.sources.unix,MSDOS titan.rice.edu ,128.42.1.30 , sun-spots, amiga ispell tolsun.oulu.fi ,128.214.5.6 , amiga, atari, c64, msdos, mac, irc topaz.rutgers.edu ,128.6.4.194 , amiga trantor.umd.edu ,128.8.1.14 , Network Time Protocol(NTP), info-amiga uihub.cs.uiuc.edu ,128.174.252.27 , amiga uxe.cso.uiuc.edu ,128.174.5.54 , amiga/Fish disks, PC-SIG 1-499 wuarchive.wustl.edu ,128.252.135.4 , comp.sources.amiga, xanth.cs.odu.edu ,128.82.8.1 , c.srcs.{x,unix,misc,games,amiga},X10R4 Hope this is of help !!! -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tony J Jewell Systems Officer City Of London Polytechnic ___ . ___ JANET: tonyj@uk.ac.clp.unixa / \ / / \ EARN/BitNet: tonyj@unixa.clp.ac.uk / / /___ / EAN: tonyj%clp.unixa@ean-relay.ac.uk <____/ <___ / ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Mar 90 23:25:00 H From: VNG@NUSDISCS.BITNET Subject: midi, ftp.. what about bitnet The recent mails about ftp sites have left me wondering if these sites are accessible via bitnet. Can someone give me some pointers? Thanks. Vince ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Mar 90 13:35:00 EST From: FNELSON@OBERLIN.BITNET Subject: RE: midi, ftp.. what about bitnet The postings I made recently about ftp including the transcript of a sample session were all done via bitnet (at least our machine is on bitnet.) Gary ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Mar 90 09:31:07 CST From: Z4667144 Subject: Brass sounds D? I'm trying to find a good trumpet sound, similar to the trumpets in John Will iam's compositions, and I haven't had much luck on my own. Please post them or s end them to me directly at: Z4667144@SFAUSTIN.BITNET. THANKS in advance!! "We'll build the SDF-3 and go to the stars together, Lisa." --Rick Hunter, Robotech #36, "To the Stars" Joe Beddoe ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Mar 90 16:11:00 CST From: jeff beer Subject: Trumpet Sounds Get "What Else Is New?" by Mike Ellis, there is a trumpeteer on there, I believe his name is Jeff Beer, that will change your zoning laws. oh reservoir river derchi ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Mar 90 14:07:00 N From: DEIBISACCO@ELETT1.INFN.IT Subject: EXPANDERS HELLO, My name is Antonio Zerman, I'm a PhD student in Bioengineering at Padova University, Italy. I'm also very interested in music.I have a Korg-M1,Atari ST, a sequencer and an M1 editor. I also have an IBM AT compatible, with MPU 401. I play in a musical group, but I also love making music by myself, using the sequencer. I am planning to buy a very good expander (or keyboard if advantageous). The most important features needed are: polyphony (at least 32 notes, in order to use the sequencer without problems and to play live with combinations of various sounds without problems) politimbricity (at least 8, for the same reason) velocity switch, in order to create nice effects playing live wonderful sounds (like M1; better if not only PCM sounds, but also very synth-feel sounds) ^^^^ slots or similar in order to change sounds (not so important if the sounds are really good) reasonable price I don't want a sampler, I prefer to use or modify built in sound, if they are already good, in order to save time. I have seen the EMU Proteus, which is a very good machine. I' ve also heard of the new Yamaha synth (it's a workstation, but if it's worth, also the price, I don' t mind). The price should be about the price of Proteus (always better if less!). Before buying something, I would like to hear from you something about these and other machines and (very important) something about the machines being built in the next future (I can wait, if worth!). I don' t want to buy something and, one month later, see that there is a new wonderful machine. (In this case, I would not mind only if what I bought was really very good, as it was with M1). Thanks a lot for your time and forgive me for my English: preferirei scrivere in italiano (I'd rather write in Italian)! Ciao Antonio Zerman DEIBISACCO@ELETT1.INFN.IT ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 9 Mar 90 12:46:28 CST From: Eric Huffman Subject: CMU MIDI Toolkit This is a question regarding the CMU MIDI Tool kit. Roger Dannenberg is a co-author of the CMU MIDI Tool kit and has authored numerous articles on the scheduling of events in real-time. In particular, there is an excellent strategy presented in "Current Directions in Computer Music Research", MIT Press 1989 (a collection of articles from those in the field). It seems to be quite efficient and supports the idea of single or multiple virtual clocks. So, my question ... Does the current Macintosh version of the CMU MIDI Tool kit implement this strategy? Or, does it still use the strategy present in the 1987 pre-release (single priority queue, implemented as a linked list, for scheduled events)? - Eric ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 10 Mar 90 16:30:00 EST From: FNELSON@OBERLIN.BITNET Subject: RE: CMU MIDI Toolkit Unless Roger has done more work on MoxC since May, the single priority queue and linked list are still the strategy. However, I have found this strategy to be quite workable on a variety of musical applications. A more serious problem has been the 60 cycle clock. I am (slowly) implementing a millisecond clock along with a new midi driver that I got from MIT. This is part of my effort to convert MoxC to run with Think C 4.0 on my SE/30. There is something about the old driver the is not comfortable in this new environment. The conversion is not complicated but requires changing a lot of code. My eventual plan is to use the Apple MidiMgr. One of my students, Jeff Moore, is working on a MoxC-like program with the MidiMgr. He is actually starting from scratch but he is using the functionality of MoxC as a model. I'll keep the list informed of our progress. In the meantime, I heartily recommend the current release of the CMU Midi Tool Kit. It has changed my way of making music with the mac. Several other interactive environments to keep an eye on are HMSL from Mills College, MidiLisp from IRCAM(?), and MAX from Intelligent Music (not yet released). The first two require programming in Forth and Lisp respectively. MAX use a module patching approach with a graphic interface and (as I understand) a hook that will allow you to link in your own C code if the options they have provided do not meet your needs. MAX gives the best of two worlds, a powerful vocabulary of intrinsic functions and a way to expand the system if are a programmer. Gary ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 10 Mar 90 16:39:00 EST From: FNELSON@OBERLIN.BITNET Subject: RE: CMU MIDI Toolkit Oh my God!!! I forgot that Eric Huffman, the author of the original message in this set has a wonderful program called Megalomania. He is a former student at Oberlin who is now in the graduate program at Northwestern. Megalomania is a Midi effects processor/mapper/utility that has a graphic interface that makes it very easy to transform incoming Midi data in quite useful ways. For example, notes can be transposed, doubled, delayed, echoed, and generally transformed to create unusual sonic effects. Eric sent me an alpha(?)/beta(?) copy more than a year ago and several of my students have used it to great advantage. GO ERIC!!! I hope that he continues work on the program and get somebody to distribute it for him. A C code hook would be nice here too. Gary ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Mar 90 16:23:34 PST From: The vlsi-mentor Super User Subject: RE: CMU MIDI Toolkit > Megalomania is a Midi effects processor/mapper/utility that has a graphic > interface that makes it very easy to transform incoming Midi data in quite > useful ways. For example, notes can be transposed, doubled, delayed, echoed, > and generally transformed to create unusual sonic effects. What platforms does it run on? Where can I get a copy? -Dave dave@vlsi-mentor.jpl.nasa.gov dave%vlsi-mentor@jpl-mil.jpl.nasa.gov ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Mar 90 10:22:37 EST From: Joe McMahon Subject: RE: CMU MIDI Toolkit 13 Mar 90 16:23:34 PST from Megalomania is a Mac program. I'll see if I can manage to add the thing to the LISTSERV files; in the meantime, it's available via anonymous FTP from sumex-aim.stanford.edu. Not sure exactly which directory, but try /info-mac/sound... --- Joe M. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 10 Mar 90 13:59:26 EST From: "Kurt A. Geisel" Subject: Bars & Pipes: A User's Report Knowing that emusic-l is a direct-mail list, I didn't want to fill your mailboxes with my >20K report. If you use an Amiga for music and you are interested in this great sequencing package, drop me a note and I'll send you the review. - Kurt Kurt Geisel SNAIL : Carnegie Mellon University 65 Lambeth Dr. ARPA : kg19+@andrew.cmu.edu Pittsburgh, PA 15241 UUCP : uunet!nfsun!kgeisel "We just need to short-circuit the continuum on a BIX : kgeisel 5 or 6 parsec level." - Forbidden Planet ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 Mar 90 10:14:01 EST From: "Sterling Beckwith (York University)" Subject: RE: MIDI Manager and Mac Plus Re: Midi Manager and Mac Plus Nobody mentions what System version is being used with Midi Manager on the Mac Plus. I suspect that nothing older than 6.0.3 is safe to use, preferably 6. 0.4. I undewrstand there is a special patch for the Mac Plus to use with version 1.2 of Midi Manager. DOes anybody know what that might consist of, and how I could acquire it and install it? In attemptiong to use Midi Manager to test some beta software, I recently clobbered the Midi port in my parameter RAM. Be carefuul! Sterling Beckwith GUEST4@SOL.YORKU.CA York University, TOronto ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Mar 90 09:58:30 GMT From: Nick Rothwell Subject: EMUSIC-L LOG9003A 12 Mar 90 10:14:01 EST <463.9003121540@lfcs.ed.ac.uk >Nobody mentions what System version is being used with Midi Manager on the >Mac Plus. I suspect that nothing older than 6.0.3 is safe to use, preferably >6.0.4. 6.0.2 is fine. >I undewrstand there is a special patch for the Mac Plus to use with version 1.2 > of Midi Manager. DOes anybody know what that might consist of, and how I >could acquire it and install it? I wouldn't bother, there are (to my knowledge) no significant changes between MIDI Manager 1.1 and 1.2 for the Mac+, and 1.1 works fine. Nick. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 Mar 90 10:15:05 EST From: Alexander Rubli Subject: pss680 patcher/librarian I have a beta version of a patcher/librarian for Yamaha pss-480 or pss-680 keyboard (runs on mac an on based on hypercard, any interseted ? I'd love to make interchange of mac format midi scores !! RUBLI@UDLAPVMS alexander ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 Mar 90 13:48:22 CST From: "David M. Stowell (312) 509-9374" Subject: MS-10 Oh, some else has actually used that little monster? I bought mine new back in '79 and it has never failed me or seen shop time. I just wish someone made an Anvil case or gig bag for it, due to its odd shape. As a matter of fact, I'm still using it for the same thing that I bought it for to begin with --- I pump it into my bass amp with a little pulse width modulation, and it gives me this incredibly powerful bass sound. Great for imitating Taurus pedals or MiniMoogs. Sorry for the extra bandwidth, but I use weird toys, and when they get mentioned, I kinda go nuts. Just ask Metlay about Xpanders (or K*t*...) :) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 Mar 90 15:30:29 EST From: Patrick Robinson Subject: MS-10 I wish I still had that little beastie ... (the MS-10). Actually, it never belonged to me. We had this little 'Stage Band' kinda thing back in high-school. The band director had some money to spend, so I talked him into the MS-10 and a Rhodes suitcase. So it was effectively mine for around 3 years. But then I left, and they kept it. It's probably rotting in a practice room somewhere in Jackson, Miss. It was a great MiniMoog impersonator. Which is what I was after. It was that pulse-width mod. bass sound -- for cheap! Ah well, those days are gone by. -Patrick ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Mar 90 10:44:19 EST From: Jeffrey R Kell Subject: Re: MS-10 On Mon, 12 Mar 90 13:48:22 CST David M. Stowell (312) 509-9374 said: >Oh, some else has actually used that little monster? I bought mine new >back in '79 and it has never failed me or seen shop time. I just wish >someone made an Anvil case or gig bag for it, due to its odd shape. I had an MS-20 (it was stolen about 3 years ago). Never saw anyone make a case (at least a prefab one) for it, but a good-size gym bag and some foam and/or "bubble-wrap" always did the trick for me. ****************************** * The most difficult thing in the world is to know how to do * a thing and to watch someone else doing it wrong, without * commenting. ****************************** ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 Mar 90 16:10:40 EST From: "Kevin R. Weiner" Subject: IEMUG info? Sometime last year there were postings describing IEMUG, which I can't seem to find now. Does anyone have them, or know where to get more info? Thanks. -- Kevin Kevin Weiner Lehigh University Computing Center (215) 758-3991 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 Mar 90 16:01:21 CST From: Z5614780 Subject: S-10 blues Hello! Does anybody out there know the ins-and-outs of midi protocol? I have been trying to send sample dump data from my Roland S-10 to my Amiga computer. My sequencer, Music-X, has a generic librarian and protocol generator that will handle this, but I must know the correct protocol to write. Alas, I have only gotten it to work one way. I can send sample data to my computer and save it on disk (a lot cheaper than saving on those da*n QD's), but I cannot send it back to the keyboard successfully. I won't go into details here; I'll save it for anyone who answers or wants more info. Any hints, ideas, flashes of enlightenment, etc. will be greatly appreciated, as I have grown a terminal headache on the subject. Rob Stephen F. Austin State University Nacogdoches, TX 75961 Z5614780@SFAUSTIN.BITNET Rob ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Mar 90 10:23:00 EST From: FNELSON@OBERLIN.BITNET Subject: Loren Dickerson(?) I received some snail mail from list member Loren Dickerson regarding one of my postings. There was no return address or email path. If you are out there Loren, mail me direct. Gary Nelson Oberlin College ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Mar 90 00:58:06 GMT From: Robert Majors Subject: Casio CZ5000 (My first posting: I tried 'g mod.announce.newusers', but it was not listed.) When controlling my Casio CZ5000 from a friend's sequencer (Vision), I have difficulty maintaining control of voices set. Also, is there a way to allocate polyphony values (how many notes of a voice) with this set-up? The users manual is too vague, and other CZ books don't refer specifically to this aspect of the 5000 (it appears to be easier/more straight forward on a CZ101). Also, is there a way to get named voices to appear on the 5000 RAM voices (you CAN do this when dumping from a librarian to a CZ101)? Thanks! Robert Majors majors@u.washington.edu ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Mar 90 10:18:42 EST From: MGWYNN@CARLETON.CA Subject: NEWLY INTERESTED DABBLER I've just discovered this bboard, and since I dabble in emusic, it sparked my interest. Anyone out there know where I can get my hands on a list of dealers of used and/or dirt cheap keyboards, synths, drum machines and software for interested parties from the Ottawa, Ontario area? How about rare recordings by Walter-cum-Wendy Carlos? I haven't seen the classic Switched on Bach even, available anywhere in the area. Anyone who would like to spread their own recordings around, gratis, drop me a line. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Mar 90 20:31:59 EST From: "Kurt A. Geisel" Subject: Re: NEWLY INTERESTED DABBLER >How about rare recordings by Walter-cum-Wendy Carlos? I think the best thing she ever did was Sonic Seasonings, a recording which must be a little rare since almost no one I know who knows who she is has ever heard of it. It is a recording of themes based on the seasons. Winter is particularly good. Also, if you want a quick way to teach people visiting your studio what various types of synthesis sounds like, analog vs. digital, and the like, her _Secrets of Synthesis_ is not bad. It also has some neat Bob Moog history on it. (For instance, you can hear every generation of his Vocoder, and some of the other custom stuff which only Carlos got like the pressure sensing keyboard and the "bower" (a pedal which articulated up and down bowing of strings.) ) But, this group doesn't usually discuss particular artists, at least not so far. - Kurt Kurt Geisel SNAIL : Carnegie Mellon University 65 Lambeth Dr. ARPA : kg19+@andrew.cmu.edu Pittsburgh, PA 15241 UUCP : uunet!nfsun!kgeisel "We just need to short-circuit the continuum on a BIX : kgeisel 5 or 6 parsec level." - Forbidden Planet Date: Fri, 9 Mar 90 17:18:00 EST From: METLAY@PITTVMS.BITNET Subject: a new arrival in the Metlay family At about 7 pm last night, the UPS man delivered a severely beat-up but still functional Sequential Prophet VS rRack to my apartment in Tennessee, two days late for my birthday but welcome nonetheless. At first listen, I can say that my rosy memories of my one exciting exposure to the machine four years ago were not exaggerated a bit. The VS represents so much power with so much ease of use, and has such a lovely sound, that I am eagerly looking forward to diving in with both feet this weekend and doing my ears some damage. Due to the deluge of recent queries about vector synthesis stemming from its incipient re-introduction as "new flavor of the month" by Korg (boyoboy, I can't wait. Can you?), I am planning to offer a "guided tour" of the instrument's capabilities in a future post. But for now, I gotta get back to jammin' on tha' joystick, mama. |-> ecstatic despite being stuck in Tennessee, metlay PS. Yes, Kurt, when I get home I'll let you play with it. *sigh* ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 11 Mar 90 15:24:00 EST From: METLAY@PITTVMS.BITNET Subject: Review of the Prophet VS (*long*) In response to a strong interest on the part of this group, I'd like to post a review of the Prophet VS vector synthesizer, based on my work with it so far. It represents an interesting blend of power and stricture that was becoming common in 1986, when it was designed, and it points to what 1990 software technology could do to make this wonderful architecture more flexible and powerful than ever. The Prophet VS has the following architecture: four oscillators mixed by a joystick (one osc. per corner of a diamond) and a two-dimensional mix envelope (really a path in a two-dimensional plane) are fed into an analog resonant filter with its own envelope and then to an analog amplifier with ITS own envelope. Voices are then panned and sent through an analog stereo chorus unit. Two LFOs and a number of controllers exist for modulation control. Let's look at this in a bit more detail: Each oscillator set has four oscillators, each with its own waveshape, coarse tuning (2 octaves by semitones) and fine tuning (up to 99 cents sharp). The wave shapes include 32 user-definable shapes (loaded by the Sample Dump Standard after external tweaking to get 128 12-bit words, or created onboard through the mixing of existing waveforms) and 96 ROM waves, for which only a few descriptions exist; the idea here, which I consider a good one, is to select most waveforms by ear rather than stare at pictures and try to puzzle out what would sound "good." Among the few waves whose makeup is documented are sine, sawtooth and square waves, both as fundamentals and as harmonic sets, high partials of various sorts, white noise, and one "null" wave (i.e. silence). This latter inclusion cannot be appreciated by anyone who has not worked with the VS; it allows amplitude fades of other waves to be accomplished easily without bizarre mix envelope acrobatics. The mix envelope is easy to use; it has five points and five rates, as do the other envelopes on the VS, about which more later. However, instead of loudness or cutoff frequency, each point represents a point in the oscillator mix plane, and the envelope draws lines from point to point with controllable speeds. So a typical oscillator mix envelope might be: "Start with only Oscillator A sounding, then rapidly fade to a 50/50 mix of A and B. Then slowly give a hint of C, and gradually fade A and B away entirely as the note sustains at a 50/50 mix of C and D. Upon letting go of the key, swoop back to 100% A swiftly, unless the sustain pedal is held, in which case glide back slowly." This gives an amazingly animated tone, even before the filter and amplifier or any modulations are called into play. How difficult is it to set up? The above example can be programmed by a total novice in under three minutes, with most of that time being devoted to fine-tuning the speeds at which the changes occur. Once this powerful and unique oscillator setup is accomplished, the rest of the synth's architecture is called into play. The filter is a four-pole lowpass Curtis chip with resonance and controllable envelope amount. The VCA has only two controls, its own envelope and a program volume level for adjusting each program to match others on the VS. The voices can have independently assigned stereo Pan positions which may then be modulated in various ways. The chorus has independent on/off switches for the left and right channels, and rate and depth adjustments. The filter sounds wonderful, as would be expected on a Prophet, and lends a very strong "analog" quality to the sound. The chorus is quiet on most setups, but can "pump" on certain patches. Since it is only a tiny perturbation on otherwise lovely sounds, one doesn't miss it if it's switched out, a nice change from instruments that require onboard effects to keep from sounding stale. The keyboard tracking of the filter can be scaled and inverted with high precision, allowing resonant howl to track pitch in controlled ways. The envelopes of the VS are of a wonderful design, falling somewhere in the Yamaha/Casio realm but with features not found anywhere else. Each envelope has five Points, numbered 0 through 4, and five Rates, 1 through 4 and 4A. The envelope starts at key-on at Point 0, proceeds to Point 1 at Rate 1, then to Point 2 at Rate 2, then to Point 3 at Rate 3. This allows for doubled attacks, timbral shifts at varying speeds, etc., all in the context of the opening transient of the note. The note then holds at Point 3 until key-off, when it goes to Point 4 at Rate 4, unless the sustain pedal is held down, in which case it goes to point 4 at Rate 4A, which can be set longer or shorter than rate 4. The path for this last stage is exponential rather than linear, to approximate acoustic sound fades more accurately. Each point of the envelope represents a level of Loudness in the Amp envelope, or a level of Filter Cutoff in the Filter envelope, or a point in the Mix plane in the Mix envelope. Any Point can have any level, except for Point 4 in the Amp envelope, which is always zero (no continuous drones after key-off). The envelopes can also loop in one of six ways: between Point 0, 1, or 2 and Point 3, either forwards or back and forth. The loops can be performed 1 to 7 times, or continuously until key-off. Each stage ranges in time from instantaneous to several minutes long; a total note event can take up to fifteen minutes to finish, even with no sustain. The VS has two LFOs, each of which has a choice of five shapes and a rate. The five shapes are triangle, square, "sawtooth" and "ramp" (meaning negative- and positive-going sawtooth waves), and random. They range in speed from well under 1 Hz to over 15 Hz or so. The modulation routings for the VS are at once one of its joys and one of its biggest frustrations, especially for an Xpander owner or someone used to working with modular synthesizers. On the one hand, there exists a matrix of seven mod sources (LFO1, LFO2, Pressure, Velocity, Key Number, Filter Envelope, and Mod Wheel) and sixteen mod destinations (Oscillator A,B,C, and D Frequencies, Mixes between oscillators on the mix plane axes (a to C, B to D), filter cutoff, filter and amplitude envelope amount, LFO 1 and 2 rate and amount, Pan on/off, Chorus Rate and Depth). But don't start drooling yet, folks. Out of the 7 * 16 = 112 possible routings this implies, the VS only allows 48 of them, and most of those are simple On/Off switches. Each source has only one amount of modulation, global in its effect on all destinations, and a number of source/destination choices that one would think obvious are forbidden, such as modwheel control of ANYTHING other than chorus depth or LFO amount or envelope control of ANYTHING other than global oscillator frequency or pan position. The word "argh" comes to mind, but cannot convey the mounting hysteria of the power user as he runs time and again into a mostrously powerful architecture crippled by a limited mod section. On the performance level, the VS has three modes: Single, with 8-voice polyphony, Split, which allows each program to have a "Link" program accessible above a certain programmable split point, and Double, which layers two programs with detuning and a controllable delay of 0 to 508 msec between the two programs' attacks. The instrument also has a detuned Unison mode, with all 8 voices stacked on one key. Master tuning is global, as it should be; Pitch wheel range is global, as it shouldn't, and only goes up to a fifth in either direction, which is insufficient for my tastes. Glide is selectable, and works on an equal-rate logic, where a two-octave glide takes longer than a glide of a third. The arpeggiator is surprisingly powerful and a very enjoyable addition to the machine; it syncs to external clocks and can master-clock other MIDI devices, can latch and overdub two arpeggiations, do a latched arpeggiation with overdubbed melody, do independent arpeggios on two sides of a split, scan the keyboard in various modes, and even insert rests and remember short sequences of notes with velocities included. The user interface consists of a data slider and a backlit LCD, and increment/decrement keys are sorely missed, as is a keypad for anything other than calling up programs. Other utilities that are wonderful to have are: a Review button, that stores an edited program in a buffer and allows the user to search through the VS's memory for a place to store it, and initialization modes for programming from scratch: one sets up a simple default voice structure, another sets up a simple basic Mix envelope, and a third scrambles all data to random values for some startling new "outside" sounds. The VS has a very powerful (for 1986) MIDI implementation, one that could conceivably cause a lot of problems to a 1990 power user unless care is taken to filter the input MIDI stream to the VS. The VS responds to a large number of MIDI controllers, but most of these are funnelled into the few Sources that it can accept for modulation, i.e. mod wheel and Pressure. Thus, the VS interprets Breath Controller as Pressure, Foot Controller as Mod Wheel, Poly Pressure as Mono Pressure, and can receive and transmit joystick motion and data alteration as sequences of Control changes: potentially powerful for control of external synths, but hell on data reception, especially since each type of mod source is only globally enabled or disabled. One nice touch is the ability to set up a Mono mode for guitar controllers where each voice responds to a different MIDI channel (only up to two simultaneous programs, though, and then only with four voices each); controller data can be channelized to control each particular voice or globally control sets of four or eight voices, a nice touch that is only partially implemented on instruments like the Xpander. The VS has two outputs, Left/Phones and Right/Mono. Its voice architecture allows for a great deal of stereo animation in the sound; this is perhaps one of the instrument's greatest strong points. There are no individual voice outs, although careful pan control can allow the two sides of a split to be sent to the two separate outputs. The sound of the VS is definitely very "analog," even when doing obviously "digital" waves (whatever THOSE are), and once one grits one's teeth and uses the limited mod routings as best one can, one can produce both startling and beautiful sounds; in addition to some screaming lead timbres and some fascinating spatial effects, one of the first sounds I created was a string section sound with gentle spatial movement and rich tone that rivalled my Xpander's best efforts-- and that was done with a static mix of four detuned sawtooth waves, and no Vector synthesis at all, thus speaking well for the power of the rest of the instrument's architecture. The verdict? Well, I love it to pieces, despite its limitations, and it has a number of interesting features that I'm praying will be implemented on the Korg WS and/or the Yamaha SY22, things that are sorely missing on a lot of today's so-called "superior" synths. I'm also going to be looking for a number of improvements to the mod scheme; if they give the WS 32 voices and digital multi-FX and don't improve one's controllability of same, I'll commit murder. If they do, though, it's going to eat supposedly "effects-integrated wonders" like the VFX for lunch. However, speculations of this nature are pointless; Metlay's Law applies here as anywhere else. The VFX exists and is working well for a large number of musicians; the WS does not exist and may never exist. I'd appreciate it if anyone who knew the phone number at Korg USA would send it to me, though; I have a long list of questions to ask them. And if the WS fails to live up to its promise, I won't be too upset; after all, I have the VS, and the only thing I'd sell it for might be a refurbished keyboard version of the VS. It's going to be as distinctive a part of my sound as my Xpanders. metlay ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 Mar 90 10:32:23 EST From: Patrick Robinson Subject: Prophet VS Metlay ... Where did you find this old ragged VS? And (dare I speak of money?) how much did you pay? Why can't I find one? -Patrick ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 Mar 90 12:25:00 EST From: METLAY@PITTVMS.BITNET Subject: Re: Prophet VS Patrick, the VS is as rare as hen's teeth. Very few were made before Sequential tried to market the Studio 440 and went belly-up; as a consequence, they're precious. The keyboards always find buyers, but the RAcks (like mine) are even more prized, because there are fewer of them and because there was a problem in the keyboard version's pressure sensors. Wine COuntry, the firm in CA that specializes in old Sequential gear, will sell you a rebuilt VS with a working keyboard for $2000, but you're paying a premium for the service, which is expert, and the modification to the keyboard, which is vital. They DO NOT sel racks; too rare to even offer a price. Elsewhere, at places like Rogue, you can VERY rarely find an old VS for much less, and have it fixed up by Wine COuntry if necessary for a net savings. The guy at Wine Country, Dave Sesnak, used to work for Sequential. He's intelligent, friendly and informative. My VS rack was brought to my attention by Dean Swan, an FM addict but otherwise wonderful fellow who lives and works in upstate NY. (Hi, Dean.) He'd been GIVEN (!) the VS by a music-store owner as a loaner unit for some type of software development or something, back in 1987(?), and the unit had never been used or returned. When I mentioned my lust for a VS on rec.music.synth, Dean called me and offered to complete the sale and send me the unit, which he did. The music-store fellow had forgotten that it hadn't actually been sold, and he was glad to make some fast money on it, so he sold it for $700 and shipped it to me UPS ground freight, failing to properly mark it as "fragile" and nearly having it crushed in the process. It's badly dented and the data slider needs a new pot shaft, but it works. I may never see another; I'll be paying this one off for a long time on my salary, but I don't care. I really can't communicate in words the tremendous ease with which I create powerful, beautiful and moving sounds with it; I owe Dean a big favor for having gone to the trouble of notifying me and then negotiating the sale. I'm afraid I can't help you find one, though; this one was a fluke. If anyone could help you, Wine Country could. Whether they're worth the outlay with the Korg WS coming out is for you to decide. PS. I'm still looking for some kind of phone number for Korg USA; I want to talk to them about the WS's features and pass on what I learn to y'all. Can anyone send me a phone number, please? No magazines or ads here in Tenn. metlay ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 Mar 90 13:19:54 EST From: Patrick Robinson Subject: Korg USA Metlay, here's a couple of phone numbers for Korg USA: (516) 333-9100 <== I'm not sure exactly who you get here. Some kind of switchboard operator, as I recall. She gave me the number for tech support: (516) 333-8737 <== Korg Technical Support --- they seemed quite willing to talk with me about a bug I discovered in my new (don't puke, now...) Korg T2. This was a joystick bug they hadn't encountered before. The bug is now dead. BTW, for my purposes (if ANYONE cares about W***S****** boards around here), the T2 is fantastic. Sure, its not got the modulation routing features of the *REAL* synths, but I'm a piano player. Ever since I was small tike, I lusted after Moog and Oberheim stuff. I still do. Even had (not owned) a (lessee now, what was that model number?) Korg MS-10 (the little mono, single OSC thingy), and a Rhodes. At any rate, the T2 gives me what I need: nice touch for a non-weighted KB (actually, better feel than MANY weighted boards I've played with), good samples (most of them...), ability to *quickly* dump ideas to sequencer with some rough arrangement, ... good sound quality from the outs (disregarding some of the effects' cheesiness). Its wunnerful. Can save lotsa stuff on a nice cheap disk... program ('patch') creation (although limited, I'll admit) is intuitive (unlike the DX21 which I'd bought a few years ago, when I had no money). The primary objective is the ability to make music, and not forget the things I've done, and the ideas I have. Someday, perhaps I'll amass an arsenal of rackmount units and a tape deck and clean effects, etc. and redo the good stuff. enough apologizing, -Patrick ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 Mar 90 15:46:19 EST From: Patrick Robinson Subject: Korg WS Metlay ... if/when you talk to these people, find out if a rack-mount WS is possibly a twinkle in Korg's eye. -Patrick ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Mar 90 22:09:00 EST From: METLAY@PITTVMS.BITNET Subject: Obtaining information on the Korg WS.... I'm going to be mailing a letter tomorrow to the Vice President of Products (boffo, title, hm?) of Korg USA, asking all sorts of questions about the WS. Anyone want to lay odds my answers won't be forthcoming until after the stupid thing hits the market? metlay PS. I can forward a copy of the letter to anyone who'd like to read it. ------------------------------ ---------------------- End of EMUSIC-L Digest **********************